But rape as a plot device needs to be shut down. For starters, it’s lazy writing: there are plenty of other ways of developing a female character into a badass or motivating a female character to take action. Worse: it’s exploitative. Even worse: it’s retraumatizing to the women who have been molested or raped, and it’s damaging to the actress, who has to pretend she’s being assaulted while the cinematographer is on her ass trying to make viewers think, This chick’s hot. It’s nearly impossible to not feel like the violation is real.
