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Dr. Saunders pursues a freaked out Topher
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So, Dollhouse recently started its second season with the episode “Vows”. The episode was enjoyable overall. However, one thing I found a little disturbing with the plot (more than the usual, I mean) was a scene where Dr. Saunders attempts to force herself on Topher. It seems like a clear case of sexual assault to me, but the show doesn’t present it as such. I’m guessing that despite Joss’s extreme coolness, the female character is not seen as threatening because of sexist gender role concepts.
The scene starts with Topher asleep on the floor of a computer room. Dr. Saunders, wearing a skimpy outfit, lies down next to him. She starts fondling him below the waist and kisses him, which he seems into… Then he wakes up and freaks out. He pushes her away, saying he doesn’t want to have sex with her. She points out his physical arousal as supposed proof that he really wants it. He says that the genital area is sensitive and would react the same way if he was fondled by someone as unsexy as Fozzie Bear. She doesn’t listen, and chases him around the room. She kind of pins him a couple of times. He finally gets her to stop by opening up about her imprinting and his thoughts on it, and then they talk and bond.
This is sexual assault, plain and simple. The website www.womenshealth.gov defines sexual assault as “any type of sexual activity that you do not agree to”, and it also acknowledges men can be victims. Does Dollhouse recognize it as sexual assault? I… don’t think so.
Dollhouse in general frequently depicts sexual assault of the Actives without much explicit tension because of its odd science-fiction characteristic and blurred line of consent. Topher’s situation is not really the same because he’s not an Active fooled to consent, so I think Hearn’s rape of Sierra in “Man on the Street” is a better comparison. Now, that is one emotional episode. It instructs us to fear for Sierra, to hate Hearn, and to cheer Boyd and November for beating Hearn up (and killing him in her case). Rape is evil, and “Man on the Street” is one of Joss’s more obviously feminist influenced episodes. Topher’s experience, on the other hand, is just a humorous (Fozzie Bear) and bittersweet encounter with a ticked off Dr. Saunders trying to mess with him.
I heart Joss. He’s a magnificent storyteller. I do think he pretty much screwed up with this scene, though. Hey, Joss, remember when Faith forcing herself on Xander meant she was going evil? It was a tense moment, and Angel came to the rescue… much like Boyd rescuing Sierra. What the heck, Joss?
Anyway, in conclusion, I’m disappointed with this depiction of what should be a serious subject. As Jossy as it is, I think this episode was negatively affected by pervasive sexism. Were the roles reversed and a manly Saunders doing the same thing to a girly Topher, it would be a clear violation and Boyd would probably burst through a sheet of glass to save her. Watch some old Buffy episodes, Joss.
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The reason Hearn is considered so much worse is he was preying on an innocent, childlike person while he was mentally healthy and he did it numerous times. Claire actually thought this was what Topher wanted (she explains she'd come to the conclusion that this was why he programmed her to hate him) so she didn't at first know it was assault, she thought it was what he wanted, what he had 'built' her for. Even when he said no it took her a little while to realise it wasn't just some sex game for him, and when she did realise she stopped and switched from seduction to anger (not anger at his refusal, anger at what he did to her). I thought it was a very powerful scene, and I don't think it was at all sexist, because it wasn't treated less seriously than Hearn and Sierra because the gender roles were reversed, it was treated less seriously because what happened wasn't anywhere near as bad. What Claire did was wrong, but there's a huge difference between raping a doll with the mind of a child and inappropriately waking someone up, and mistakenly thinking they messed with your head to get you in the sack. Also when you add in the fact that she had just found out Topher created her entire personality, including the severe mental illness her gave her, which had damaged and controlled her entire life (the agoraphobia) it makes sense people are less angry at Claire. She violated Topher, but he violated her in a much worse way first.
I'm not defending what she did, but my point is I don't think the show is either. The whole point of the scene is to show how unbalanced and potentially dangerous she has become, the scene is not condoning what she does, and it's not on her side. Given the point they are trying to convey I honestly don't believe the scene would have gone differently were the genders reversed.
People keep saying Joss needs to go back to his Buffy roots, but I think what he is doing here has just as powerful a message, even more in some cases. The problem some people have is this hits closer to home because it's more harrowing and real than seeing someone fight a demon, so some people can't take that (I'm not saying you can't) Part of being a good feminist writer is making women equal to men, meaning some of the women you write have to be dark characters too, which is what he is doing with Claire. If he made all his dark characters men he wouldn't be a feminist, he would be a sexist. This show, despite being a sci fi show, is more real world applicable, with it's issues of consent, prostitution, inner strength and control. By tackling these issues head on rather than sacredly skirting around them like 90% of other writers Joss is arguably doing more for feminism with this show than with Buffy. He's saying these things happen, they are terrible and they can be fought. People may ignore them (the FBI who hold back Ballard's investigation) or try to justify them (the Dollhouse staff) but at the end of the day they are wrong and people, men and women, inside the situation or out, have the power to fight it (Echo, the other dolls who are growing despite the wipes like Victor/Sierra and Paul Ballard). Facing these issues and acknowledging them is more powerful than burying them in metaphor.
I disagree completely. She spent most of the episode tormenting him. It is creepy. They have a twisted relationship. As you said, he violated her with not only altering her mind but also adding phobia upon trauma to her so she wouldn't leave the Dollhouse. I think his comment about Fozzie Bear was amusing but also an acknowledgment that "man reaction doesn't equal consent."
This show is full of horrific actions, many of which are condemned and many which are condoned. These comparisons show the hypocrisy of the characters and society itself. For example, before he tries to rape her, Sierra's handler asks if she wants to play the game. The Dollhouse staff are disgusted by this. In the same episode, Topher's words echo the rapist's as Topher, before he imprints her, asks a doll if she is ready to play. Though his comment is not blatantly condemned (perhaps like Claire's molestation of Topher), it is no less sinister, and I think that the writers are aware of that. (I'm not saying that Claire's behavior with Topher is the same as the handler's rape of Sierra, but I still thought it twisted, as almost everything on the show is. In a very thought provoking and serious way.)
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