Let’s take this moment to discuss what’s happening on Scandal, which I quit recapping because I sensed there was a certain fatigue in Fug Nation when it came to bewailing it EVERY WEEK. If you are wary of spoilers, don’t read the text on the slides, I will chat about each character on theirs. Also look away for the following rant about Olivia, although it will not surprise you even if you have been saving several episodes to watch on a binge.
Scandal continues to have real, real vexing issues with women and sex — specifically, the way it turns Olivia into a rag doll anytime Fitz or Jake decides they want to play with her. Time and time again on this show, Fitz and Jake would get tired of her having a backbone and just force themselves on her with that gleeful/smug/horny expression on their faces that said, “You know you want this.” It was rapey then, and when Jake did it again the other night, it felt as much so if not more. I hate that this show presents Olivia as a powerful woman and then puts her at the sexual mercy of the same two men — the same two white men — over and over and over again. She is CONSTANTLY derailed by their fingers, their tongues, their junk. I’m not saying powerful women can’t enjoy being seduced, but what Scandal is writing isn’t seduction. It’s suppression. They want to bend her to their will, or make her stop talking and thinking and arguing, and so they assert their power over her. And Scandal lets them, and tries to pretend it’s true love, true heat, true romance. It’s not. It’s foul. I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about it.
[Photos: Getty]
