To think Hollyoaks should move on from Luke’s rape in 1999?

[Appleavocado]

I dip in and out of this programme but I was obsessed with it in the late 90s/early 2000s.

Luke came back in it a few years ago and every episode I’ve seen since has a storyline about the rape (1999 I think.)

Apart from being a bit boring now AIBU to think it’s probably not entirely responsible to promote the idea that rape will ruin your whole life?

I have never seen it but it's not unrealistic to suggest that it stays with a person. In fact you could argue that it's more realistic than any other soap which features characters bounce right back and almost forget traumatic events.

I was an avid viewer in the late 90s too and Lukes rape story was so powerful. I also watched recently and as far as I'm aware he was okay and went on to have relationships and a son, it's his dementia diagnosis that is making him more vulnerable

I see what you mean OP in terms of entertainment, but they are depicting real life. I can only imagine the horror the victim goes through and the effect on their whole life. So they're highlighting that fact.

I agree with the PP: that’s more realistic than the usual soap rubbish where at the end of the particular storyline the victim seems to move on with no lasting effects and it never gets mentioned again.

If only life really were like that for victims of sexual crimes.

I know, I always think it’s ridiculous when someone has their entire family wiped out with a traumatic event but they are never mentioned again a few weeks later!

I suppose the problem is it isn’t just mentioned in passing, there’s entire storylines based around it with rapists coming back and so on. I think they are trying to rehash what was a very successful storyline but as a result it’s insincere.

I also don’t think I am comfortable with the message that if you are raped it will ruin your life. I do understand there’s a fine line here. You don’t want to give the message that you move on and it won’t impact you at all when of course it will. But luke was about 19 when it happened and this idea that it’s still the most significant defining moment in his life 23 years later seems a bit odd to me.

Saying that, I've not watched it since the early 2000s lol

@Eslteacher06

Saying that, I've not watched it since the early 2000s lol

It’s still somewhat less than realistic

I used to love it, would obsessively watch the omnibus on Sunday mornings

I have never watched the show but it’s much more realistic to suggest that something like rape will have a long term impact than to suggest that everything is hunky dory

Never seen the show either but I agree OP, ultimately it's an entertainment show not a documentary so perhaps they could love on from such a grim storyline

It was my way of getting through a hangover on a Sunday morning...infact i have that association with it now haha. Sorry, I don't want to derail the thread ...I'll back away now

No one’s said ‘everything hunky dory’ though.

Life just doesn’t work like that. It’s like when Jacqueline Wilson tried to make Tracy beaker an adult - it was just daft because she kept bumping into characters from her childhood, as if nothing significant between the ages of say eleven and about thirty five happened!

Me too @Eslteacher06 and no, come back to the thread, it’s good nostalgia.

I remember they did a ‘good’ (if that’s not too dark a take on it) date rape storyline with Andy and Sam and the twins. Then (since this is ‘Oaks) it got daft with Sam escaping from prison and burning down the Dog in the Pond!

Rape effects everyone in very different ways, some people will try put it behind them,
Some, it will unfortunately be with them in everything they do, no matter how long after.
I think some of what you've said is quite insensitive actually. It's much more realistic to portray that someone's life was destroyed by assault, than just carrying on like all is fine and they're over it.

I think if they’d wanted to do that, which is a reasonable take - to have Luke come back in the show broken and destroyed by what happened to him - then they’d have been better to do it like that.

What they actually did was have him come back and then have endless storylines where he - and therefore we - had various reminders of what happened to him, every time involving lots of red faces and clenched fists and shouting.

Like a lot of young women, unfortunately, I experienced sexual assault and while it is one thing to show how it impacts someone’s life, this tends to be in subtle ways, not endlessly bumping into your rapists.

I also don’t think you can say that someone’s life is ‘destroyed’ for any one reason, usually - things are more nuanced than that.

But luke was about 19 when it happened and this idea that it’s still the most significant defining moment in his life 23 years later seems a bit odd to me.

I was 17. Next time I speak about it in therapy, I'll mention to my therapist that as it was years ago that I really shouldn't think of it as a significant experience that's created lasting trauma.
I'll also mention that @Appleavocado finds it odd that I'm still so upset about it and see what he says.

I find it interesting how male rape is always given much more attention in terms of the effects on the person, than female rape is. That's often reflected in sentencing and how historical cases are handled in RL as well.
My teens used to watch it. It was the only soap that depicted HIV correctly. It depicted abusive relationships well. I stopped watching when Teagan was drinking with Joe etc then when he had his fall, she was the one to decide to switch off his life support a few hours later. All of the hospital situations became ridiculous.

I’m sorry that happened to you @Puffflashpuffflashbang but that’s not what I’m talking about at all. And it’s making it really hard to discuss it because you’re completely twisting what I’m saying.

If I’d said, at any point ‘why are Hollyoaks still mentioning Luke’s rape’ then that would be fair enough.

But what I’m objecting to are storylines where the actual events are rehashed because he is meeting his rapists, or because the same thing happened to his son, or something else like that.

And also there is no suggestion as to how it might have impacted him in the years away from Hollyoaks. Like I say, I can understand a storyline where to cope with what happened to him he turned to drink and drugs and the fallout from that. What I’m saying is stupid is this idea that the second he comes back to Hollyoaks he is constantly face to face with his attackers!

Yeah, that’s interesting @Ponoka7

I can think of several female characters on Hollyoaks who were raped or sexually assaulted - not sure who is in it now but thinking about it Mandy was abused by her dad, I’m sure, yet that’s literally never mentioned. And childhood sexual abuse certainly stays with people for years. Same with losing someone to suicide - Mandy’s brother took his life.

I remember watching it and Gary Lucy got an award for it probably a soap award well he did a flippant lift of his jacket patted his backside and gave a thumbs up to his mates,I stopped watching put me right off, saying all that rape can affect lives forever there us different scenarios in other soaps and characters are still affected a bit like real life I suppose.

I think that’s the issue I have with it really. They aren’t showing it as a responsible storyline showing how someone is still impacted from rape decades later - like I say, that’s a reasonable take. It’s purely to manipulate what was a popular storyline.

To be fair I've not seen it in 20 years so maybe I'm misunderstanding and it is a soap so they will rehash stories for effect.

Well it can and does so good

Have you experienced rape OP?

I don't watch it and haven't in many many years but wow had no idea Luke came back or that they still talk about the rape. I was 12 in 1999 and I remember it was a late night event. I was horrified, I don't even think my 12 year old brain knew about male rape and it was completely eye opening to me. I think it was an important want even though I was an immature 12 year old.

I say above I have, @betwixtlives, but that’s the point. I’m not saying no one experiences trauma after rape, but it’s funny how no one else in Hollyoaks apart from Luke does, really, isn’t it?