Dd anyone see Waterlood Road this week? (Poss triggering)

[StuffezLaYoni]

One of the characters, Destiny, was raped. It was quite uncomfortable viewing as it was obvious what was going to happen. It made me think though.
I have been raped twice and neither time reported it. The two reasons that stopped me were a) my sexual history being laid out in public and potentially used against me and b) that I wouldn't be believed.

In one of my experiences, I had willingly let the man crash on my floor, and in the past we had had a sexual relationship. I felt there was no way id be believed if i said he had raped me. He knew what he was doing was wrong, and I feel angry that he most likely knew I wouldn't do anything about it.

The thing with the WL episode is that what happened to that character is precisely the kind of rape I think women wont ever report, as they blame themselves for the circs that led to it..... I let him in.....I had a drink.... I was nice to him.....etc. I find this a very depressing situation.

I missed it, but I have been watching on and off this series. Can't do iplayer at the moment.

It will be interesting to see how they handle it though because they've been rather hit and miss in the past. The Max storyline was absolutely spot on in portraying him as a narcissist and showed how various characters were taken in by him but ultimately that he was in the wrong, but that was back in season 5 and a couple of the VAW storylines since then have been much less well informed.

How did it come across on the screen? Was it clearly rape or was it shown as "sex she regretted later"?

I haven't been watching WR for a while as it got rather silly, but I saw the end of this episode and I thought it was pretty powerful. It showed the way that the man who said he wanted to be Destiny's boyfriend manipulated her, frightened her, and coerced her into being alone with him and having a drink. Then it shows him pulling her into a bedroom. Then you see her alone afterwards, crying.

It was a portrait of a rapist choreographing a rape in a way that he knew would be unlikely to lead to it being reported, let alone prosecuted. Chilling.

I think Stuff is spot on when she says this is precisely the kind of rape that girls and women find the most difficult to report.

I've just posted about this in chat as I saw the next episode after this where Dynasty tells a teacher (who had been raped and made pregnant by her FIL) that she'd been forced into having sex.

In my opinion it was handled brilliantly- I agree with you, stuff and linerunner that it was exactly the kind of rape difficult to report as it is a 'sort of boyfriend'. I commend the programme for making it clear that what happened was rape- showed clearly that she was being physically forced into the bedroom and showed her sobbing afterwards. So many girls in that situation, where it's a boyfriend etc might not see that it is STILL rape. Dynasty said to the teacher that she hadn't told anyone as it was all her fault, she led him on and was scared nobody would believe her. There was strong attention to detail too- showed her flinching at the noise of a door shutting and she wore a baggy jumper and black trousers as opposed to the tight skirt and top that she usually wears.

Very, very powerful stuff. I was choked up and my DDs were upset- brilliant performance from Abby Mavers who plays Dynasty and Laurie Brett as the teacher. I really hope it reaches out to girls in the same situation. Fingers crossed Waterloo Road carries the storyline on and everything isn't magically okay now that she's told a teacher!

We all discussed it in school. By all I also include the boys as well. It is scary how you can see the fictional characters are reflected in people that you may know. We had a great discussion about a difficult topic. Waiting to see where they will go with the story. Certainly more realistic than a lot of the storyline in the show.

That sounds positive then as a storyline. I read an interview with the actress where she said she hopes it will help girls to come forward and tell someone if they have had a similar experience. Well done WR.