Prelims

Half Title Page

Male Rape Victimisation on Screen

Title Page

Male Rape Victimisation on Screen

BY

VICTORIA M. NAGY

University of Tasmania, Australia

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

Copyright Page

Emerald Publishing Limited

Emerald Publishing, Floor 5, Northspring, 21-23 Wellington Street, Leeds LS1 4DL.

First edition 2024

Copyright © 2024 Victoria M. Nagy.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-80262-018-4 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-80262-017-7 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-80262-019-1 (Epub)

Contents

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been written without the support and enthusiasm from friends and colleagues. Watching over 300 pieces of media where the topic you are watching for is sexual victimisation (even if of fictional characters) means that something that is usually a reprieve from work (going to the movies, flopping onto the couch to watch television shows) suddenly becomes an extension of the day-to-day research and writing. It can also make a person a terrible bore to speak to when the mind is all consumed with one topic. So, there are a lot of thanks I need to give.

Firstly, to Ash Barnes and Honey Dower thank you for your thoughtful comments on previous iterations of the following pages. Ash and Honey’s reading of the drafts picked up on some stunning ‘plot holes’ of mine; it all made sense in my head but translating that to the page required work and re-work, and they both offered insights and helped me think about my work and words in new ways.

The initial push to turn this into a book rather than keep it just as an interesting talking point came from Rob White who has been a wonderful colleague, mentor, and friend since I arrived in Tasmania in 2019. His suggestions for readings at the outset and the ongoing curiosity in the project helped keep me going. Loene Howes and Michael Guerzoni also deserve thanks for their patience in hearing me rant about writing and research. Our ‘Criminology Coffee’ catch-ups have been a wonderful balm. To my colleagues at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) and specifically the School of Social Sciences, who all politely asked what I was working on and attempted not to recoil in horror when I explained just how rife rape jokes are in their children’s entertainment or in popular culture more broadly – I appreciate your willingness to carry on your conversations with me over the past 24 months not knowing just what gem of information I would pass on.

At Emerald, thank you to Hazel Goodes who was my first point of contact and who commissioned this work. Thank you to Daniel Ridge who has worked with me at the tail end of this project and his patience with waiting for the final version while I polished it and hopefully made it into something worthwhile of people’s time. Also, thanks to Lauren Kammerdiener and Brindha Thirunavukkarasu for their help throughout.

To Kristyn Harman, Andrew Groves, Nancy Cushing, Alana Piper, and Georgina Rychner with whom I worked on other writing projects and sometimes shuffled writing and meeting times around due to this project thank you for your patience and continued willingness to work with me.

The following thanks are to people who gave me space to work, or to forget about it and keep myself from getting too mired in the heaviness of this book’s topic. Some of the editing of drafts took place while at the hairdresser. There, Emma did amazing things to my hair making it one wild colour after another while also plying me with coffee and making sure I didn’t end up with dye on my glasses, laptop, or on any paper. Thanks Emma! To Helen Malcolm thanks for creating an equine oasis where I’ve been able to withdraw with my boy, Wombat, and through Helen’s mentoring learn to be more patient and centred. It is at Helen’s that I have connected with some fabulous people who have the same love of horses as I and who support one another to create a buzzing, friendly atmosphere where worries can be forgotten. Thank you to Kate Ibbott for the continued check-ins, laughs, and rants – would have lost it a long time ago otherwise.

To everyone who sent me movie and television show suggestions, thanks! I tried to watch all of them. On Twitter, Facebook, and in person people would give suggestions and discuss scenes that they thought would be good additions. There are so many that I really could not include every example but I did try to get to them all. Jonathan McIntosh’s (the Pop Culture Detective) video essay on sexual assault of men played for laughs was sent through to me by more than one person – his videos exploring the good and bad sides to masculinity in popular culture should be on everyone’s viewing lists. My thanks to Davina Wright and Jen Rani who were happy to discuss the process actors go through to prepare for roles and how trauma is not only presented but also felt by actors. Their experiences helped me think more about the intersection between reality and what we see on screen.

And finally, thanks to my family. To my mum, Alex, Katy, and Rod for always being my biggest fans. To Ripley, Archie, and Thorin for being the best fur kids a woman could ask for. The biggest thanks of all goes to my husband and true partner-in-crime Jesse Durant who watched (and re-watched) with me the majority of films and television shows that appear in the following pages, who listened to every worry, to every jumbled thought, who would bring coffee, tea, and chocolate to my desk and who carried the bulk of the household especially in the final months. Without my wonderful Jesse, nothing would be this easy or possible.