By: Alexandra Rodriguez
Consent is a very important topic in all situations, but it is especially important when it comes to relationships. The violation of consent in relationships is often an ongoing situation that anyone can face in the world. Specifically relating to Bridgerton, consent can affect males in the same way it can affect women. Back then, consent was not taught well enough to society, so no one really understood the wrongs of it. In the Regency Era, women did not know enough about marriages and sexual education, which is where Bridgerton portrays this in one of the episodes.
Consent dealing with males is never really spoken about in modern-day, but it does occur more than often and it most certainly affects them as well. It is important that the topic of consent is taught to younger kids and society in general.
In Bridgerton, after the sex scene that occurs, there are no actions that are taken. Throughout the series, the audience can see the way the women act when it comes to being involved in a relationship. Because Bridgerton is set in the 18th century, Daphne is portraying a character of a woman back in that time. In this time, women were not educated on the topic of consent and were just taught to get married and have a family. Although we assume that Daphne is not educated on consent or does not know that what she was doing was wrong, she did know what she wanted her outcome to be, by trying to have Simon impregnate her.
When talking about consent, the journal article, “Sex, Lies, and Consent,” goes into detail, explaining the wrongfulness of having a sexual act with someone who has not agreed to it. Tom Dougherty, writer of the journal article “Sex, Lies, and Consent,” states that the “seriousness of wrongs both of sex by means of egregious deception and of sex with an unwilling unconcious person is explained by the fact that the victim did not validly consent to the sex.” Dougherty’s journal really comes off as educational and provides information that individuals can learn from. The article “Male Sexual Consent: Why Men Can be Raped & How to Know If It’s Happened to You,” displays information on how men can be raped. Alex Manley points out that men are mostly known to be perpetrators of sexual assault. With Manley pointing this out, he is telling the audience that not all men are harmful human beings, but that men can also be victims of rape. Manley states that in multiple cases, the victim of the sexual acts are males. It is very rare where society hears about males being raped, but it happens more than often. In Bridgerton, after the sexual act occurs, Simon does not speak of it to anyone. Men do not speak about events or feelings that bother them because they are taught that they have to be strong and hold everything in. Consent is something that is very serious and it should not be a topic that people keep to themselves or not educate themselves on.
It is a known fact that sexual education is not taught well enough, but more specifically, it is not taught at an early age. In the show we see that Daphne is a young girl who has never been with a man before, and does not quite know what love is. Since the show is set to be in the 1800s, the women's characters are portrayed differently than women of modern day. In other words, it seems that although Daphne knew what she was doing, she did not have an idea of it being wrong. The article, “We’re Teaching Consent All Wrong,” goes into depth about how sexual education is taught too late for children to understand the rights and wrongs of sexual consent. Back in the 1800s, consent did not have the same meaning, as it does today, therefore they did not know the rights from wrongs. Monica Rivera states that studies declare young women are more likely to verbally communicate, where men communicate by giving hints. This happens in Bridgerton because Simon does not fully explain to Daphne why he “can’t” have children, until after the sex scene happens. In the article, “Netflix’s Bridgerton Reveals Uncomfortable Truths About Sex,” Jenn Adams states that women who are not married are considered fragile to know anything about intercourse, but once they are married they are expected to grasp the understanding of conception.
An area of research that talks a lot about how social media is involved is a magazine, “Bridgerton’s Controversial Sex Scene Needs a Trigger Warning.” Jean-Philippe makes a point about how the audience who has watched Bridgerton are debating on whether this scene was rape or not. She inserts an interview answer that was explained by showrunner/writer, Chris Van Dusen, stating, “he took a modern approach to the concept of a period drama with Bridgerton in order for it to reflect the world that we live in today.” In other words, episode six of Bridgerton is meant to deliver a message and make a connection to modern day. Unfortunately, that message was not portrayed the right way, and instead, the audience sees it as the producers and directors not seeing the wrong in this scene. People on social media are coming up with two sides on this controversial scene, blaming Simon or blaming Daphne. In this case, the audience views it as Simon and Daphne mutually consenting to have sex. On the other hand, social media views it as Daphne using her power that she was never able to have.
It is not very common where society hears about male rape cases or men being sexually harassed, but it does happen throughout the world. Learning about sexual education and the importance of consent can help, not only women but men as well, mature and see the rights from wrongs. The research and evidence that is given, hopefully sexual education will then be taught at a younger age, and society will learn what is right and what is wrong.
In conclusion, these sources all connect to the fact that consent and deception play a very big role in Bridgerton. Most of these articles provide information that explains why the understanding of sexual consent is so important, by using journals or scenarios where sexual acts have occurred. Other articles connect Bridgerton to their information to show how the scene relates to modern-day male consent. All in all, these sources put together help portray that the sexual act in Bridgerton shows that men can be raped. This shows brings up this topic and has many sources explaining that males get raped or sexually assaulted more than society hears about.
Author Bio: Alexandra Rodriguez is currently a college student, who wants to become a nurse in the future. Alexandra is a daughter of 4 children; she has 3 brothers. She also has a job at a daycare, where she has been working for the past 7 months.
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