Takayan !

Hovsep Joe Takayan

English 113B

Professor Lawson

12 May 2017

Project Text: Final Draft

Word Count: 1,759

Women in Television

You are watching a TV show and you see a vulnerable young woman who is too focused

on her first date. It is night-time and she goes to the park with a guy she barely knows for the

first time and goes on the down the slide. She being so distracted forgets to hold her skirts down

and the guy she had just met takes a picture of her, and that is where one act starts the bullying

and rumors through the mouths of other young teenagers, teachers. In the young adult fiction

Netflix Series 13 Reasons Why a teenager Hannah Baker goes through the typical situations of

being slut-shamed, humiliated, and vulnerable. Young women in television shows such as 13

Reasons Why are to often depicted in cases of fear, assault, and death.

Women in television shows are often depicted with fear from the lies, the truth, and or

their secrets. In the Netflix Series, 13 Reasons Why which is about a teenager girl who left 13

tapes explaining the reasoning of why she killed herself. Also bringing up everyones name in

each tape describing what they did to her that made her want to disappear and leave everyone

with a mystery. So many people pick on one another but dont often notice how much that person

is hurting inside and bottling things up. When watching the series you will notice Hannah Baker

who is the main character and she is sharing the first reason of why she killed herself. It was
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because she is scared that the lies that are being spread around are going to be stuck with her for

the rest of her life; she knew that the name that others gave her, one being slut would stay with

her forever no matter what way she acts or keeps herself. She had a friend named Clay that she

really liked more than a friend and she was scared that if the truth came out about what people

called her just because of one picture that he would think of her as a slut as well. Then there is

Courtney one of the ex-friends of Hannah who is on tape number 5. She is on the tapes because

she had the fear of telling people the truth that she was gay and she had kissed Hannah. Hannah

was the one to get humiliated by kissing another girl just because Courtney was too scared that

her parents and people in her school would know so Hannah took the blame on her as another

burden. Also, there is, Jessica who is on tape number 6, she has the fear of a secret that she

doesnt know if it has happened or not because none of her friends would tell her the truth so that

she wouldnt get hurt, but the truth always hurts. Jessica threw a party while her parents were out

of town, and she had gotten so drunk that her boyfriend Justin took her to her bedroom where

Hannah was hiding in the closet. Bryce who is the "school's golden bro and the best friend of

Justin's told him that he wanted Jessica for the night and Justin was uncomfortable with it, but

since Bryce has helped out Justin with everything he couldnt do anything about it.(Bell, Crystal)

Justin said no but then Bryce mentioned to Justin saying, What's mine is yours, right?. Jessica

never realized what actually happened because she was so drunk. Bryce treats Jessica as an

object that can be ended with him when he wants, and that shows how women are thought of in

television. During the tapes, Hannah explains what had happened because she was in the closet

and Hannah saw and heard everything. Even though she didn't see Bryces face, she heard his

voice and remembered the time in the convenience store when he grabbed her ass.(Bell,
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Crystal) Jessica had the fear of this secret to be true because she assumed that Hannah was lying.

In the show 13 Reasons Why all the women had to fear what was being talked about them or

happening to them. Karma bites back in an unnoticeable way. The men had some fear of getting

the truth out but were not as scared as the women. Justin had some fear of Jessicas secret

coming out and Jessica being hurt, but it never actually focused on how scared or worried he was

for her. With all these fears that had come to Hannah and Jessica sexual assault had actually

caused them to fear the most with their life and who they would trust. An action that takes place

once is recorded in the brain forever.

Women in television shows are often depicted with assault whether it is sexual, physical,

or emotional. In the show 13 Reasons Why sexual physical assault is the main reason why

Hannah Baker disappeared by killing herself, but the audience never knew this until the very end

of the series. Jessica was the first in the show to be raped by Bryce, but she was not the only one

that was also hurt by the same character. Out of the entire cast from the show, there are four main

female characters and two of them get sexually assaulted. Hannah was being sexually harassed

since the beginning of the show in the hallways, in the restaurant, and the parties.(Ceron, Ella)

Towards the end of the series, before we find out how and exactly why Hannah killed herself,

she goes out of the house and out for a walk because she had a bad fight with her parents, leaving

her parents with a bad thought. When she was walking she heard the music at Bryces house and

she decided to join the party knowing the past things that Bryce has done and got into the hot tub

with Zach, Jessica, and Justin. When they all suddenly leave Bryce gets in and makes his move

and as she tried to get out he stopped her and forced her and then raped her. That action leads her

to think that she was living her life for no reason after being raped. Out of all the violent and
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sexual content that this show had shown the two sexual assault scene were the longest and

quietest ones, but later spoke louder to everyone. As Hannah Orenstein from Seventeen says

producers use this content in shows, especially in this show because it makes for an intense

show. During the entire show, there were violent fights like the one Alex and Montgomery had,

but none of the male fights were focused on. The only part the male characters are focused on is

mainly the rape scene. Women are being used in a way to send a message to all people to be

careful while trusting people and going to parties that can lead you to get into trouble. After the

sexual assault that Hannah had been through is where she started to think about her suicide. Just

by one single step, one can step into suffering.

Women in television shows are also illustrated with death and suicide. The show 13

Reasons Why is based on the story of a girl who killed herself, because of her surroundings.

Clay is the other main character, and the story is being told through him. Clay was hearing what

Hannah had to say then he used his anger and sadness to put attention to what had actually

happened. This whole story was focused on the point that she killed herself and why. A lot of the

time in shows when it comes to death whether it is murder, suicide, or anything else gives a

simple explanation of why it happens or other than that there are shows with a full explanation of

why they did what they did. Many shows have shown that they have been killing off women

more that they have of men. As Ahsan Sadaf describes it in her article that major women

characters are dying to serve a crucial purpose to the plot," but actually now they are dying

without a real purpose. But for this particular show even though they killed Hannah off she is

still the main character and she still plays a major role in most of the show with Clay.
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Women might not be the only ones in television that are depicted in a certain way. Men

have been knowing to have the same types of role. They are also known to be killed off in

shows, but that also has to do with how there are more male characters than there are female

characters.(Halterman, Jim) Most male characters are known to not be in fear, and they have to

be the hero. In this show, Clay has broken this stereotype that most male characters have been

known the act like. There are these stereotypes in the show like Bryce and Marcus, they have

been the typical teenagers that act crazy and think that every girl wants them. Then there is Clay

who is the opposite of every male character in the show. Male characters that go through sexual

assault are not often shown fully and there is a lack of understanding.(Halterman, Jim) Even

though the male characters might be depicted in a certain way they are always being changed up

in the roles they play. Most of the women that are playing roles have been similar to what is

known for women to play.

In conclusion, women that are in televisions shows are put on the most challenging and

hard times. They have many obstacles and flaws that have to be shown. Young women in

television have been portrayed in ways like fearful, assault, and even death. The way the actor

has to actually portray the characters, it shows how much thought is put in a way a women story

is put. Many women are depicted in certain ways, and that has to do with stereotyping them in

how we think women should act. Maureen Ryan from Variety that television has been using

women in ways to show rape, murder, mutilation, kidnapping, assault, and the reason behind

this is to juice up the plot. This particular Television series 13 Reasons Why has shown how

women are the main roles that feel fear, assault, and even death. There might be small parts, in
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the show that the male characters feel these emotions, but not as much as for women who play

these big parts.

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Works Cited

Ahsan, Sadaf. Bad Blood: Why Are so Many Women Being Killed off Television Shows Right

Now? National Post, Word Press, 25 Apr. 2016, news.nationalpost.com/arts/television/

bad-blood-why-are-so-many-women-being-killed-off-television-shows-right-now.

Accessed 1 May 2017.

Bell, Crystal. 13 Reasons Why Cuts Painfully Deep Into The Pangs Of Adolescence. MTV

News, MTV, 29 Mar. 2017, www.mtv.com/news/2996756/13-reasons-why-dylan-

minnette-katherine-langford-adolescence/. Accessed 14 Apr. 2017.

Ceron, Ella. Why '13 Reasons Why' Was Hard for Me to Watch as a Survivor of Sexual

Assault. Teen Vogue, TeenVogue.com, 3 Apr. 2017, www.teenvogue.com/story/how-13-

reasons-why-depicts-rape. Accessed 8 Apr. 2017.

Halterman, Jim. Male Sexual Assault Victims on TV Are Changing How People Think about

the Crime. Mashable, Mashable, 13 July 2016, mashable.com/2016/07/13/outlander-

american-crime-sexual-assault-violence-men/#0oTcuVYr6Oqc. Accessed 10 Apr. 2017.

Orenstein, Hannah. Here's Why 13 Reasons Why Handled Rape And Suicide The Way They

Did. Seventeen, HEARST COMMUNICATIONS, INC., 12 Apr. 2017,

www.seventeen.com/celebrity/movies-tv/a46377/why-13-reasons-why-handled-rape-and-

suicide-the-way-they-did/. Accessed 16 Apr. 2017.

Ryan, Maureen. '13 Reasons Why' Avoids TV's Routine Exploitation of Dead Women by

Forcing Us to Care. Variety, Variety Media, LLC, 6 Apr. 2017, variety.com/2017/voices/

columns/netflix-13-reasons-why-1202022770/. Accessed 8 Apr. 2017.

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13 Reasons Why. Prod. Selena Gomez. Perf. Katherine Langford and Dylan Minnette. Netflix.

Apple Inc., 31 Mar. 2017. Web. 1 Apr. 2017. <https://www.netflix.com/title/80117470>.