Week 4 / Blog 4

I am unable to find the clip that I will be discussing today since it is a Netflix series and it's not on YouTube.  Thirteen Reasons Why has faced harsh criticism due to "unnecessary" scenes in which I am referring to is Tyler's sexual assault. In the clip (that I cannot find), Tyler is brutally assaulted by Montgomery and other boys. Tyler is assaulted with a broken end of a broomstick, and the audience can see blood--it's a hard moment to watch and for me to describe it right now which further shows how stigmatized sexual assault is among males.



I feel that this stigmatization of sexual assault among men is due to the fact that they feel so much shame for the unwanted sexual contact. Hammonds, Fewster and Ioannou's (2017) research says "Male reporting of sex offences are likely to vary considerably from female reporting, although there has been little research into what these differences might be," (p. 134).  There is a huge difference in the numbers of women and men who have dealt with assault, but perhaps a huge number of men have not come forward due to this shame? I feel that it is stigmatized because of the way that society views men in the way that society constructs gender. I think that people fear that with the discussion of a man's sexual assault, it could possibly emasculate them. If this conversation were to take place comfortably, it would change the course of conversation for what a man "should be" (if that makes sense).

Thirteen Reasons Why maybe included this scene or felt that it was necessary to spark a conversation and perhaps send a message that sexual assault, especially among men is nothing to be ashamed of.  I think the show addressed the issue as accurately as they could. Later, when Tyler is seen in his bathroom on the toilet, when he finds blood (presumably from his anus), the audience can see how horrified he looks, maybe even horrified with shame. Obviously, this was the last episode of season two, so there was not much discussion in the show about the subject about how Tyler will heal, but even in the show the topic is still stigmatized. Hopefully, in season three we can see how Tyler deals with this and the discussion about it. I feel that some people who see this topic refuse to want to talk about it and others want to have a discussion about this. I think the best way we can approach a male victim of sexual assault is to maybe treat them as we would a female victim. The influence that this can give society is to treat all victims with the same belief and understanding.


Hammond, L., Ioannou, M., & Fewster, M. (2017). Perceptions of male rape and sexual assault in a male sample from the United Kingdom: Barriers to reporting and the impacts of victimization. Journal Of Investigative Psychology & Offender Profiling, 14(2), 133-149. doi:10.1002/jip.1462