The Difference Between Possession and Rape

[itsnotmymind]

*Warning for discussion of sexual assault*

A couple years ago I made a tumblr post on the topic of comparing demonic/angelic possession to rape, a comparison that was made a lot in Supernatural's tumblr-based fandom at that time. I've since deleted my tumblr, but decided to re-create that post here since it was such a succinct summary of my views.

At the time, Sam's Gadreel possession was a very recent and controversial thing (I don't read SPN tumblr fandom now, but while I imagine it is still controversial it is not nearly as fresh). Comparisons between possession and sexual assault had existed in fandom prior to season 9, but after the Gadreel possession they skyrocketed. The comparison to rape was used to highlight the horror of Sam's experience, and sometime to vilify fans who downplayed the seriousness of the possession.

So here's my thoughts:

I think that within the fantastic context of the show, possession is worse than rape. I think Sam Winchester, who has been both possessed and rape, would agree with me. Possession is a greater and more horrifying violation. The way we often see Sam's body used to hurt and kill others is particularly disturbing.

That said, even in-story there are a lot of differences between possession and rape. You can possess someone for the greater good (see Sam forcing a demon back into Eunis in What's Up, Tiger Mommy?). You can't ever sexually assault someone for the greater good.

And I find many the comparisons of possession to rape to be examples of fans trivializing a real-world issue for shock value.

I have a disturbingly high chance of being raped, as do large numbers of people I encounter. According to RAINN, in America alone a person is sexually assaulted every 98 seconds. By contrast, I have a 0% chance of being possessed, as does everyone in the history of ever.

And therein lies the most significant difference: Rape is real. Possession is pretend. Piggy-backing on the intense emotions associated with a real-life violation to get empathy and outrage for a fictional character in a fantastic situation is iffy at best and harmful at worst. I don't have a problem with people pointing out that rape and possession are both violations of a person. But any attempt to highlight the severity of Sam's situation by relying on shock value comparisons to real world horrors is not okay.

Comments

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

Great point. I often see this so-called "outrage" (about just about anything) on these SMS sites as being fake and done for the satisfaction of the drama it creates and the attention they get from it.

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

Most of the drama I saw on tumblr seemed legit, in that people genuinely felt that way. A lot of it was Sam fans being upset that Dean fans dismissed the trauma of possession...and so they tried to illustrate it with comparisons to a real-life issue. But possession is not rape, and over here is real life, and over here is fantasy, and one is more important than the other for a reason.

And if possession was rape, that makes all our major characters rapists, not just Dean. Castiel not only possessed people with questionable consent, but one of them was a child (and I saw Cas fans making the possession = rape comparison). Sam forced that demon back in Eunis. If you're really going to equate possession to rape and follow through on all the implications, the show looks really different.

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

Here's how I see it.

As you say, rape is rl, and the possession experienced in SPN is fictional, so it cannot truly equated with anything we would experience in rl. And without personal testimony by anyone on the show, there is no real way of knowing if it is as much of a violation or more or similar in any way for that matter. But people who equate the possession with rape do so because they want to feel/create outrage toward Dean. They get a certain satisfaction out of bashing Dean, they want to emotionally rouse people of like mind to also talk badly of Dean and, at the same time, the attention they get by mentioning a social/sex crime sure doesn't feel bad either. God forbid you mention anything about Sam cramming the demon back into Eunis LOL. They will probably clam up and pretend you do not exist. There are people like that on both sides - I'm not saying it's just Sam girls.

I just feel though that in every area of sms, there are always people who accuse people of social crimes or sexual crimes at every opportunity just to watch people get roused by it or to hurt someone with it and basically get attention. I just read a comment on twitter like that, which is why I am feeling rather depressed at the moment.

[itsnotmymind.livejournal.com]

I am sorry you had to encounter a depressing twitter comment! And I do agree that sites like tumblr reward and proliferate short posts based on sound bytes rather than actual thoughts and conversation. I will never get over fandom moving to tumblr. Tumblr is so ill-suited for fandom.

[supernutjapan.livejournal.com]

*Squishes you*
Thank you.