CONTENT WARNING: SPOILER ALERT, PROFANITY, DESCRIPTIONS OF RAPE

Hey, remember the 1992 film Single White Female?  In it, Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Hedra, the roommate from everyone’s nightmares and stress dreams combined.  Bridget Fonda is Allison, who rooms with Hedra, and Steven Weber is Sam, Allison’s cheating boyfriend.

I don’t want to discuss the plot but instead the depictions of sexual assault within the movie.  Some of you might be thinking “Depictions of sexual assault?  There’s only one sexual assault in the movie—the one where Mitchell (played by Stephen Tobolowsky), Allison’s boss, sexually harasses her and attempts to orally rape her.”

That is certainly a depiction of sexual assault within the film.  But it’s not the only one.  I won’t blame you if it takes you some time to figure out the other one, because traditional gender norms, sexism, and cultural conditioning have a way of erasing what’s happening before our very eyes.

Figured it out yet?  Let’s take a look at part of Wikipedia’s plot synopsis:

When Sam returns the following night, Hedy again impersonates Allie and performs oral sex on him.

Well, that’s an interesting description of what happened.  Let’s look at another description and assessment of this part of the movie:

That hilarity is followed up by Hedy going to Sam’s house pretending to be Allie.  She climbs into bed with Sam and starts engaging in a sexual act.  Sam says “Oh Allie” followed by Hedy saying “It’s not Allie.”  What makes this scene so insane is Sam doesn’t stop.  Not only does he not stop, he even cuddles up with her afterwards.  Wait.  What?  This girl pretends to be your girlfriend to sleep with [you] and you just are lying in the bed with her … ok.  I don’t believe Sam didn’t know who it was.  C’mon nobody is THAT sleepy where they don’t recognize a woman they’ve dated for years.  It was easy for him to go along with it.

Swing and a miss.  No.  Just no.

Let’s take a look at the actual screenplay, shall we?

HOTEL ATHERTON – A BEDROOM – INTERIOR NIGHT

Sam is sleeping, covered by the sheet up to his waist, and apparently naked underneath.

The door opens slowly.  The woman in the grey raincoat enters the room.  We have already guessed she is Hedra.

She closes the door and puts the key on the night table.

She remains motionless for a couple of seconds, looking at Sam, then she slowly starts to take the raincoat off.  She is completely naked under the raincoat.

She slides under the sheet of the bed, close to Sam.  Sam moans in his sleep.  He turns slowly towards Hedra, who starts kissing him on the chest.

SAM (sleepy voice): “Allie, Allie … what are you doing?”

Hedra goes down Sam’s body, still kissing him.  When she gets between his legs, even if the room is very dark, we understand she is performing oral sex on him.

Sam moans with pleasure.

SAM: “Oh … Oh … Jesus! … Oh … Gee …”

Suddenly, Sam realizes that something may be wrong.  He gives an anxious look at Hedra.

SAM: “Allie?”

HEDRA: “No, not Allie.”

She resumes what she was doing.  Sam would like to push her away, but he is so close to his climax that he can’t do it.

He has his orgasm, with Hedra not moving away from between his legs.

She only raises her head when she is sure it is over.  She gives him a light kiss on the pubis and smiles.

Then she moves up in the bed, her head finally resting near Sam’s one.  Sam is breathing very hard.  Hedra strokes him on the chest, and kisses his cheek.

Then she gets up and off the bed, and puts her raincoat back on.

She picks up a half-full glass on a table and drinks from it, what looks like beer.  Then she eats something from a plate on the same table.

Sam breathes normally again and moves slowly on the bed.  He lies on his side, facing away from Hedra.

HEDRA: Hey!

With the glass still in her hand, she walks to the bed.

HEDRA: Hey, sleepy guy.

She puts the glass on the night table, and kneels on the bed.  She starts stroking Sam’s shoulder.

HEDRA: I knew it.

SAM: Knew what?

HEDRA: I told her.  Guys like you don’t change.  You can’t be faithful.  And now she’ll know.

Let’s backtrack for a second.  Sam has cheated on Allison during the film.  That is without question.  She takes him back though and he promises not to do it again.  Hedra and Allison have discussed this, so Hedra is aware of the dynamic of their relationship.  Hedra is also psychologically disturbed.  That, too, is certain.

But in what world can this be considered a consensual sexual act?  Even if you believe Sam has some sort of comeuppance due him, do we really want to believe initiating “sex” with a sleeping person is an ethical idea?  Let’s say people have agreed in advance that sleepy-time sex, initiating when someone is coming out of sleep, is an acceptable way to start sexual activity between them, with the right of refusal clearly available to all participants involved.  The point is, that is something agreed upon by the participants in the sexual activity, not people pretending to be one of the participants as a way to either prove or get away with something.

When Sam returns the following night, Hedy again impersonates Allie {my emphasis} and performs oral sex on him.

I don’t know about you, but I would call that rape by deception …

… a crime in which the perpetrator has the victim’s sexual consent and compliance, but gains it through deception or fraudulent statements or actions.

Even Wikipedia’s definition falls short, because it’s looking at the actions of the victim instead of the intent of those actions.  The victim consents to have sex with someone they want to have sex with, not a rapist pretending to be that someone.

Still don’t think this is rape?  Consider this woman’s description of what happened to her.

She says she’d been fast asleep in the dark basement bedroom she shared with her boyfriend, when she heard footsteps she assumed were his. …

“I heard him next to the bed. I was facing the wall. The next thing I know, he starts kissing me or whatever.” …

[S]he never suspected a thing until after they had sex, and he got up to leave. …

“That’s when he opened the door, and I see the light from the upstairs door and he went, shh, with that disgusting look on his face, with that smirk.  Don’t tell nobody.  And I’m just like, oh my God, what just happened?  Like, I totally freaked out.” …

[She] immediately went to the police, and her boyfriend’s brother was charged and later tried for rape. But [she] was ultimately horrified all over again when [the] highest court ruled that because the guy never used physical force, what he did didn’t legally amount to rape. …

“I just was like I don’t understand. But I didn’t consent. I consented to my boyfriend.  {my emphasis} And for them to say, well, it’s not really rape. Well, how can it not be? How can it not be?” {also my emphasis}

Indeed.  How can it not be?  I will not entertain any arguments that because it wasn’t technically against the law, it wasn’t rape.  Rape laws have always been notoriously behind the times when it comes to recognizing the reality of sexual assault, coercion, and other forms of sexual violence.

And, please, please, please don’t make the argument that Hedra warned Sam that she wasn’t Allie midway through, therefore it wasn’t rape.  Yelling “Surprise!” or “Gotcha!” doesn’t magically invalidate the sexual assault before the revelation of the truth (or even after it).

And, for all that is good and right with the world, please don’t make the argument that because Sam had an orgasm and ejaculated, the activity was consensual.

Quite simply, our bodies respond to sex.  And our bodies respond to fear.  Our bodies respond.  They do so uniquely and often entirely without our permission or intention.  Orgasm during rape isn’t an example of an expression of pleasure.  It’s an example of a physical response whether the mind’s on board or not, like breathing, sweating, or an adrenaline rush. …

One study from the 1980s found that approximately 90–95% of men who are raped never report the incident.  It’s not unreasonable to think that these numbers must be even greater for men whose rape stimulates arousal and ejaculation. …

Arousal and orgasm during rape happen.  Probably much more often than we know.  It is not a sign of guilt or pleasure.  It in no way indicates consent.  It is a sign that our bodies react, just as they do with a rapid heartbeat or an adrenaline rush.  We react.  And then we try to heal.

And you had better believe sexual abusers/rapists exploit this fact to try and convince their victims that their involuntary arousal is proof they really wanted to be assaulted.

She resumes what she was doing.  Sam would like to push her away, but he is so close to his climax that he can’t do it. {my emphasis} …

He has his orgasm, with Hedra not moving away from between his legs. {also my emphasis} …

He lies on his side, facing away from Hedra.  {not a good sign} …

Hedra strokes him on the chest and kisses his cheek.  {as if they were lovers or something?} …

HEDRA: Hey, sleepy guy.  {endearments – really?}

… She starts stroking Sam’s shoulder.  {again with the fake affection}

Way to exploit ejaculatory inevitability for your own rotten ends, Hedra.

And if you’re going to make the absolutely half-assed argument that men can’t be raped by women, reverse the roles in the above scenario (make Sam be Hedra and Hedra be Sam).

That hilarity is followed up by Sam going to Hedy’s house pretending to be Al.  He climbs into bed with Hedy and starts engaging in a sexual act.  Hedy says “Oh Al” followed by Sam saying “It’s not Al.”  What makes this scene so insane is Hedy doesn’t stop.  Not only does she not stop, she even cuddles up with him afterwards.  Wait.  What?  This guy pretends to be your boyfriend to sleep with [you] and you just are lying in the bed with him … ok.  I don’t believe Hedy didn’t know who it was.  C’mon nobody is THAT sleepy where they don’t recognize a man they’ve dated for years.  It was easy for her to go along with it. {a prime example of every victim-blaming rationalization ever made against a woman raped by a man}

Would there then be any consideration that this was not rape?  And you can’t possibly make any argument that this is just a movie when the movie itself defines what happens to Allison as veritable attempted rape and this as … something else?  Something that isn’t explicitly defined as rape?  You also get negative points if you try to argue that he should have fought back to prevent it from happening.

This is the one point that I absolutely want to emphasize: WHATEVER THEIR GENDER, SEXUAL HARASSERS, SEXUAL ABUSERS, SEXUAL MOLESTERS, RAPISTS, AND ANY OTHER VICTIMIZERS ALONG THE RAPE SPECTRUM ARE DEVIOUS MOTHERFUCKERS (and they will use limiting gender roles, gaps in legal definitions, prejudices within societal norms, and whatever their tricky little minds can come up with, to get away with their violations).

Mitchell is undoutbedly a rapist.  Hedra is undoubtedly a rapist, too, even if the movie does everything in its power to prevent us from naming her as such.