A Tale of Two Sexual Assaults on Jennifer Lawrence
The second assault has received similar coverage, but more as a human interest piece than anything else. The legal ramifications of this second incident are practically nonexistent.
The overall response to the first assault was outrage. The response to the second was indifference.
What were these two incidents? The
first, as you may have guessed, was the 2014 iCloud hack in which private/nude photos of several female celebrities, including
Lawrence, were stolen and published online. The second incident involved the
filming of Jennifer Lawrence’s first sex scene (for the sci-fi movie Passengers). Let me set the stage by
sharing three similarities between the photo hack and the sex scene.
First, in the aftermath of the photo hack, Lawrence experienced anxiety. “I was just so afraid,” she later said. “I didn’t know how this would affect my career.”
Similarly, when dealing with the
sex scene in Passengers, Lawrence experienced anxiety—before and after the shoot: “I got really, really drunk. But then
that led to more anxiety when I got home because I was like, ‘What have I done?
I don’t know.’”
Second, in the aftermath of the stolen
photos, Lawrence reached out to one of her parents:
I promise
you, anybody given the choice of that kind of money [for making The Hunger Games] or having to make a
phone call to tell your dad that something like that has happened, it’s not
worth it.
In the aftermath of the sex scene
in Passengers, Lawrence once again reached
out to one of her parents—this time, her mother:
[I]t was…my
first time kissing a married man, and guilt is the worst feeling in your
stomach. And I knew it was my job, but I couldn’t tell my stomach that. So I called
my mom, and I was like, “Will you just tell me it’s OK?”
Third, in response to the stolen
photos, Lawrence experienced intense grief. “I was outside crying,” she said, “and [my dog] Pippi jumped up on my lap and started licking up all my
tears, and I couldn’t put her down for hours. And I mean, hours.”
Likewise, Lawrence experienced grief
over the sex scene in Passengers. As evidenced
by the quotes we’ve already looked at, her grief was shown in the coping
mechanisms she used to eliminate distress, sorrow, and regret.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A
CONSCIENCE
It is true that there are some
obvious differences between the stolen photos and the sex scene. For example,
the first incident took place against Lawrence’s wishes, whereas the second
took place with her consent. I point out the similarities above, not to prove
that the situations are identical, but that they are both morally problematic. The
scenarios may not be the same, but they both are serious.
For the purposes of this article,
let’s summarize the differences this way: the photo hack was a violation of
Lawrence’s will, while the sex scene was a violation of Lawrence’s conscience.
In our individualistic society,
violence to a person’s will is quickly labeled as evil—and rightly (if not
sometimes inordinately)
so. That’s why no reputable news source attempted to explain why the hacked
photo incident was no big deal. It was
a big deal. In the words of Jennifer Lawrence herself, it was “a sex crime…a sexual violation.”
When it comes to violations of
conscience, however, our hypersexualized culture is not so quick to respond.
We’ve become acclimated to sex as an entertainment tool, not realizing that
mainstream actors are routinely coerced and manipulated into performing sex and/or nude scenes. In the face
of overwhelming societal pressure, they often submit to things they otherwise wouldn’t do.
As I have researched the pornification of our entertainment over the last few years, I’ve come across more and
more stories from actors (mostly women) who describe their experience filming
sex scenes with words like “embarrassing,” “mortifying,” “humiliating,” and “terrifying.”
In fact, there’s an eerie similarity between how movie stars feel and how porn stars feel about
shooting nude and/or sex scenes. Their feelings matter little, however, in the
face of producers, directors, and audiences who don’t know and/or don’t care
about their plight.
This objectification of human
beings made in God’s image is a prevalent evil affecting all types of films, from
Fifty Shades of Grey to The Wolf of Wall Street. It encourages us as a viewing audience to dehumanize actors in our minds, if even only unconsciously.
Going back to Lawrence’s
experience in Passengers: it is clear
she felt guilty about sexually acting out with a married man. Her conscience fought her during the process.
Even so, she was able to later summarize the experience by saying, “[E]verything was done right; nobody did anything wrong.” (She even
publicly joked about the experience shortly before the movie’s release.)
So what happened there? How did
she go from guilt to acceptance? How did she go from thinking something was
horribly wrong to thinking nothing was wrong? One of two things happened.
Option #1: She gained some
maturity; her conscience was strengthened.
Option #2: She lost some of her
innocence; her conscience was seared.
I’m going with option #2.
Lawrence’s conscience, tethered to a society consumed with its own
entertainment, was dragged through the mud. It then got up, wiped itself off,
and followed the culture’s cues by denying there was ever any mud to begin
with.
No one person attacked Lawrence
during the filming of her first cinematic sex scene. The assault was a group
effort. We as a culture are the perpetrator.
A CONSPIRACY OF IGNORANCE
Based on Lawrence’s public
statements, the photo hack of 2014 was likely the toughest thing she has yet
experienced as a celebrity. It traumatized her with grief and shame. It made
her feel vulnerable and fearful.
Similarly, the sex scene in Passengers was, by Lawrence’s own
admission, the toughest thing she has yet experienced as an actor. It traumatized
her with grief and shame. It made her feel, as she
put it, “the most vulnerable I’ve ever been.”
How does our society react to statements
like that? With a yawn. A shrug. A blithe wave of the hand. We’re too enamored
with the entertainment provided for us on the backs of burdened consciences. We’re
too secure in the reality that what we don’t know, or don’t fully understand, won’t
hurt us. We’re happy in our ignorance.
Sure, many of us are not acting with
ill will. But make no mistake: our ignorance is not Jennifer Lawrence’s bliss.
Update: I’ve published a follow-up piece that answers some criticism I have received: Why Compare the Filming of Sex Scenes to Sexual Assault?
Update #2: since its original publication, this blog post has received some minor edits in order to eliminate some needlessly controversial verbiage and to enhance its rhetorical efficacy.
Update: I’ve published a follow-up piece that answers some criticism I have received: Why Compare the Filming of Sex Scenes to Sexual Assault?
Update #2: since its original publication, this blog post has received some minor edits in order to eliminate some needlessly controversial verbiage and to enhance its rhetorical efficacy.
photo credit: jenlawfilms
via flickr,
CC