HAA's Rape Storylines

[Anaya]

Shouldn't i use the word "attacked" or "forced upon"... how dare anyone say the word rape on HAA!

For a show that has shown a rape storyline so many times how stupid is it that they dont actually use the word ever! I think it actually trivialises the whole rape issue and to think that the show could actually use the storyline as a platform to highlight the rape issue... they could actually give a good insight to viewers about this whole issue. But by not even using the word they make the storyline less effective and also cause a whole lot of misunderstandings!

Victims of rape actually suffer in silence for years, some can be so embarassed, scared or just want to put the whole experience out of mind... and highlighting this issue properly on HAA could help these real life victims get the courage to speak up against their perpetrators or even just deal with the issue out in the open!

HAA has done this storyline so many times... with Carly, Chloe, Dani and recently with Rachel yet everytime they have not done full justice to the issue of Rape! Also what i find really annoying is that they nearly always show the rapist as remorseful... which i find nothing wrong with... but they always have to be people that have done something bad once and they really didn't mean to... it was just a bad phase in their lives!

Also Nearly always the rapist is shown to be misunderstood and nearly always it is a friend/relative of the rape victim that realises that the rapist is actually a good person... when they get trapped/lost with them during some sort of natural disaster... and during these couple of hours/days they suddenly realise what a great person the rapist is and fall in love with their friend/relatives "attacker"!

I just dont get what HAA is trying to show... i know it is a soap and therefore the storylines have to be highly dramatised to keep the viewer hooked... but wouldn't a viewer be interested to see how a rape victim deals with whats happened to them... like many who feel violated, shame, embarassment, discontentment with life or even to show them get justice for the crime by fighting a case against the actual rapist.

Instead they nearly always show more about the rapist's remorse, and even that is not handled correctly... firstly not all rapist's are remorseful and they will do it again and secondly if they are to be shown as remorseful... they are entitled to another chance but does it have to be right under the nose of the victim?! Can Henk/Kane/Jonah not have stayed away and started a new life without falling in love with someone so close to the person they raped?!

Also everytime they end up showing the rape victim as becoming obssessed with the rapist or unhinged or acting oddly... for which there is a reason... but you always end up becoming annoyed with the rape victim and after a while you just dont care about the whole damn thing!

Is it so hard for HAA to do justice to a rape storyline... like they have with other issues such as bullimia, OCD etc. where you felt for the character going through their issues and you actually were interested in their journey and how they overcame everything. Also at the same time they gave a great insight to these very real and sensitive issues.

Sorry about the rant... maybe i've got the issues... lol!

you've made such a good point, with all the issues that they deal with, why can't they use the word!! but just to say that michael DIDN'T actually rape tasha and he really was a victim of mama rose. i can't understand how girls in the show can fall for those who REALLY raped someone, ie. cassie and henk, who i find a totally gross couple anyway! but the worst was surely kirsty and kane! don't get me wrong, i actually liked them together, they did have good chemistry and i wanted things to work with them...it was just when i took a step back that it always came back to me that he raped HER SISTER. unlike the cassie-rachel situation, this was her own sister, no matter how you feel, how could you be with someone who'd done that to a member of your own family. btw. did she try to fight her feelings at all? i don't seem to recall her doing so, but i'm not sure?

I believe that very early on Kirsty did try to fight her feelings for Kane but it lasted all of 5 minutes! Then she realised that it is perfectly fine for you to have such loving feelings towards your own sister's rapist!

[Pierced Musie]

The only one I have a real problem with is the Kirsty/Kane storyline.

Both Jonah and Henk had problems when they raped, with Jonah being brainwashed and Henk fuelled by drugs. The reason I don't see a problem is that they both showed extreme remorse for what they did, so much so that they have tried to do the right thing. Henk left Cassie to please Rachel and only came back when Cassie was in big trouble.

But the Kirsty/Kane storyline...

It isn't so much Kane. The transition from not thinking he had done anything wrong to realizing that he had truly hurt Dani was a brilliant moment, with him saying he was sorry. And then that gets shot to hell by the stupid Kirsty/Kane romance. Okay so they bonded and then he realized it was wrong and left her.

Cue 2003 when he comes back and Kirsty basically calls Dani selfish. I would have preferred the storyline to be around Dani & Kane building up some kind of friendship (like we saw in 2004 when he was trying to protect her from Felix and Sarah) and then perhaps Kirsty and Kane reuniting.

The writers really messed up.

[H&A_FAN]

I think HAA need to leave this type of story alone. It's actually a recurring theme - Kane/Jonah/Henk and Macca(sort of for a while). They do bad, feed the audience and thier wannabe girlfriends a bunch of bull (yes I think Jonah is lying) and then make the victim/concerned parent etc. out as a whinger (especially Dani). It's trivial to say the least, bordering on rediculous.

[Anaya]

I do think that they should put a end to these reformed rapist storylines as it has been done to death on this show! Also by the end of it you do actually start to feel annoyed towards the victim (which is wrong) because they seem to turn them in to these obssesive, whiny people and it gets a little boring!

[carmelle]

They really need to stop reforming these characters, especially because people start getting irritated with their victims. It's not fair.

I really wish they hadn't re-written history just so that they could have paired Jonah/Michael with Martha for a few weeks. It would have been much better to see Martha face the moral dilema of having feelings for the man who raped her best friend and possibly fathered her child.

Yes Michael was a sweet guy but that doesn't mean I have to believe that Jonah didn't do what he clearly did.

By re-writing the past they have changed things for Tasha, Robbie and Ella - which I think is so unfair as they're not even here to find out and deal with this. It also wastes the work/effort that was done by the actors/actresses at the time of the original storyline.

As for the Kane/Kirsty story - I hated it. This was the man that had raped her own sister and she put her family through hell just so that she could be with him. I didn't really hate Kane so much, it was Kirsty that I couldn't stand. I just couldn't understand her.

As for the Henk storyline - I don't mind it as much. It's different from the other storylines and even though Henk is supposed to be a changed man, he isn't being portrayed as a victim. I also like the fact that they have written it so that Rachel still can't get over what's happened/forgive him.