In the wake of the #MeToo movement — ‘13 Reasons Why’ paints a harrowing picture

The second season of Netflix’s hit-high school drama, “13 Reasons Why,” dropped in mid-May and if you’re like me, you’ve already cannonballed through all 13 episodes.

Requisite ***SPOILER*** warning, but I’ll try to avoid that as much as possible.

This season picks up in the aftermath of what Clay, Tony, Jessica and the gang discovered from season one: that they all had a role to play in why Hannah Baker killed herself.

However, where critics of the show might have questioned whether or not “13 Reasons Why” glorified suicide, this season focus’ on something just as important to talk about and not at all a means of glorification: sexual assault.

Jessica (played by Alisha Boe), is dealing with confronting the reality of her sexual assault that occurred at the hands of the show’s antagonist Bryce Walker (played by Justin Prentice). Throughout the season, you are compelled to root for Jessica to admit on the record that Bryce raped her in order to help the Baker’s trial against the school district. But that’s not the reality of what women go through because it’s not that easy.

Bryce, meanwhile, has a new girlfriend that has bought into the school rumor that Jessica is a slut who wanted to sleep with Bryce. Isn’t that the way it goes? Somehow the girl ‘wanted it.’ She may have been dancing provocatively or dressed a certain way. And the kids in the school believe it, just as many in our society do. Bryce’s new girlfriend, Chloe (Anne Winters), is subject to rape by Bryce, but she doesn’t know it do to heavy intoxication. This is a distressing reminder that sexual assault can occur at the hands of someone you’re in a relationship with. It isn’t always a stranger.

A major plot point of the show is the Clubhouse. A place where the baseball team invites girls over to party, drink, and in the cases of Chloe and Nina (Samantha Logan), have things go too far.

A perfect scene in the show is when the show’s main protagonist and audience proxy, Clay (Dylan Minnette) is sitting with Justin and Sheri (played by Brandon Flynn and Ajiona Alexus, respectively) and Clay asks: “why do these girls put themselves in this situation?” It’s a question I’m sure many of us have asked and it’s either a question of misunderstanding or ignorance to toxic masculinity. Sheri rightfully puts Clay in his place, but this scene displays how too many people in the world blame the victim and reinforces the rumors being spread about Jessica.

There’s a breakthrough in the season when Chloe finds out what had happened to her at the Clubhouse, and attempts to testify in the Baker’s trial against Bryce to prove that the school cultivated a culture of toxic masculinity.

But on trial, she sees Bryce in the courtroom and can’t come to say that Bryce forced himself upon her without consent.

The show does a solid job of what (and I can only speculate) it’s truly like for women to face their attackers and pursue justice. Women who are preyed on, are often asked to be the voice that can finally end a predator’s reign of terror, but facing what happened to them or being afraid of the repercussions is why it will often take years for people to come forward with an accusation. In the recent #MeToo movement, we’ve seen many women come out to tell their story. A story that may have been decades ago, years ago or months ago. But just because some of these cases are old, doesn’t mean they should be disregarded. It takes tremendous amounts of courage to come forward and that’s what we see in the show.

While the show doesn’t provide us with many solutions on how to start teaching young men to not be gross, it does show the consequences of their actions. Whether that’s the guilt of seeing rape happen to someone and doing nothing or being complicit in a culture of toxic masculinity as many on the baseball team at Liberty High are.

Jessica deals with crippling anxiety over the attack and we as viewers have to understand that this isn’t an over-dramatization. There are varying degrees of suffering and that’s shown with Nina, Jessica and Hannah’s characters.

Alex (Miles Heizer) and Zach (Ross Butler) deal with the guilt of allowing toxic masculinity to fester and not being courageous enough to stand up against it. We need to learn that staying silent doesn’t help anyone. Whether you’re protecting your boys or not engaging in it yourself: you are guilty if you allow this to happen.

Where the season hits closest to reality — and MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING here — is that the primary rapist doesn’t suffer any consequences.

And that’s the heart-wrenching, but factual reality. Bryce gets a slap on the wrist (with shades of the Stanford rape trial here) so as not to impact Bryce’s future.

There’s much that society can learn from season 2 of “13 Reasons Why.” From speaking up against someone doing wrong — despite their social and class status — to preventing rape culture from spreading within your school or community before it’s too late. It’s up to the men in this culture to prevent this from happening.

Teaching women to protect themselves is like putting on a bulletproof vest, when we should be teaching young boys from the start that consent and respect for women is important, i.e. taking the gun away in the first place.

If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault refer to the National Sexual Assault Hotline: 1–800–656–4673 or visit rainn.org.