Unbelievable and the Stories that Get Left Behind
Photo collage ℅ Harper’s Bazaar
Editor’s Note
This piece mentions sexual assault and rape. Use discretion in reading further.
Unbelievable brings to light the irreversible damage of not believing victims of sexual assault. The Netflix series, which was released on September 13th, tells the true story of Marie Adler (Kaitlyn Dever), a teen who reports and is pressured to recant her experience of rape to the police. Years later, two female detectives pursue a serial rape case in connection with Marie’s. Unbelievable is an honest testament to the survivor’s experience and aftermath of sexual assault. The show highlights how the trauma of sexual assault does not end after the assault itself — the investigation, medical examination, reporting to the police, and reaction of friends and family members can compound the experience. Dever’s raw performance of Marie allows the viewer to understand how the trauma of rape can manifest in different ways and that emotional numbness and apparent apathy do not discount her experience as untruthful. Unbelievable is groundbreaking because it centers the survivors in its story. Every step of the investigation, no matter how agonizing, is shown to illustrate the complex and laborious process that is often misrepresented in mainstream media.
Before the show begins, a content warning appears on the screen: “Inspired by true events, Unbelievable follows investigations of sexual assault and includes depictions of sexual violence. Viewer discretion is advised.” While it might seem obvious that a show about a serial rapist explicitly depicts sexual violence, it is still important to have a clear and transparent content warning for those who may have experiences with sexual assault. A 2018 study titled “Risk for Mental Disorders Associated With Sexual Assault: A Meta-Analysis” found that the prevalence of mental disorders is much higher in those who have experienced sexual assault than those who have not. More specifically, researcher Dr. Emily R. Dworkin found that “one third of people exposed to SA evidenced lifetime (36%) or past-year (26%) PTSD, more than one third evidenced lifetime depressive disorders (39%), and almost a quarter evidenced past-year depressive disorders (24%).” Because of the high risk of PTSD and depressive disorders in sexual assault survivors, it is imperative that shows addressing those topics use explicit content warnings, especially when they contain graphic scenes of sexual assault.
The rape scenes in Unbelievable come in flashes as Marie is forced to recount her experiences time and time again for the police. The scenes are disturbing to watch, but they are not used for shock factor, to dramatize, or to glorify. Instead, the interspersed moments are a way of mimicking how survivors experience recollection of sexual assault. Unbelievable is a brutally honest look at the experience of rape and sexual assault, which is something to be applauded for.
However, I think it is equally important to consider the impact the show this has on survivors. While I cannot speak to the experience of survivors, I would imagine that watching Unbelievable would be incredibly difficult, especially because of the graphic rape scenes. Rape is frequently used as a plot device or metaphor, which is an innapropriate and minimizing characterization of the very traumatic act. For this reason, the inclusion of rape scenes should not be a decision that is taken lightly. It is important to ask how necessary depictions of sexual assault are to the plot, whether or not the scene accurately portrays the act, and if the only way to garner empathy is through violence.
Unbelievable is a unique story in that it ends in the conviction and incarceration of the rapist. Detectives Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette) and Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever) were dedicated to finding the rapist because they cared deeply about finding justice for the survivors. When the detectives interview the different survivors, Rasmussen and Duvall exercise empathy and respect. In contrast, Detective Parker (Eric Lang), after finding inconsistencies in Marie’s statement, antagonizes Marie into recanting because she would rather go home then be interrogated about her traumatic experience. Detective Parker’s way of handling the case is much more representative of how the criminal justice system handles rape than Det. Rasmussen and Duvall.
According to RAINN, out of 1000 sexual assaults, 230 are reported to police, 46 reports lead to arrest, 9 cases are referred to a prosecutor, 5 cases lead to felony conviction, and 4.6 rapists will be incarcerated. As evidenced by these statistics, the actual conviction and incarceration of a rapist is extremely rare. Rapist Marc O’Leary (renamed Christopher McCarthy for the show) was sentenced to 327 ½ years in prison after pleading guilty to 28 counts of rape and associated felonies. While Unbelievable highlights a story that is an outlier, it by no means simplifies or glamorizes the process that ultimately led to that conviction. One of the factors in the low conviction rate of rapists is the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of untested rapekits due to a lack of prioritization and adequate resources. Kaitlyn Dever recently used her platform to talk about this issue and testified in front of Congress in support of the Debbie Smith Act, a bill that would help reduce the rapekit backlog.
Unbelievable is undoubtedly a story that needed to be told and sheds a light on the damaging ways survivors of sexual assault are treated by the criminal justice system and by friends and family. However, it is equally important to acknowledge that there are many other stories that don’t get told—those of more marginalized identities. Black, indigenous, and people of color are often left out of mainstream narratives of sexual assault. Indigenous people are twice as likely to experience sexual assault compared to all races, yet their voices are rarely centered in portrayals, discussions, and advocacy of sexual assault survivors. Additionally, rape is often seen as a solely cisgender female experience and trans people are rarely included within that narrative. According to RAINN, transgender students experience sexual assault at a higher rate than that of their cisgender counterpart: “21% of TGQN (transgender, genderqueer, nonconforming) college students have been sexually assaulted, compared to 18% of non-TGQN females, and 4% of non-TGQN males.”
So, while Marie’s story is one that deserves to be heard, there are countless others that should be brought into the forefront of mainstream platforms in the hopes of furthering justice for all survivors. Ultimately, the significance of telling unheard stories of sexual assault lies in its ability to affect real lives. By deconstructing normative representations of sexual assault in the media, justice for all survivors, which can manifest in manifold ways, becomes closer in reach.
About the Author
Lola Proctor (she/her) is a junior from Los Angeles, CA studying the Politics of Fashion & Journalism at New York University. She is currently an editor at NYU Gallatin’s magazine Embodied. She is passionate about writing, womxn in indie rock, fashion, and feminism.
