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Stop Glamorizing Gender-Based Violence

This is not #goals.

May 08, 2017

Taking out my phone, I composed a message to my Dad - Suicide Squad, 6:30 pm at the Cinemax - can we go? I don’t usually buy into the whole superhero movie franchise, but after reading rave reviews and watching countless YouTube videos of “Harley Quinn Makeup Tutorials,” I just had to give in. It wasn’t until I was sitting in the theater, mid-movie, when a wave of frustration washed over me - how are so many people calling Harley Quinn and The Joker’s relationship “#goals”? Is that really what people call love?

Gender-based violence - the topic that nobody wants to talk about yet they are perfectly willing to watch examples of it in mainstream media productions for entertainment. I am a part of a generation that lives under a thick cloud of media influence - and its convenience and accessibility make it nearly impossible to escape. The compelling influence of the media only further validates my mounting concern about how it brings the wrong kind of attention to issues of unhealthy relationships and abuse.

Harley Quinn and The Joker’s relationship is one of thousands of examples of how pop culture glamorizes gender-based violence and how my generation is consequently brainwashed by it. Many in Suicide Squad’s audience see The Joker as a devoted and passionate partner, completely desensitized to his controlling nature and emotional manipulation of Harley Quinn. The Joker using Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel like a puppet to facilitate his escape from an insane asylum is not love. Taking away her free will by sending an electric current through her brain is not love. Yet, this behavior is normalized by the media painting a picture-perfect romantic relationship over one plagued by psychological distress.

The entertainment industry casts a dangerous shadow over abuse, burying it under idolized pop culture icons and calling it “#goals,” and those of us who feed into it only multiply the reach and severity of the issue. The scariest part? Instead of the most powerful influence in our world today bringing awareness to issues like gender-based violence, they exploit it.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.

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Stop Glamorizing Gender-Based Violence

This is not #goals.

Subscribe to our Newsletter

No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

Nobody deserves to be living in poverty.

"Nobody living in one of the most influential nations in the world should be worried about making ends meet."

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What are the benefits of raising the minimum wage?

What are the states that have set a $15/hour minimum wage?

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Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

1. When you have to provide an "interesting fact" for your first day ice-breaker.

2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

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9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

11. And your group-mates are trying to chat about life instead of the assignment.

12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

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