On Abuse

Man, enchiladas on Super Bowl Sunday. Plus, I was able to drop off all those comics I brought back to the apartment for my "Best of. . ." series, at my mother's house again. And, I was able to to start alphabetizing my comics. Now that I'm back, I can't figure how to start this post, so I'll just jump in. There's been a lot of specualtion amongst fans of the Tenchi Muyo series, as to whether Ryoko was the victim of sexual abuse while under Kagato's control, and I just feel like discussing that briefly.

First off, kalinara has a nice post about whether things such as mind control and technoviruses could also be considered a form of rape, given that they are used to control others into doing things against their will. I would say I'd tend to agree with the idea that they are certainly a form of violation, and in some cases, I would say are even worse (in a fictional world, where these things are more common). When a character is physically raped, they can still be trying to resist, or even if they're immobilized, they haven't consented in their mind. In the case of mind control, even that is denied, as the person's free will is circumvented or blocked. In that sense, Ryoko has most definitely been a victim of abuse, seeing as Kagato forced her to kill and destroy for centuries.

Still, to my knowledge, it has never been discussed conclusively whether he did anything "physical" to Ryoko, during the years she was under his control. And I can see agruments in his demeanor for both. On the one hand, he considered her a weapon, a tool, just something to use for whatever purpose suited his needs at that moment. If he has no problems using her to kill, it would seem doubtful he'd halt at the thought of raping her. At the same time, he might consider her "beneath" him, that as she is a "thing", it would lower him to consort with her in such a manner.

Perhaps we can glean some clues from Ryoko's behavior. At first glance, it isn't promising. Ryoko thinks nothing of flaunting her body, parading around nude as a means to tempt Tenchi. In many cases she may start hugging him, only to progress to outright groping. This might suggest that this is the closest thing to affection Ryoko was exposed to, that with Kagato's philosophy of "want, take, have", Ryoko learned that you should simply grab whatever you desire, whether it wants to go along with that or not.

But, it may not be as bad as it looks. It may simply be Ryoko doesn't have any other idea what to do. There was an episode where Sasami tricked both Ryoko and Ayeka into believing that the romance comics Tenchi's father had held the key to getting Tenchi to profess his love. Ryoko immediately began copying the actions depicted in the comic, cooking for Tenchi, and making odd comments, like one might make in a soap opera. From this, you could infer that Ryoko has simply been so lacking in personal relationships that she has no idea how to go about professing her love for someone, or how to get that person to return that affection. As such, she went with what seemed simplest first, graphic physical displays of her assests, and her interest in Tenchi's. Having had that failed, she discarded the tactic (somewhat, she's still prone to tackling Tenchi with her hugs) and began to try different ideas. Examples would include finding a traditional Japanese kimono and greeting Tenchi in it. Of course, ti belogned to Tenchi's mother, and she accidentally ripped it, so it backfired, but you can see she seems to be learning and adapting on the fly.

So, what is the final conclusion? Well, mine is that Kagato wasn't interested in establishing power over her through sex, and so never bothered with that. He was to busy violating Ryoko in others ways, which I think were even more damaging. Personally, while I'd love to have the creators say, "No, Ryoko was never raped by Kagato", I can live without knowing rather than have them come out and say "Yes, he did rape Ryoko". Quite frankly, her past is traumatic enough as it is.

Based on what evidence I've managed to give, which I'm certain isn't everything, what do you think? And would controlling a person's mind and making them do something, whether sexual or not, be a greater violation than the physical act of rape?