DAYS: You were raped? Eh, who cares?

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

A writer nor an actor can invalidate anyone's feelings on something and more importantly - THE LAW! We can't go around using sex as payment for whatever reason, and then cry rape.

We have gone from, EJ had a gun to her face, to the gun was present, to EJ knew there was more cars coming, to Lucas' life was in EJ's hands. Which is it?

I don't care what James, Ali, Hogie or anyone else says. The rape was not handled poorly because there was no rape. What is handled poorly is that a writer (who happens to be a good writer) takes a sexual event between two people and turns it into rape for plot purposes.. That is absolutely disgusting!

Sami could have left that vehicle at any time, but she gave EJ what he wanted (the only currency he would accept) to get what she wanted. That is what happened on everyone's screen, so how is it rape for some and not all?

What is rape? A woman who drugs a man and has sexual relations with him. Where in the sam hell was the uproar for that?

Outside of Margo being raped on ATWT, there has not been a story since that even measures. The rape began as a rape, and to this day, that is how it has remained. That is storytelling. Not this bullsh!t Hogie is trying to sell.

ANDREA

[dragonflies]

The actors know their characters better than anyone else, if the actors say it's rape, then it's rape

Slice it anyway anyone wants, but he held her at GUNPOINT, and FORCED her to have sex with him in order to save someone's life, that sure as hell ain't consensual.

The threat alone of knowing he had a gun and would use it at any moment makes it rape.

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

Over the years, soaps have turned something that was absolutely black & white into lighter shades of gray, ESPECIALLY when they plan to get 2 people together. That is disgusting!

The actors know their characters, and well they should; however, do they know facts and the law? Not sure they do...

Sami was not raped at gun point (she was not raped at all). That is an imaginary event made up by audience members...

SHAMEFUL! JUST SHAMEFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ANDREA

[ClayZebra]

If the audience members made up the rape, why have the characters, actors, and writers all called it rape?

As for fact and law, the following is the California State definition of rape. You seem very concerned about soaps during something as "black and white" as rape into something with shades of gray. If rape is so black and white, why does the mere legal DEFINTION of the word in one state have seven subheadings?

Statutory Definitions

Rape is an act of sexual intercourse carried out:

"against a person's will by means of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the person or another."

where the victim is unable to resist because of an intoxicating, narcotic, or anesthetic substance that the accused has responsibility for administering.

where the victim is unconscious of the nature of the act and the perpetrator knows it.

where the victim believes, due to the perpetrator's intentional deceptive acts, that the perpetrator is her spouse.

where the perpetrator threatens to retaliate against the victim or any other person, and there is a reasonable possibility the perpetrator will execute the threat -- "threatens to retaliate" means threatens to kidnap, imprison, inflict extreme pain, serious bodily injury, or death.

where the victim is incapable of giving consent, and the perpetrator reasonably should know this.

where the perpetrator threatens to use public authority to imprison, arrest, or deport the victim or another, and the victim reasonably believes the perpetrator is a public official.

It seems to me that the legal definition certainly leaves itself open to interpreting the incident as rape.

The show has CHOSEN to call the incident rape both within the fictional world the characters inhabit and the real world where actors and writers speak to magazines about their work. The show has a legal leg to stand on when calling the incident rape, whether you agree with their interpretation of the law or not. The show says that this is rape.

The show says that this is rape, and I say that the show has handled the fallout from the rape badly.

And kudos to James Scott for agreeing with me.

[xDaysAddict]

seriously,she was raped.emotionaly and physically.there was a gun in the car,and he forced her to help him escape.he took her CHOICE away..you say it was a deal,what kind of a deal it is to let the men she loved die? look at her face when it happened.look at all those characters,inc. sami and EJ,calling it rape.the actors call it rape..it was rape.

James is a talented actor,but EJ deserves to pay.not just for the RAPE,but for his other crimes as well..

this isnt even a thread about whetever there was a rape or not..(since the show say it was,and what I saw was rape IMO)..it's about the lack of aftermath that was poorly done.

[titan1978]

I don't understand this back and forth. If the writers, actors, and characters call this a rape, then it is a rape. They produce the show. If you are watching DAYS, what airs is the only cannon that matters.

If the viewers want EJ and Sami as a couple, and the writers respond to their chemistry, then that is where the show will go with them. They are hot together, and this is not real life.

If I can deal with the fact that a woman lives in this town that floated above her bed while possesed by the devil, I can deal with a morally challenged couple like these two being together, even if he did rape her. The chemistry will be explored, this is the kind of show DAYS is, and EJ is not as vile a rapist as some characters. Jack's rape of Kayla was way more brutal, and I got over that one with time.

Shows change things all the time. Skye Chandler Quartermaine anyone? Rick Webber the serial cheater? I may hate those changes, but if the show airs that stuff, and I still watch the show, I have to go with them on what happened.

EJ and Sami are hot, so I'm going for it. I just don't want them to take away either character's edges to do it, nor am I really interested in Sami calling the rape a seduction. It happened.

[Ilovemydays]

EJ felt that he needed to have sex with Sami in order to save Stefano and that the only thing that could save Stefano's life was the stem cells from a Brady/DiMera child. EJ was acting out of love for his father so would that mean that EJ was raped?

NO!

And why is that?

Because the injury that would be caused to Stefano without the stem cells can not be defined as UNLAWFUL.

Was EJ's refusal to help Lucas an UNLAWFUL act?

NO!

Therefore his deal with Sami was not rape.

However...there was a lot not shown in that episode.

Say Sami decided before consumating their deal that she didn't want to have sex to save Lucas and said something like,

"Nevermind, I don't want this. I'll find someone else to help me save Lucas." and EJ persued her anyway that would be rape.

Sami did not have sex with EJ because she was afraid of being shot. She wanted his help.

She acted out of fear for Lucas but not out of fear of EJ.

Again there would have had to have been:

"...fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury."

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

I never read that:

1. Sami's duress was caused by EJ.. It was because Lucas was trapped under a beam.

2. EJ was the CAUSE of Lucas being in physical danger. He was not. In fact, EJ said he would help provided that Sami had sex with him... SHE AGREED!

The only way it IS rape is if EJ were required BY LAW to assist Sami, and he did so only after she agreed to sleep with him...

Your problem is not with me. Take it up with the legislature - a battle in which I hope you are not successful because we can't use our bodies as payment for services rendered, and cry rape afterwards.

What's next: Being tossed out of the nice home a lover purchased, and then crying rape?

ANDREA

[ANDREA LOATHES REILLY]

THANK YOU!

[dragonflies]

She acted out of fear for Lucas and because she was afraid of EJ. Seriously did you see the look on her face?

Seriously spin it anyway, it's still RAPE! The actors wouldn't call it rape if it wasn't.

[SoapQueen89]

EJ raped Sami by gunpoint, whether or not he held it to her head or not, he still had it in his possession and threatened to use it. He was willing to let Lucas die if she didn't have sex with him. She was FORCED to have sex with EJ - that's RAPE. Period. She didn't do it willingly - she did it to save Lucas, the man she loves.

Consenting adults or not, it was forced, it was under duress, and it all comes down to EJ raped Sami.

Yes it's a shame that the story whitewashes it but that doesn't mean that it didn't happen on screen.

For some I suppose Ric raped Sam because she was drunk and couldn't consent to them having sex? I suppose for some Ric raped Liz when he drugged her and then had sex with her? I suppose Ric raped Carly when he took her to the motel room and she passed out and he had his way with her?

Luke raped Laura, Luke apologized, Luke felt guilty, Luke has held onto that guilt for a long time. I don't see the guilt with EJ. EJ had an agenda going in and he still has an agenda now - he wanted Sami to have the Dimera baby and he would do anything to make it happen. Even if it meant taking it by force.

As a viewer, I can get past pretty much anything, since I watch couples for chemistry and not for storyline. So the show whitewashing what has happened truly isn't new, soaps do it all the time. I don't watch soaps for reality, I watch for escape and fantasy. If a rape victim falls for her rapist, so be it. IT'S A SOAP!

The biggest soap couple in the history of Daytime is a rapist and his rape victim (Luke and Laura), do people care or remember how their story began? Many don't. They just know this couple was the biggest love story in Daytime.

IMO

Jen

[dragonflies]

WORD SoapQueen, so much WORD!!!!!

[ClayZebra]

I never claimed to have a problem with you, and do not.

I have no interest in debating the merits of the current legal system, or the various ways in which the law can be interpreted.

I further have no interest in arguing about whether or not what was shown on Days should be interpreted as rape.

Can someone make an argument that EJ did NOT rape Sami according to the definition I posted? Sure, and some have.

Can someone make an argument that EJ DID rape Sami according to the definition I posted? Sure, and some have.

I don't care.

I care that the SHOW chose the valid interpretation that EJ DID rape Sami, and then followed that interpretation by revealing her rape off-screen and have no reaction from her family, or indeed from Sami herself.

THAT is what I have a problem with. THAT is what I said in the original post.

[Keith]

People need to stop srguing about the rape. EJ had a gun, and even if he DIDN'T, Sami would have been AFRAID of him, because she helped set him up and she KNOW he's a DiMera. Cut away the deal, and there's her durress caused directly fromt he threat of EJ being in the car with her. He LOCKED the doors. Did he tell her she could go at one point? Yes, but she behaved as she always does, like a deer caught in headlights. EJ USED her insecurity to emotionally and psychologically take away any choice she felt she could make. Go ahead and argue the physical aspects. And stop arguing he god damned law. Law can not define something like rape. It's all in perspective, and can be from the perspective of the victim, IMO. If a woman is crying and saying no, no, no, whether she consented originally or not, I believe you can call it rape. THAT is a fact I think too many people are ignoring. While the whole rape was not shown, the beginning was. When she realized what he was going to do, she was disgusted, because she was so in love with Lucas and everything was finally working out.

[Ponz]

Not only is this a bizarre analogy but it's factually inaccurate. Elvis was ordered to impregnate any Brady woman. The fact that it was Sami and the circumstances in which it occured were choices that HE made.

He threatened her with a gun. He still had the gun in his possession when he gave Sami the ultimatum. To claim that the gun (and the threat) had no impact on her mental state is implausible. I'm sure a jury would consider it relevant.