In high school I competed a lot in speech and debate competitions, and during the down time we tended to discuss the merit of come of our competition. (ie. rip them apart) A theme we constantly berated was the overuse of what we called the three R’s: rape, race, and religion. I came home again and again swearing that if I saw another girl spend ten minutes pretending to cry about being raped, then having cancer, then finding Jesus, and subsequently discovering she was actually black, I would die. I was bored of the three R’s, and more than that, I felt strong animosity towards them.
Last night I came home from a poetry slam in which the R’s made another appearance. In the poetry slam community, I also get a little sick of these themes. So last night when I came home, I was very interested to read the article by Eve Ensler that a friend had shared with me on facebook. This article has been spreading around the web like wild fire. In it, Ensler posits that she is over the trivialization of rape. The article is incredibly well written and reads more like a monologue or poem than article.
This article really made me think. REALLY made me think. I too have written poems about the three R’s, and have enjoyed plenty others. Why do I get sick of them? It’s because I too am over the trivialization of rape. I’m over the exploitation of rape, race, religion, and a myriad of other topics. In fact, I’m not sick of the three R’s. They are so integral to my life that I realize my anger comes from their use as justifiers for bad art. I might even want to see more art about rape. I don’t want to see art that tries to cover its flaws by manipulating our “rape sympathy button”. We need more of the three R’s in our art, because I’m not over them. I deal with all three intimately every day of my existence. Truly, I am deeply offended that artists would exploit these topics to get praise.
Here’s what I’m interested to know now. Have you guys ever come away from a piece of art feeling like your emotions were exploited? Have you ever used easy emotional triggers in your art? I don’t think I was alone in feeling manipulated by the three R’s, and I have learned a valuable lesson about why.
