Spoiler alerts galore.
I follow Lucy Hale on Instagram. For those that don’t know who she is/don’t obsessively read US Weekly, Lucy is the actress who plays Aria Montgomery on Pretty Little Liars. The other day she posted a picture of herself and Ian Harding, the actor who plays Ezra Fitz, Aria’s high school English teacher and her rapist.
I had a strong reaction to seeing their smiling faces, one of total disgust. I could not separate the actor from the role he plays on PLL. I suspect that this is due largely to the fact that the predatory role he plays on the show is not addressed in any way, and that his ongoing abuse of Aria is framed as a normal, consensual “relationship.”
Some background on this TV show. PLL focuses largely on the lives and resplendent manes of four high school students who are dealing with the aftermath of the murder of a close frenemy, Alison DeLaurentis. Aria, Emily Fields, Hanna Marin, and Spencer Hastings are trying to solve this mystery, generally while wearing clothes more expensive than I care to think about. There is love, heartbreak, sex, texting, and a mystery villain named A. Opportunities for informative flashbacks (filmed through a gauzy filter) abound. The show drops the ball on all kinds of things, from its near-total lack of diversity* to the fact that the ongoing sexual assault of a student is framed as a fine romance. I enjoy PLL with relish; it is so lacking in any components of critical analysis that I have the option to call out any of them, or think about none of them, every time I tune in on Netflix.
On the show, Ezra is not framed as a rapist. He is not framed as a child abuser. He is framed as the equal partner of a high school student, a student he teaches. This is almost certainly deliberate, and these representations of Ezra as a partner, rather than a rapist, work to centre the idea that Aria is capable of giving consent in this context. Let me state in no uncertain terms: Aria Montgomery is not capable of giving consent to her adult teacher. In Pennsylvania, where the fictitious town of Rosewood is located, there are clear laws about sexually assaulting minors over the age of consent when perpetrators hold power over these minors.
Prior to December 20, 2011, “teachers who had sex with students who are over the age of consent — which begins at 16 in Pennsylvania — were probably only going to face charges of corrupting a minor, a misdemeanor calling for up to five years in prison.” With the passing of Senate Bill 1183, the state of Pennsylvania now includes teachers in the state’s institutional sexual assault statute, and therefore any teacher who sexually assaults a minor is committing a third-degree felony. If convicted of this crime, he or she may serve up to seven years in prison and may have to register as a sex offender for up to ten years. The show began filming prior to the passing of this law, but even before Bill 1183 was passed, Ezra was committing a sex crime against a minor that could have landed him in prison for up to five years.
“How can a show completely ignore the ongoing sexual assault of one of the main characters?” you might ask. Good question. I wanted to know too. So I took a closer look at Ezra and Aria and how they’re portrayed in the series. It’s my belief that PLL pushes the message that Ezra is somehow non-threatening because he’s emotionally immature, making him more of a peer to Aria than an authority figure. Aria is presented as “mature” for her age, as the instigator of this assault (which is legally impossible – this is victim blaming at its worst), and as the true holder of power in their relationship. The characters’ interactions with one another are written in such a way to convince viewers that Aria is giving Ezra what I would call “artificial consent.” Sinister, no?
Let’s talk about how Ezra is presented in the show as Aria’s social and romantic peer, instead of as a criminal abusing a child.
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When Aria and Ezra first meet outside of school, Aria is deliberately vague about her age, discussing an interest in studying English. It’s suggested that Ezra believes she is a college student. The two find they have a lot in common, and end up having what the show presents as a hot makeout session in the bathroom, but what is in fact a sexual assault. The show implies that Aria has purposely misrepresented her age, that Ezra has been bamboozled, and that Aria is therefore the instigator of this assault.
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The next time Ezra and Aria meet he is introducing himself as her new English teacher. He’s real pissed that Aria “tricked” him into assaulting her. Again, Ezra is portrayed as the one who has had power exercised over him.
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Aria is also depicted as an irresistible siren. How could Ezra possibly resist her charms? PLL implies that of course he could not, and Ezra engages in an ongoing cycle of sexual abuse. Ezra is an adult. Aria is not. Ezra is Aria’s teacher. He is raping her and it is his fault alone.
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This whole INTERACTION is shown as a relationship between equals, or even between a mature teenager and her devoted man-child. Aria often considers ending the relationship and even does call things off for brief periods of time. Ezra throws tantrums about her relationship decisions in the form of thinly-veiled English lectures (these scenes are particularly delightful and outlandishly melodramatic). Aria gets to call the shots. Ezra is immature. He is going through “emotional puberty.” Ezra loves Aria and wants to be with her forever and ever. Rainbows, puppies, kittens.
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Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.
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Real talk. Out of all of the adult men on the show, other than the dads (and this is a show for teenagers; no one cares about the dads) Ezra looks younger than every male lead–he’s clean-shaven and baby-faced, and this is no accident. He reads younger than the high school love interests – I’m looking at you, Caleb Rivers and Toby Cavanaugh. Aria looks to be at least Ezra’s age. This works both to normalize this situation, and also to present Ezra as a child, non-threatening and incapable of victimizing Aria for four drama-laden seasons on ABC Family.
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When Aria’s parents find out about this ongoing assault they are appalled, although not appalled enough to call it what is it: rape. The show frames Aria’s dad’s anger at Ezra as a victimization of Ezra in some way. You see, his anger could negatively affect Ezra’s employment, or even publicly reveal Ezra’s ongoing abuse of power (oh no, consequences for committing a third degree felony!). Viewers are meant to identify with Ezra’s fear of being punished for a crime that he considers a relationship. The parents are overreacting in this characterization to what viewers are supposed to see as a normal relationship that Aria actively fights to continue.
Because I can’t even adequately begin to articulate my outrage about the subject, I expected some kind of public outrage about the awfulness that is this totally disgusting situation. Yeah, no. Much of the online responses to Ezra Fitz the rapist talk about the exciting scandals or mention the issue only in passing.
Even a website available as a resource to parents who want to know what their children are watching doesn’t warn about the normalization of the sexual assault of a child. Instead, it discusses a “teen’s love affair with her high-school teacher” leading to “some intense physical encounters that stop just before the act itself.” *makes face fitting the definition of outrage*
(As a side note, this website also “warns” concerned parents about a sexual relationship between two female leads in the same problematic sentence that frames Aria and Ezra as having a “relationship.” Consenting sexual relationships between teens of any and all genders, gender identities, and sexual orientations are not something that I would consider warning parents about, as healthy expressions of teenage intimacy. But to highlight a consensual same-sex relationships next to a warning about child abuse, is not okay. So not okay.)
So what does this effort to conflate the rape of a child with artificial consent mean in real life? I have a few theories. Let’s start with my own experience:
I was the victim of sexual harassment by two different adult supervisors at a job I held as a high school student. This harassment was laced with racism (“women from [insert country here] are sexually submissive,” “women from [insert country here] all look like this, and that turns me on”), in addition to the ongoing racism I experienced from a third supervisor (“my friend isn’t Black, but he has horse hair, like yours”).
In one case my thigh was rubbed as I was being harassed. Another time a supervisor confronted me in his home (where I was stuck after I could not get a cab home after a work-related Christmas party), in just his underwear, bargaining with me about what level of sexual activity I might be willing to engage in with him.
“Well, if we can’t have sex, can we at least make out?”
“If we can’t make out, can we at least kiss?”
“If we can’t kiss, can we at least cuddle?”
The few adults I told, including those in the school system, were cynical. They thought that I was just “seeking attention”. The few friends I told were not especially supportive either. I felt ashamed, like this was my fault, and it was made clear to me that I wasn’t supposed to talk about this. When it became publicly known that I had told other adults about this abuse, I was fired. For years I didn’t talk about this, because I felt that I had done something wrong. I had not.
These men all held power over me, yet, I was made to feel like I was in some way at fault, that I wanted what was happening to me, or that I had even made it all up. Like Aria, I was a child, and these men were adults. Like Aria, I feel that I was depicted as the instigator in some way, and also that there was no narrative available to me where I was being victimized, and be supported through my victimization, or through my desire to speak up about what happened afterwards.
I feel like rape culture and victim-blaming in the media is something that we all know about. However, if you are looking for a refresher, or for an example, this article received lots of attention in feminist circles, as it hit the trifecta of victim blaming. The article, discussing multiple incidences of the rape of an 11-year-old by a number of adult perpetrators, focuses on the negative impact of the trial on the perpetrators and community to the exclusion of the victim, attempts to shift blame onto the victim by portraying her as looking and acting older than she is, and also describes rape as sex, which wrongly implies that an 11-year-old child was able to willingly participate in her assaults.
So, the ongoing sexual assault of Aria Montgomery by Ezra Fitz in PLL both reinforces a narrative that blames victims, and forwards the idea of consent in situations where it is impossible for an individual to give it. It feeds into a culture that silences survivors of abuse, lest they invite more shaming. And it romanticizes the rape of a minor by an adult exercising control over that individual. It asks viewers to see a terrible, ongoing cycle of abuse as a relationship to both envy and aspire to.
Rape happens often in situations where one individual holds power over another. I don’t ask for this reality to be made entirely absent from pop culture TV. I just want to have a better conversation about it when it is portrayed. Give me the drama, the impossible scenarios, the escape from reality. Give me the pretty little lies.
But don’t lie about the big things. Not about the things that reinforce patriarchy, that through the intersectional nature of oppression, impacts those experiencing multiple marginalizations at rates considerably higher than other populations. Call rape what it is, so viewers are given an opportunity, even on the fluffiest of shows, to examine their ideas about rape and rape culture for the real-world incarnations of what has been misrepresented as a romantic TV subplot.
* These are my observations in terms of lack of representation of racialization, and of skin colour diversity and ethnic diversity within racialization, lack of representation of people with disabilities, problematic representations of people with mental health challenges, no representation of transgender folks, limited representations of lesbian, gay, and bisexual folks, representations of body size diversity only in stereotyping, shaming, and blaming contexts, and a lack of income diversity. This is by no means an exhaustive list, just some of the issues of diversity in PLL that come to mind.
[Image via Pretty Little Liars Wiki]
Tags: jessie-lane metz, pretty little liars, rape, television
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I think how they initially met/hooked up is what still trips me up and makes me think this is ok while watching the show, even though as soon as I think about it after I know I shouldn’t and it’s awful and predatory. If he had started hitting on her in a classroom, that would be terrible, but they started talking at a bar, while she was drinking a beer, and yeah was vague about her age. So still not great, but it’s easier to swallow as “understandable.” That situation is more easily be excused as a mistake, though it definitely shouldn’t be. What can’t be is the ongoing relationship after they discovered he was the teacher and she was the student.
But I think the show is banking on the idea that you will see them as equals because they didn’t know about the power difference until after they fell in love (“fell in love” = “made out in a bar once”).
Also let’s not forget about Hannah being blamed for “leading on” Caleb, and Spencer having sexual encounters with both her sister’s fiances who are certainly adults out of college. The show is a mess of consent and sex issues.
I mean, I’ve never seen this show, but their “acceptable” meeting was pretty obviously planned out by the writers in order to make this relationship palatable, yes?
Pretty obviously. I mean it happens and all – but it was obviously a way to get a topical!! teacher-student scandal in there without making the abuse of power and position thing AT ALL an issue because this way it can all be the fault of that slutty, sexy, lying student.
Oh absolutely. That way they can be like “but they fell in love as equals!” And then no one can question why they even had to write Aria as a character who has an affair with her teacher in the first place.
Wait has anyone read the books? Does Aria have a relationship with a teacher in there too?
I’ve only read the first few, but yes, Aria does have a relationship with Ezra, starting in the very first book. At the beginning, she’s come home after spending a year in Iceland (??) and now she’s mad she’s back in suburban Pennsylvania. So, while angsting and avoiding her neglectful parents, she heads to that bar, where her first meeting with Ezra goes exactly the same as it does in the show. It’s not something the writers made up for viewers, it was there in the books in 2006.
I wonder if part of the way they brushed aside the Ezra is a child abuser thing was to set up (SPOILER) the fact that he’s A and possibly has a history of abusing young women? Or am I giving the show too much credit?
This! I think PLL has proven itself to be socially-aware, conscious of its intentional and unintentional messages to its fan base, and, ultimately, feminist-minded. Each and every older male character who has in any way objectified or abused the female teenage protagonists (Wilden, Ian, Garret, Wren, and, given the twist ending to the summer finale, even and especially Ezra) has eventually been portrayed as a villain and/or has been murdered. This show is smart. Underneath the pretty hair and pretty boys and texting drama, there is real insight into what it means to be a teenage girl in the social media age. “A” represents the patriarchy!!!
Great point.
Let’s be honest. In real life she was well into adulthood (20-21) and this is the person this guy in his 20s thought he was meeting. That definitely factors into the show making it seem more palatable, both from his initial interest and her coming off as an aggressor.
It still weirded me out and I did the whole, “ARE YOU GUYS SEEING WHAT I’M SEEING THIS IS FUCKING RAPE WHY DOES NO ONE SEEM TO CARE?” throughout the first dozen or so episodes I watched but part of me couldn’t get past the fact that the actors are both adults.
I think that, in the initial encounter, he would be blameless and perfectly justified in feeling angry afterward.
However, any further contact would definitely be statutory rape/assault.
Lying about her age is more on her than him, I think.
I remember being 16 and lying about my age in bars and to guys in bars. And 16 is the age of consent here, so there was that going on too. I always feel as if my feelings on a lot of this stuff is gonna be drastically different to most people on a primarily US site as we have the previously stated AOC of 16 and less of a cultural bias against age-gap relationships.
But all the further contact is on him and is abuse, straight up. He’s the adult, he’s her teacher, he should fucking know better.
Edit – of course, as Mallory points out above the initial encounter was deliberately scripted in order to make the follow-on relationship palatable. And, if you are being cynical (which I am) to portray what in real life would be the victim of an abusive, controlling unhealthy sexual relationship into a temptress.
I don’t think she lied about her age, though – as I remember, she was eating a hamburger (don’t remember a beer?) and told him she wanted to be a writer. I think he would be blameless after the initial encounter, but I don’t see how he would be justified in being angry. She didn’t know he was going to be her teacher, either.
Legally, though, even if she lies, as the adult, he’s at fault for not finding out how old she really is. Statutory rape is, I think, a strict liability crime – it’s always wrong, no matter whether there’s intent or not.
You’re correct, statutory rape is strict liability (notwithstanding that judge in Montana who claimed the victim “looked older than her age” and so imposed a sentence BELOW the MANDATORY MINIMUM on her rapist). However, at the time of the first encounter, they didn’t know each other, neither knew he was her teacher, and she was above the age of consent (16 or 17, I think? Pretty sure the show started at the beginning of their junior year in high school). Therefore, not illegal.
As others have mentioned, the subsequent encounters were definitely illegal. The teacher-student power dynamic overrides the age of consent and leaves Ezra open to criminal prosecution.
I love PLL, but the illegality of the Ezra/Aria relationship takes me right out of the story sometimes.
I am so confused by ABC Family. I’ve never watched any shows on it, but the ads I see for shows on that network do not seem “family” focused. From the ads, I assume the shows are all about the relationships of rich white teenagers. When I think of ABC Family, a Disney-run network, right?, I would assume they wanted all their shows to be very “family values.”
Also, Jessie-Lane, thank you so much for the mention of lack of income diversity in this particular show. I feel like that is so predominant in television and movies today and it’s such a huge turn off for me. I long for the days of characters like Roseanne and Al Bundy the shoe salesman!
Thank you for saying all the damn things I’ve been complaining about for a while now.
I really hope they keep him the villain – and uncover him as being a manipulative bad guy all along.
And everyone continues giving this show views….why?
I have my own favorite trashy TV shows, don’t get me wrong, but I usually stop watching after a season or two when I can’t honestly say I support anything the show puts forward. When you recognize all of these huge problems (and the rape alone is huge enough!), why are you continuing to make the show popular?
I’m not defending it, but I can tell you why I watch it. I think the way the show portrays complicated female friendships is pretty compelling. Alison was a mean girl but the four leads are loyal, supportive friends and intelligent, strong young women. I think the lesbian character on the show is a mostly positive representation. Mostly, though, I just find it kind of campy and soapy and the costumes are super cute, so I watch it while I do my nails or play games on my iPhone and am half paying attention to it. Also, I watch it on Netflix so I don’t feel too badly about my “support” of the show, because my views equal like a millionth of a cent for the producers. Again, NOT saying this excuses all the terrible things about it, just explaining my POV.
I think, when so few shows are free of gross awful elements, a lot of people will excuse certain terrible things to keep watching the shows they enjoy. I watch PLL for the crazy story-lines, and the hair, and the positive portrayal of same sex relationships (compared to other teen shows), and the drama. And it’s easier to ignore in PLL because both of the actors are adults, and the characters spend so little time in school/dealing with school things I forget that they aren’t as old as the people playing them are.
It’s sort of like how many people love Orange is the New Black even though it presents a storyline about a prison guard raping a prisoner as a romantic relationship.
In OITNB, though, the characters still admit that it’s rape and have to deal with navigating that, it sounds like in PLL it’s presented as a totally normal relationship?? Although yea, it’s not like anyone stops it in OITNB.
I dk, this obviously greatly upsets the author and it’s like….there’s an off button, you know, right? Sometimes it’s even the same as the on button. Push it. Vote with your feet (or, pointer finger).
I think Jessie’s very much aware that continuing to watch or not watch this show is a choice she can make, and has decided that this is something she’d like to speak about and criticize, rather than A) watch without comment or B) stop watching forever. They’re all worthwhile options, in my opinion — you have to pick your battles and so on — but I think it’s an excellent idea to point out how a show that’s really popular among young women perpetuates an attitude that actively harms them, rather than just turning it off and saying ‘Well, I’m done here.’
But you can also point out how a show is actively harming the young women watching it, and then say “I’m turning it off”
Continuing to watch it doesn’t help, I think. You’re still saying “Well, everyone’s pretty hair and a lesbian relationship and [whatever else] compensates for this massively huge issue.”
Which is okay, we all have to make decisions about what hill to die on. But I’m curious, given her history and the issues in the show she points out, if this isn’t a hill Jessie wants to die on, what is??
In my opinion OITNB covered the CO/prisoner rape issue about as well as PLL did (but I was hugely disappointed with the way that storyline was handled and that way be coloring my judgement). Not that PLL did a great job, but I don’t feel like OITNB did either (PLL at least did better than Gossip Girl at handling the Chuck/Jennie rape)
I cant speak to why the author watches it but as to why I do (warning MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD).
I’ve always had the sense that were supposed to be watching the show through the characters eyes. Aria is written as wanting to be in a relationship with her teacher and while him agreeing to that still makes him a rapist (after all, he is the adult, and it should be up to him to not rape his students), I can see why she (a 16 year old rape victim dealing with the loss of her best friend and the knowledge that her own father may have also been involved with the murder and possible rape of that friend) may not have thought so. Ive never been raped by a teacher but Ive been raped by a boyfriend and I can see how a 16 year old and her friends may not accept the Ezra situation for what it is (especially since none of the adults in this show have any desire to parent their kids).
I also think that the Ezra is a child abuser plotline is presented alongside so many normalized horrible things that it’s easy to gloss over this one. The show opens with a murdered teenager and goes on to kill off another young girl, and show 4 young women being stalked, harassed, threatened (including by the towns police officers, one of whom may have been involved with inpregnating and murdering the first dead girl), evil neglectful parents, and all kids of awful things. I think, amidst all that it’s easy to see a teacher raping his student and no one doing anything about it as just another thing that happens in Rosewood.
Finally (again SPOILERS) as revealed in the season 4 finale Ezra is most likely behind thefact that these girls spent 4 seasons being harassed by eveveryone they know, and he may have been involved in the murder of the girl from season 1. I’m interested to see how that is handled and I’m hoping that the show uses that as an opportunity to acknowledge that he is a rapist that possibly has a (pre Aria history) of assaulting young women. I’m not counting on it but I’m hoping.
That, combined with the fact that I’ve never seen a tv show handle rape well are part of why I continue to watch it even though Ezra disgusts me.
Those are good points, especially about what is “normal” in this fictional community that would otherwise never be (also ugh I had forgotten about GG ugh ugh).
I’m just so tired of feeling like “Well it’s got huge problems but it’s better than everything else at [female relationships] [gay teens] [diversity] [whatever] so I’m going to keeping watching!” Why are we even keeping a TV show normalizing stalking teen girls on the air?! I’m tired of qualifying everything I watch and I wish we’d ask for more, instead of saying “Well, you’ve got gay teens and great female friendships, good enough.”
Alright well now I realize I kind of contradict my reply to Mallory, but the more I think about it the more it’s just….why are we putting up with this. I get it, it’s better than other stuff, it’s what we have, etc but….man. We got slim pickin’s.
I get what your saying about qualifying the media we watch but I guess PLL doesn’t really need to be qualified much for me (even though I wish they’d done a better job with the Ezra thing) because it doesn’t bother me in the way that some other things do. And I think it’s because of the way it was setup. It seems like Ezra was revealed as the villain and the glossing over his assaulting a minor seems more like a setup to make how successfully he tricked Aria more shocking. If we’re watching through her eyes (and the style of the show from the beginning makes it seem like that’s what we’re supposed to do) and she thinks he’s her wonderful boyfriend we’re supposed to see that too, so that we can be shocked when he turns out to be evil (although anyone watching can tell that a 24 year old teacher that starts a relationship with his student is clearly damaged, and also everyone in this show is evil it was about time he was too). The way it was glossed over within Rosewood seems more like a side effect of the fact that every authority figure in the town is either negligent or involved with A (A is a team of the people who have been harassing the main characters, the leader of which is SPOILER most likely Ezra).
I’m not trying to disagree with you I just think that because of those things I have less to qualify about PLL than I do with rape in a more realistic show (like rape in OINTB or Game of Thrones, or Top of the Lake, or Breaking Bad). And I know that PLL is different because it’s a youth show and more influential on young minds, but the only teens I watch it with (I regularly watch/discuss this show with relatives of mine in middle and high school) all think Ezra is gross and awful and believed he was evil/preying on Aria from the beginning so I guess I just sort of assumed it was clear to the viewers that Ezra was a predator, it just wasn’t in the context of the show because Aria doesn’t think he is (which may change in season 5).
Great points, and I completely agree with the CO/Daya plotline being hugely problematic. As far as I can tell, the only reason he is not seen to be as loathsome as Pornstache is simply because he’s cute (oh, and I suppose his disability makes him slightly more sympathetic.) He is a total predator, gets angry and jealous, and is a complete idiot. Pornstache was at least smart enough to wear a condom when assaulting the inmates so he wouldn’t get anyone pregnant!
So whenever the two of them are on screen and the plinky plunky romantic music starts playing I just can’t stand it. It was one major weak point in an overall strong show.
As for Aria and Fitz, I think it’s a really good point that we’re supposed to be seeing the relationship through her eyes. She obviously is the more mature member of the relationship, and rightfully got herself out of it when it was over her head (the whole Malcolm thing, etc.) When I was 16 I had a big ol’ crush on a 25-year-old man as well, and I completely thought I was mature enough to handle it. Of course, he wasn’t my teacher, but I was hopelessly naive regardless.
OH and what about when the school is considering bringing back Fitz and the Principal brings in ARIA to grill her about their relationship?! That was absolutely egregious. If this Fitz is A storyline turns out to be another red herring, I will be furious, because there is absolutely no way he is not a villain. Every adult in Aria’s life is a villain.
I don’t have cable so I Netflix and watch with friends. I love working with youth. I love knowing the media they consume. I believe rape culture is a huge issue for teens. So I watch what they watch, using all of my critical analysis skills so I’m a better person to talk to. Also. I love the drama. And I wanna watch something. Also, what Mallory said. The problematic media exists. I just like having a conversation with it.
Someone I follow just got into this show and is singing its praises, and I know other people who love it, but every time I consider I remember that this is part of it and have to nopetopus my way on out of there.
Jessie, you continue to be one of the best parts of The Toast. And I am so sorry those men harassed you.
Thanks so much!
Yes! My joy in this show is laughing at how skewed their perspectives are.
And while we’re on the subject can we talk about Mistresses? Yunjin Kim’s therapist sleeps with her married patient, continues to keep him as a patient after she begins sleeping with him, illegally prescribes him medication to end his life, and then after he’s dead she sleeps with his son who has also seen her in her therapist capacity. But somehow the wife is portrayed as the villain because she has a history of mental illness. WHAT?
Isn’t the wife portrayed as the villain because she’s actively scheming to get the therapist arrested for murdering her husband? Which, to be fair, is a bit much.
I might be wrong, I stopped watching it because I was inspired by Alyssa Milano to rewatch Season 3 of Charmed, where I can be plagued with more relevant moral conundrums like, “Can you give consent if you don’t know the guy you’re having sex with is actually a demon?”, “Is sleeping with an angel who died in WWII technically necrophilia?”, and “Why does everyone keep having sex with demons, anyway?”
I mean, in Mistresses basically NO ONE is portrayed as blameless. Most every character on that show is obviously horrible in some fashion or another and I personally basically hate them all. I guess that is perhaps part of what is compelling (“compelling”). You take this baseline of awfulness and then see what humanity still exists. “People are horrible and make horrible choices but they are still people (question mark).”
That said, the reactions of characters in the show to each others’ horridness usually doesn’t seem horrified enough (especially Dr. Kim’s, I would agree).
I have to say even if I’d considered watching the show, this post makes me not want to, and I’m sort of confused why you watch it at all if it affects you this much?
It sounds very much like what happened to you was unambiguously assault and horrible, but (in my opinion) the very first incident in this fictional “relationship”, like other commenters have said, was not actually assault – if dude thought she was older, that removes the only part of the incident that stops her from giving consent, but everything after that = wrong, for sure. He’s an adult, he needs to shut it down.
I think Jessie is probably the best judge of what she can and can’t handle when it comes to her own personal experience, and that we all watch shows/consume media artefacts (UGH SORRRYYY I couldn’t think of a less awful term) that bother and insult and demean and hurt us on some level, especially as women, and especially as women of color/trans* women/queer women. It’s not really possible to watch shows that don’t get some of these things horribly wrong, and I think it’s a conversation very much worth having.
You’re right of course. I didn’t mean “just turn it off if it upsets you that much!” which isn’t super helpful when you think about it because you can’t turn off the world, and these shows are just a symptom of the world. I guess I was more asking it as a sincere question, like what is the value you are receiving from this show that makes you put up with the parts that upset you so much? I watched Glee for a long time despite some problematic shit, but I stopped when it got too blatant because it overrode the enjoyment I was getting from the music etc.
I’m totally okay, I promise. Critical analysis of teen TV is my fave, and I love the drama. I just like to critique it so we can talk about what’s wrong and aim to do better.
I think that’s cool – it would be great if a show creator read stuff like yours and thought about it while making a show – and if we don’t speak up, the same mistakes keep getting made. I would have liked Glee a lot better if they’d just stopped randomly making racist jokes all the time, and it would be so easy to do!
I can mostly accept every implausible plotline but, consent-related rage aside, how is it possible no one has been all “BRO WHAT ARE YOU DOING it’s super weird to be a 25 year old fucking a teenager”
??!
Yeah. My husband got a lot of stick from his freinds about our respective ages when we started seeing each other, and Age Gap relationships are generally more tolerated in the UK. I can’t imagine people in the US being so relaxed about it.
Yeah well Ezra seems to have zero adult friends besides a) Aria’s parents and b) his creepy ex-girlfriend so he’s probably lacking a lil perspective
valid point. I’d love an episode that’s only one scene, 45 minutes of his ex gf just ripping on him for being a sexcreep with no friends
lolllll sex creep. I’d pay good money to see that.
Also his brother is Aria’s age and he still can’t see how young she is! I was hoping that Aria’s (spoiler) dream sequence of him getting arrested would be a chance for the show to talk about this but nope.
dream sequence: Spencer and Emily realize they’re in love and team up to castrate Ezra, and then they tell an adult about their homicidal stalker while Aria and Hannah join Caleb’s spinoff, never to be seen again
When Aria met Ezra’s college roommate at the book reading he told Ezra it was a really bad idea. Ezra’s mom, as creepy as she is in her own right, tried to put a stop to the relationship, even offering to pay Aria to stop seeing her son. Jackie, Ezra’s ex-girlfriend, actually tried to blackmail Aria, saying that she would expose the relationship if she continued seeing him. Aria’s dad has hated Ezra ever since he found out, doing everything from grounding Aria/banning her from seeing him, to confronting Ezra, to not-so-secretly getting Ezra to transfer to work in New Orleans. When Noel Kahn found out, he was about to tell the principal of the school about the relationship.
Everyone who finds out says it’s a bad idea. Ezra knows that it is too, he’s just got an ulterior motive.
I’d also like to take this moment to say: if I have to go back in time and be a gay teen again, I’d like it to be in Rosewood, Land of Vests
Your toaster oven is in the mail.
I lol’ed
Thank you for writing this. PLL is my guilty pleasure but I can’t stand how they handle the Ezra/Aria relationship. I just watched the episode where they tell Aria’s parents and I can’t believe an adult would have such poor judgment. It’s just such an abuse of power any way you slice it. Television shows do such a disservice when they portray relationships where consent can’t legally exist as these star-crossed romances. I have the same problem with a certain pairing in Orange Is The New Black.
I watched the one or two seasons of PLL on Netflix last summer in a sprint enabled by unemployment, and I was like, “Wait, when is he going to get convicted for statutory rape? Now? Now? Now that her parents have found out? How about now?” and since tuning into recent episodes I am unsurprised to find out that everyone in this fictional town is totally cool with this multi-level-exploitative relationship.
Also, there was a student/teacher plot in Gossip Girl (which I think of as PLL’s big sister?) and it was handled as an assault-type thing, right?
Sort of? I mean if were talking about the thing with Dan and his teacher than Gossio Girl never really acknowleded that anything was wrong with the scenario (which is ununsurprising considering how they handled the Chuck/Jennie attempted rape)
Yeah, I had to stop watching this show because of the Ezra/Aria thing. It just pissed me off way too much. Plus Spencer and her sister’s English fiance dude? I was like, “NO, THESE ARE NOT GOOD DUDES, THEY ARE SEXUAL PREDATORS.”
Is Ezra actually the villain now, though?
Right! Wren! Spencer’s sister and parents were all pissed off at her for fooling around with him, but the dude is a DOCTOR and she is 15. Even he had only just graduated medical school, he’d still probably be around 26 at the very least. He is turning out to be a villain as well though, or at least he’s in cahoots with CeCe. I can’t keep any of these people straight. Is CeCe good now? Who knows.
He also tried to hit on Hanna! Ugh Wren is also the worst and almost creepier because he knew Spencer and Hanna’s age before hand. I could talk about this for DAYYYYSSSSS
Thanks for writing this! I’m obsessed with this show and watch it regularly but I loathe how few people seem to acknowledge that Ezra is a creepy predator (although I’m hoping that it will be different in season 5, based on the season 4 finale)
Okay, I hate to take an unpopular position here, but I watch PLL and the ezra/aria relationship doesn’t really bother me. Reading your article, I absolutely understand where you’re coming from, but what takes the relationship out of the creepy realm, in my opinion, is just the general unreality of everyone’s ages on that show. None of them are believable as teenagers, which is good, because actual teenagers would be really unlikeable. In real life, the age disparity between lucy hale and ian harding is, what, two years? All the young actors are clearly in their twenties. The general lack of parental involvement, coupled with the parents’ incredible irresponsibility, makes the “children” seem even more like adults. I guess it’s all set in high school just to increase the insular atmosphere–the lack of freedom of movement–but really, it’s a show for young adults, featuring young adult actors, with only the slightest pretense of being about “high school” children…or that’s how I watch it, at least.
Also, we never see them actually having sex on the show, although I guess we’re supposed to assume it’s happening? It’s like ABC Family is leaving room in there for plausible deniability.
No, but – at the end of the second season, maybe? – they were getting it really heavily. And the next time Aria saw her friends, she said something about having “christened” Ezra’s bed. I don’t think there’s room for deniability.
Yeah, it’s implied that she stays over and she calls the bed “sacred ground.” GROSSSSSS
Ewwwww. Okay, maybe I’m just not far enough along.
Also, Assualt covers lots of ground, not just p to v penetrative sex or whatevs.
Bless this post. I watch PLL compulsively for various reasons (somewhat solid reasons, as already discussed by a few posters, and not-so-solid reasons like my adoration of Ashley Marin and also redonk fashion and CALEB), but the show doesn’t even really try to lampshade the issues around Ezra, Wren, and other older male predatory types.
(I hate Wren I detest him I hate him even more than Ezra I hope he dies in a fire and since this is PLL that could very conceivably HAPPEN)
One can only hope.
I don’t have time to read all of this yet but I am so so excited to read this! I love the show and hate Ezra so much and ahh I’m just happy to see someone who agrees. The friend I watch it with does not care for my social-cultural analysis of the show. Also did you know there are Instagram accounts dedicated to fan-ficing the relationship. Stumbled across one and it is truly upsetting and shows why it’s such a bad message!
Can I be honest, at the risk of being skewered? I think when consenting teenagers are involved, calling statutory rape “rape” cheapens the word rape. Call it a sex crime, sure, it is. It’s illegal, I get it. But it’s not like there is a switch flipped by The Law, God, Society and Science that makes you an Adult the second you turn 18; but the day before your 18th birthday, you might as well have been a toddler. It’s gray area. There is gray area there. To act like it’s black and white just…doesn’t make sense to me.
I think teenagers can consent in general, but the unequal power in the student/teacher relationship changes everything. Like, it’s wrong when a therapist sleeps with his/her patient, even if the patient is an adult. The person in the more powerful position in both of those scenarios has an obligation to act in the weaker person’s best interests, and that is not compatible with a relationship between equals.
I agree, but my point was not “I don’t think it’s wrong,” my point was that it’s not rape, period, black and white. And to your point, if a patient consents to an unethical relationship with a therapist, the therapist is responsible, but you don’t call them a rapist.
I get what you’re saying. I was thinking something similar to be honest. It’s something different, but related. where the victim might not (ever?) believe themselves to be a victim, even years later, even though legally (and/or morally) it wasn’t right and was the responsibility of the mature party to shut it down.
During the entire time I was reading this, I was thinking of the actor Ian Ziering which makes everything about 1000x worse.
I love PLL, but I have a much bigger problem with the fact that it glossed right over the fact that Paige raped Emily while she was drugged. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek.
WAIT I don’t remember this! When did this happen? They also totally gloss over the fact that Paige tried to KILL Emily in the pool once and was a total freakshow for a very long time. Then they gave her a more flattering haircut and now she’s supposedly her one true love? I kept waiting for Paige to be revealed as A because girlfriend is nuts.
I thought she just kissed her? So, still assault, but she didn’t rape her.
Yessss. I think it’s pretty clear now that anyone these girls have ever spoken too (and definitely everyone they’ve ever dated) is probably evil. Also all of their parents and siblings. Evil
Yeah it’s in episode 5 or 6 of season 3. Emily finds out that the night she was drugged (S3E01) she went to Paige’s, and they kissed, and then Paige is like, you seemed really drunk but you were there and I got “greedy”–I distinctly remember her using that word–and just….ALL OF THE CHILLS. And then I think stupid Nate does some victim blamey stuff that somehow makes Emily get over it entirely? It upset me especially b/c I usually really like how they handle Emily’s homosexuality.
I was always really uncomfortable with their relationship, but it’s been really bothering me since the summer finale.
ALL THE SPOILERS DO NOT KEEP READING IF YOU’RE NOT CAUGHT UP
If Ezra is A like they’re setting it up, not only will all the preteens be SO MAD, but that makes their relationship about 8 million times more criminal and disgusting. He was also fucking spying on her and her friends, and totally pretending to be someone he’s not. Apparently the running theory is that he’s also the “board shorts” guy that Ali thought got her pregnant.
I’m also worried about what he’ll do to Maggie about the Max thing now that we know (think) he’s pretty much evil.
But I’m gonna keep watching the show for the teen lesbians (oh, my childhood) and the hair porn.
I’m actually really glad they’re setting up Ezra as A. I don’t know about the preteens (I watch with my preteen cousins but they’ve hated Ezra since the beginning) but I think it would be interesting to show that he has the history of being a predator and I think it’s neat to try and make it so the viewers are as surprised as Aria (except not really, because why would you be surprised that a creepy teacher predator is evil?).
I definitely think he was either board shorts, or somehow associated with the detective that also possibly got Ali pregnant.
A couple of us were discussing this post on Twitter, and a few minutes ago the author of the Common Sense Media review tweeted us this: “Thanks for bringing this up. I’ve made some adjustments to the review based on your feedback.”
The review still references a teen’s “romantic relationship with her teacher, despite her parents’ rules against it.” Barf. And same-sex kissing–which is explicitly referenced as just kissing–is still listed under the Sex section. Double barf.
As an obsessive PLL viewer, let me just add that the entire context of the show is that the villain “A” knows all their secrets, and blackmails them with the secrets. The Ezra/Aria relationship is a part of the show in itself, but a huge part of it is that “A” is blackmailing Aria to expose her affair with a teacher to the police/her parents/the school etc. So, in the show’s framework, it’s been established from the beginning that the relationship isn’t right, and thus is a powerful secret to hang over her.
When Aria’s parents found out about the relationship, they decided to keep quiet for Aria’s sake, because they didn’t want to put her through the media circus that has been following Aria and the girls throughout the series. My impression was that her mom was acknowledging that people might victim-blame her, especially since Aria was fighting FOR the relationship, and wouldn’t be admitting in court or wherever that she was abused. She’s in love, or she thinks she is. She’s 16 and thinks she’s wise beyond her years. In some ways she actually is, in other ways she’s obviously not.
Aria has had visions and nightmares of Ezra getting arrested, too. So it’s at least been acknowledged that this is a possible consequence of the relationship.
Now, in terms of the relationship, it is really weird that Ezra has always been fighting for the relationship too. I also always hated how he blamed Aria if there was ever an indication that someone knew about the relationship. Like “I could lose my job Aria!” Well, not because she told her friend, because you’re dating her.
However (spoiler) I had a strange feeling about him from the beginning that there is more than meets the eye. He’s so mild-mannered in a really calculated way, he’s never involved in the chaos like the other girls’ boyfriends, his relationship is by far the easiest to expose and destroy by “A,” yet it never is. So, now with the recent reveal that he is A, or associated with A, or at least a stalker in some capacity, I think things are starting to make sense. Aria thinks it’s a real balanced relationship, but for Ezra, I don’t think it’s ever been. I think he’s been using her for information or at least for something, and used to be stalking Alison. There’s more to his story that we’re going to find out. Whether this was the intent from the beginning or is something retroactively fitted into the show, I guess, affects things. So we’ll have to see how it plays out. If Ezra is the A that is blackmailing Aria, then that would mean that he is kindof reverse-psychology keeping her in the relationship… forcing her to fight for it in a way.
Also, for a teenage high school show, there is actually some diversity. There are two women of colour playing lead roles. One of the main plotlines is Emily’s sexuality and relationships with Maya, Paige, Samara, and maybe Alison. Another main plotline is Jenna’s loss of sight and having eye surgeries, which is maybe approached a bit insensitively, but that’s partially because of the circumstances by which she became blind. Caleb comes from an underprivileged background, and his perspective of the “rich girls” at his school is definitely addressed, and was a big part of his character when he was first introduced.
I don’t know, maybe there’s problems in it but it’s not the worst, and I think it’s much more intelligent than it appears.
This this this !!!
Oh, and also, now that I think about it, one of the main plots of like an entire season was that Hanna’s mom couldn’t afford the mortgage on her house, so she “borrowed” (stole) money from a safety deposit box in a moment of desperation. And, this season, Emily hurt her shoulder so she cannot get a college scholarship for swimming, and has been struggling to figure out whether she can afford to go to college. There was a whole episode where Emily was mad at Spencer for throwing money around when she couldn’t even afford her tuition. Obviously this is all relative, and yes, melodramatic, but money is discussed and does affect their lives.
Everyone in Rosewood tries to keep up with the Joneses (Hastings) but they all have their struggles. They just keep them secret. And that’s where the craziness comes in, because A seems to take delight in forcing the characters to either face the truth and reveal their secrets, or do some pretty nasty things to keep them hidden. “The ultimate frenemy”…
It’s also an interesting comment on society, because the girls can’t trust anyone except each other. The police are in on it. The doctor (Wren, if he is even a doctor) is in on it. The parents are hiding things. The teachers are dating the students. Unfortunately, in my life, I’ve found that to be true at times. People who are supposed to be on your side aren’t always there when you need them. They’ve got things to hide too.
Officer Garrett saw Aria leaving Ezra’s apartment and did nothing. He’s dead now, but like if they were to report it, who would they report it to? Detective Wilden who slept with Hanna’s mom and (possibly) had a relationship with Ali when she was 14? Ok I guess he’s dead now as well. But what I’m saying is that bad things happen in Rosewood, obviously, and they can’t do anything about it except band together to try to outsmart A and the cops and take justice into their own hands, because everyone else is in the business of keeping up appearances and sweeping things under the rug.
It’s actually a pretty badass premise.
Part of me thinks it would be weirder (within the context of the show) to not have a teacher preying on his students. Part of the universe of Rosewood is that you can’t trust anyone, and everyone you love or thought you loved turns out to be evil. And the adults, who you’re supposed to be able to go to are either involved in the A Team or negligent or evil in some way. And so the Liars have to band together because they can’t trust anyone else and no one else knows what they are going through. And I think that’s why it appeals to teens so much.
Yes – one of my favorite things about PLL is that if you’re willing to approach it from a sort of forgiving/radical/generous perspective is that the entire show is built around the idea that power structures in our society are pretty toxic & that people in positions of power often use their institutional and individual power to suppress the rights and privileges of others. In the show’s very first episode, we see the images of fathers, doctors, lawyers, police, and teachers destabilized & their general worth/trustworthiness brought into question and the show doesn’t let up from there.
Does anyone know how the series is plotted out? Almost everything seems random to me. I’m not convinced they thought ahead sufficiently far to lay foreshadowing for Ezra as a villain all the way back in the first season. It seems more like they seize on whoever will be cause the most shocking betrayal at any given time and make that person the villain of the moment.
The writing and production team has said publicly that they actively began plotting Ezra as being associated with A at the end of season two/beginning of season three. I think that the plotting in seasons one and two was loose enough that any major character was in the running to be A/involved with A and they’ve gradually been narrowing that focus.
What I love about your writing is that you always say something that makes me mad, but also makes me think hard about why I’m mad until I reach a deeper understanding of what you’re saying. In this case, it’s your description of their initial meeting as “in fact a sexual assault.” My immediate reading (all I know about this show comes from this article) was that nothing Ezra did would have been inappropriate with an older woman, and since they were at a bar, he thought she was older; therefore, he hadn’t done anything wrong, so it would be unfair to call it a sexual assault, and anyone who does is potentially hurting real people who have been in similar situations by accusing them indirectly of something for which they’re not at fault.
One of the most interesting things I’ve discovered on the social justice path is how, whenever one person acts upon another in any way, a) the two people will ALWAYS experience it differently; and b) unless they’re specifically conditioned not to, other people will ALWAYS experience it from the perspective of the more powerful person. In this case, we would automatically say that Ezra did nothing wrong, and maybe it wasn’t the best thing for Aria, but what are you gonna do?
But that’s just because we’re thinking about HIS thought processes and HIS choices. If we were conditioned to see things automatically from the perspective of the person with less power, we would be thinking about Aria’s thought processes: I’m gathering that she was feeling powerless about her life, so she decided to bank on her ability to pass as an adult and go out and do what she considered to be “adult” things to regain some of that psychological power, and when she started talking to someone she believed to be older than she was, she was reluctant to lose that power by telling him her real age. Instead of trying harder to find it out or just leaving her alone – it’s not like he HAD to make out with her – he took advantage of the situation. And maybe it’s not very nice to say that he’s committed sexual assault because of that, but what are you gonna do?
For someone still looking at this from the perspective of the side with power, the next question is, “So is nobody allowed to make out with a stranger in a bar anymore? Do they all have to demand to see proof of age first?” But again, it’s not like anyone HAS to do anything, ever. The whole idea that you can do anything you want unless told not to, rather than that you shouldn’t do anything without first thinking about the possible consequences and the circumstances that led to the situation in the first place, is inherently privileged. When I realized that, I stopped being mad and realized that, in fact, I agreed with you.
Well gee, thanks!!!
Oh gosh I love this article and have so many thoughts about it. I wish more people wrote about PLL this way.
1. Okay yes consent and teenage girls is a huge problem on this show! I first noticed it with Spencer and Ian — when her family found out Spencer and Ian had “seen” each other when Spencer was a HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN, they blamed Spencer and Spencer alone. The show framed this as unfair but didn’t really treat the Spencer/Ian relationship as sexual assault even though it so was and Spencer had to live in the same house with her rapist and it was awful. Alison also has various older lovers and is always framed as a temptress instead of a victim even though she was also a FRESHMAN, and it looks like Emily is about to start dating an older lady who was once her boss. Gulp.
2. I think the ages of the actors is what makes people able to watch this show without throwing up. The actor who plays Ezra is younger than the actress who plays Spencer. Even in flashbacks where the girls are supposed to be 14, the actresses are 24. But like if you look at an actual 14 or even 16 year old human they look like children, because they are.
3. In like episode 2, Ezra yells at Aria about keeping their relationship secret and he says, “I thought you were mature enough to handle this kind of relationship.” That’s just the creepiest, most manipulative, pedophile-grooming-est thing ever and I hate it so much.
4. I would love to read an article like this addressing the show’s treatment of disability. The treatment of mental illness is not awesome to say the least, but it also really bugged me Jenna’s blindness was used to create a creepy atmosphere. And now it seems like her sexuality is being used that way too?? Like her disability and her bisexuality are outward signs that she’s morally depraved and an Other that should be feared. Oh also Mrs. Grunwald has Creepy Blindness too. I DON’T LOVE IT.
About Jenna — I think you definitely have a point about the blindness. As for the bisexuality, I’m not totally caught up on S4 so I can’t make any strong claims. But I think it’s important that there are other bisexual characters (Maya) who aren’t evil/morally depraved. There’s that episode where Maya talks about the boy she had a relationship with at sober camp, and it looks like Emily is jealous because she dated a boy, but really she’s just jealous that she dated ANYONE. It’s not a LOT of representation, but in a way it’s normalizing: bisexual people can be good, and also evil. Like all people.
I wonder what the reaction would be like if Lucy Hale was actually 15? I’ve though Ezra was super gross from day 1 but I also constantly forget how old the characters are because none of them ever are in school and their parents are super neglectful. I think if Aria were played by Maisie Williams (Aria Stark in Game of Thrones) or Elle Fanning the reaction might be different, because those actresses are actually 15-16, whereas Lucy Hale is 24 and doesn’t make a convincing 15 year old (not that that makes any of this OK, I just think it’s really easy for people to forget that these characters are high schoolers, since like 1% of the plot deals with them being in school).
Or what the fan reaction would be like if Ezra Fitz didn’t look like this.
Just thinking about the topic of rape and teen shows, I would love to see an article that handles this for vampire tv and books. Like how Buffy was underage when she had sex with Angel, who was basically a million years old. And the same thing happened in Vampire Diaries. And obviously Twilight. I think it comes up with a lot of the same issues in PLL because obviously a hundred year old man should not be preying on a 16 year old high schooler but because they look about the same age and aren’t really in school often (too busy dealing with teenage angst) we forget how creepy the relationship is.
Ah, but then you get into an all-important point of vampire law: should a vampire be tried according to his post- or pre-turn age??
And I think the fact that Angel responds to that act of potential rape by literally turning into a demon should be counted as a point in the show’s favor – though I always saw it as more frustratingly anti-sex than redemptively pro-consent.
I watch PLL, and while the depiction of the Aria/Ezra relationship has definitely been problematic at times, I don’t think the show is actually giving him a pass. If you look at the larger context, the girls on this show are CONSTANTLY being exploited by adults (especially men) in positions of authority. It’s not a coincidence that we’ve seen them kissing doctors, police officers, teachers, coaches, etc. – the exact people who are supposed to be looking out for them. I don’t think the writers somehow believe we’ll be more entertained to see teenage girls hooking up with grown men rather than boys their own age. I think it’s actually a deliberate choice to emphasize that there is absolutely no one these girls can trust.
I’ve spent some time thinking about the Aria/Ezra relationship because it’s the only teen/adult romance on the show that hasn’t (yet) been portrayed as at least vaguely creepy. But I’m not bothered by the power dynamic between them because I think it’s realistic. Statutory rape can happen because an adult is being deliberately predatory, but it can also happen because an adult is immature and makes poor decisions. Ezra didn’t set out to hook up with a student, he’s just an idiot in his early 20s who’s convinced he’s in love with a teenage girl. It happens. It’s still a crime, for a reason, but it happens. And nothing has struck me as false about Aria’s behavior either; she’s always irritated me specifically because she reminds me of exactly how much trouble I could have gotten into when I was 17. We see them as star-crossed lovers right now because that’s how Aria sees the relationship, and that’s believable, but it’s pretty obvious the show isn’t done with this one – with Ezra in particular – yet.
Honestly, this bothered me so much when I started watching. My bf had just started law school and after – sometimes during – every episode that I was watching from my weird grad school slump on the couch I would storm into his office and demand that he explain statutory rape to me.
HOWEVER. After watching for awhile, I came to two conclusions. The first is that like some people have said in the comments, I don’t think there’s ANY real pretense that these girls are high schoolers. They look like they’re 25 – I think Troian Belisario is actually like 30. The adults act more like children than the children do. Ashley and her mother basically the exact same person; Spencer’s parents ditto; every single cop and teacher in their town acts in the most inappropriate way possible at every opportunity.
And this doesn’t even touch on the veritable string – nay, crowd – of awful adult men stalking teenage girls. The entire show starts from Allison’s murder (which, we are more and more led to believe, she somehow caused by being a slutty slut who manipulated older men one too many times?), quickly swerves into Aria and Spencer’s multiple entirely inappropriate relationships with men in their mid-20s, and goes on a nonstop tear in which every single man over the age of 18 (and most under) are suspected if not confirmed to be stalking/”falling in love with”/messing with underage girls. No wonder Melissa and – Cece? – are such bitches; I would be too if every man my age in an entire town and some that I had imported from outside of it were only interested in 16 year old girls. No man on the show is exempt from this (maybe Ashley’s dad?).
All of this makes me think that actually, the show is DEEPLY concerned with the fucked-up-ness of statutory rape – and any other kind of rape. This is a show in which every single man is depicted as predatory. Even the “good” boyfriends (Caleb, Toby) are frequently suspected of complicity with A in a way that suggests that even consensual sex between two people of appropriate age might constitute some kind of rape (given that a vital piece of information may have been withheld at the time of apparent consent).
My point is, I agree that Aria and Ezra’s relationship is disturbing, and that it’s rape, and I think the fact that this is largely undiscussed is bizarre. But I think that acting as though it’s an isolated and unconsidered element of the show – that it’s a unique “lie about one of the big things, the things that reinforce patriarchy” – is a misunderstanding of what’s going on. As far as I can tell, the patriarchy is exactly what’s under attack here, throughout, whether that’s overt – as in Allison’s murder or the Wilder (?) storyline – or posed under cover of some kind of teen-dream teacher figure. This is how I reconcile the strength and complexity of the female friendships on the show with the apparent victim-blaming that you’re pointing out: those female relationships (and the occasional good heterosexual pairing, achieved only through long struggle) are set up in direct contrast to the damaging and disturbing “romantic” attachments that are everywhere in the show.
The writing and production team has said publicly that they actively began plotting Ezra as being associated with A at the end of season two/beginning of season three. I think that the plotting in seasons one and two was loose enough that any major character was in the running to be A/involved with A and they've gradually been narrowing that focus.
Yes – one of my favorite things about PLL is that if you're willing to approach it from a sort of forgiving/radical/generous perspective is that the entire show is built around the idea that power structures in our society are pretty toxic & that people in positions of power often use their institutional and individual power to suppress the rights and privileges of others. In the show's very first episode, we see the images of fathers, doctors, lawyers, police, and teachers destabilized & their general worth/trustworthiness brought into question and the show doesn't let up from there.
Thank you so much for this article! As a teacher, I was appalled by PLL and stopped watching after the relationship between student and teacher was never addressed for what it really was: abuse. I hope the writers and fans of the show will start thinking about the possible consequences of portraying this type of relationship in the light you describe above. It sets a dangerous and potentially devastating example to young people and inexperienced teachers.
And it’s always completely brushed over by fans of the show that Jenna raped Toby by coercing him into a sexual relationship. I’ve googled “Pretty Little Liars and rape” before and the results are really sad. No one thinks that either of those scenarios were rape.