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We should make 13 Reasons Why required viewing for all men, Entity reports.

I spent this past weekend angrily live-tweeting Netflix’s new series, “13 Reasons Why.” But having finished it, I realize it’s not for any failure of the show, but because of what it gets right.

“13 Reasons Why” is the harrowing tale of 17-year-old Hannah Baker, and what led her to take her own life. It’s based on the best-selling YA novel by Jay Asher, and tells Hannah’s story via audio recordings on cassette tapes she has left behind. *spoilers below for “13 Reasons Why”*

And it’s one of the most realistic, honest portrayals of sexual assault I have ever seen. Hannah’s suicide is brought on by an amalgamation of horrors, but more than anything else, an overall, inescapable feeling of worthlessness. She was alone and no one was listening. No one seemed to care.

Such feelings are common for survivors of sexual assault, particularly in a day and age when victims are shamed, blamed for their own assault, and more often than not, ignored. Just look at the THOUSANDS of rape kits left untested in Detroit.

We need to do something about it. And watching “13 Reasons Why” is a pretty effortless way to begin. Just think of it as… binging for a cause.

So in light of this groundbreaking series, arguably the most important one Netflix has ever made, ENTITY looks over the reasons “13 Reasons Why” should be required viewing for all men.

Its realistic depiction of rape

Hannah wasn’t raped in an alley by a man with a knife. She didn’t scream “No” as loud as she could. She didn’t fight with all her might. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t rape.

Seven out of 10 rapes are committed by an acquaintance. And a lot of men still seem unsure as to what constitutes consent. Hannah’s attacker, Bryce (Justin Prentice), believes that it wasn’t rape because she was at his party. She got in his hot tub. And she “made eyes,” whatever the f—k that means.

“She didn’t tell you so? She didn’t say that she wanted you to f—k her?” Clay (Dylan Minnette) asks Bryce. Of course she didn’t. We know that. We saw. So why is Bryce so sure that he had consent? Well, because “girls play games.” Even if she had said no, that’s just a jumping off point for discussion, right?

It debunks those sexist “compliments”

Hannah is pitted against her closest friend on a “hot or not” list, stealing the spot of “best ass” in the sophomore class while Jessica (Alisha Boe) gets worst. Alex (Miles Heizer), a former friend, and a man Hannah had trusted, sent out the detrimental list to spite his girlfriend after she wouldn’t have sex with him.

“You think I’m taking it all way too seriously, but here’s the thing – you’ve never been a girl,” Hannah later says, quite succinctly. Alex can’t possibly understand what he’s done, because he gets to live by a different set of rules.

Same goes for Hannah’s friend Clay, the supposed “hero” of the series. He can’t understand why Hannah would be upset about the title, because, I mean, “it’s a compliment.”

Of course, it’s no different than catcalling, or when a strange man “innocently” tells a woman to smile. You may think it’s a compliment, but what you’re really doing is pecking away at her autonomy and invalidating her feelings.

Hannah later says, “You put a target on my… well, it wasn’t just my ass. You made it open season on Hannah Baker.” Once one man relegates a woman to a sex object, it’s hard for all the others to see her as anything else… even herself.

It captures the isolation of being a woman in America

We see Hannah’s pain, from the racy photo and the hot or not list to Bryce groping her in a convenience store. And yet no one else believes her. Despite Bryce’s incriminating background, everyone continues to insist that Hannah was just lying.

At one point, faux do-gooder and honor council president Marcus (Steven Silver) says, “Nothing anyone did to her was any different than what happens to every girl at every high school.” And the thing is – he’s not wrong. This kind of thing happens all the time. But instead of listening, and working to educate and dismantle rape culture, we just call girls crazy or dramatic, or, like Marcus, say they “just wanted attention.”

Two out of three sexual assaults go unreported, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. And it’s not hard to see why when you look at the response. Victims, like Hannah, are often blamed for their own assault. Were you drinking? What were you wearing? Unprovoked, the guidance counselor outrageously asks, “Maybe you consented and then you changed your mind?” before telling her to “move on.”

Hannah struggled and fought until she was overpowered, but she didn’t explicitly say “no,” so there’s no chance of a conviction. So what’s the point in threatening some “poor man’s” reputation, right?

Even judges and cops are against us. A circuit judge warned women they shouldn’t drink so much if they didn’t want to get raped. But uh, is anyone telling men not to rape? That seems like the more logical solution.

As brutal as “13 Reasons Why” is to watch, it’s so, so important. Because it’s real. Like Marcus said, this is happening to girls and women all over. And most of the time, men are getting away with it. Hell, even when they do get a conviction, it doesn’t really stick.

So make your little brother watch this – your boyfriend, your friends. Honestly, every man in America should have to watch this show. They could even teach it in middle schools.

The responsibility to prevent rape has always been on the women. Dress a certain way. Don’t drink too much. Don’t walk alone. Don’t stay out too late. But f—k all of that. We need to start teaching men not to rape. Don’t let the men in your lives grow up thinking that simply wanting a woman’s body entitles them to it.

And sure, maybe it sounds silly to be so seriously passionate about a Netflix, high school drama… executive produced by Queen of Instagram Selena Gomez. But you know what? It gets it right – perhaps for the first time. And for that, it demands to be seen.

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