5 Harsh Realities of Rewatching Early SVU Seasons in 2023
Almost 25 years later, SVU delivers some hard pills to swallow.
Things were very different when Law and Order Special Victims Unit premiered in 1999.
If you plan to go back to the very beginning and rewatch the critically acclaimed series, then be warned: some things didn’t age well, and others feel far too real today.
Uncomfortable portrayal of teenage girls
SVU had a dangerous habit of portraying the stereotypical rape victim to be a teenage girl, and often these teenage girls were not being 100% honest with detectives, and their stories were faulted, even though they were true.
Fans noticed a strange trend where blonde girls were portrayed as: liars, covering something up, or the killer all along, to the point where fans would immediately expect a twist upon seeing a blonde female victim. The show had some bias toward the blonde-girl-turned-mastermind trope.
SVU blamed rape victims
Rape victims’ stories were doubted and scrutinized, and fans found Munch and Cassidy to be prone to victim-blaming and generally insensitive. If a sex worker was assaulted, she was “asking for it”. All victims deserve to be heard, and watching this would be unbelievably discouraging to real rape victims.
Male detectives were often objectifying or misogynistic, and it's hard to forget the time Olivia commented something along the lines of, “soulmates coming in all ages and sizes”, in response to a teenage girl in a relationship with a grown man, nowadays referred to as ‘grooming.’
They were insensitive to the LGBTQ community
SVU depicted queer people as sexually or socially deviant, transphobic slurs like ’tr*nny’ and ‘he-she’ were used, and if a victim had HIV, it was because they were gay. Let’s not forget how Stabler and Benson ‘outed’ a closeted football player, causing him to be gay-bashed.
Today society is far more aware and accepting, but the representation of transgender and queer people on the show often felt careless and insensitive.
Police brutality was glorified
Watching the show post-Black Lives Matter, it's hard to watch the officials on SVU immediately default to violence when approaching or apprehending suspects.
It was not uncommon for those in power to abuse subjects during interrogations, break laws, or intimidate and bully suspects. Actions that were portrayed as heroic.
The show has been criticized for its optimistic portrayals of law enforcement when there were real, dark issues that needed to be addressed earlier.
Racial stereotypes were normal
All too often in the show, people of color were underrepresented, or put in a negative light. Rich white men got away with crimes, the important victims were pretty white women and the criminals were black or Hispanic males involved in drug dealing gangs.
If a girl of color was raped, her story often involved her coming from a gang or a bad neighborhood, being involved in drugs or prostitution. The show has also been accused of being Islamophobic and anti-Semitic for certain storylines.