Will Benson be able to stand up for victimized sex workers?
Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 7 spoilers suggest it will be one of the most difficult cases of her career.
Incomplete stories, a serial rapist, and a population that doesn’t expect the cops to care about them make for a potentially hard-hitting episode.
Law & Order: SVU Has Come A Long Way When It Comes To Sex Workers, But That Doesn’t Mean They’ve Build Trust
Law & Order: SVU has taken on atrocities against sex workers before, but more so in recent years.
When the series first began in 1999, they would question if someone was a “pro,” meaning professional sex worker, when they learned about sexual assault.
Society has (hopefully) evolved along with the show.
More people understand now than before that many sex workers are trafficking victims or runaways who were forced into it.
Thus, in some places, anti-prostitution laws focus more on pimps and customers than on the person being paid for sex.
Still, there is a lot of stigma against sex workers, and prostitution has not been completely decriminalized. That leads to a situation where sex workers are uniquely vulnerable, as they must fear both the police and strangers soliciting them for sex who plan to hurt them.
Thus, this continues to be an important social justice issue that Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 7 is right to address.
The Victim Doesn’t Trust Cops On Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 7
According to Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 7 spoilers, the victim gives the cops an incomplete story, making their job harder.
She likely will try to cover up that she is a sex worker and give them a statement that leaves out any part of the story that would make it clear that she is.
Obviously, the cops will have a hard time catching the rapist if they have incomplete information. They might not know where to look or who to talk to.
The stakes are even higher than it seems because they’re dealing with a serial rapist who keeps striking sex workers.
This is a dilemma that many sexual assault survivors face. It should be each person’s individual choice whether they want to report the rape.
For some, it is healing and empowering to do so. For others, it is more traumatic to deal with the cops and court system, and revisiting what happened can be difficult.
But both on TV and in real life, survivors are often pressured to tell their stories in order to save other victims.
The reasoning is that the rapist is still out there and could hurt someone else. While that’s true, it’s also unfair to blame a survivor who isn’t ready to tell their story for their attacker’s next crime.
Benson always goes the extra mile to ensure that survivors know what happened to them isn’t their fault, but Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 7 spoilers suggest that this victim doesn’t get the same treatment when it comes to telling her story.
A scene in the spoiler video has Benson telling the victim that the rapist “is not going to stop” in an effort to get her to tell the full story of what happened to her.
Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 7 Spoilers Suggest Bruno Will Be The One To Break Through
Whenever a victim is reluctant to talk, the cops must decide who is most likely to develop rapport with them.
Surprisingly, according to the video, that person is Bruno this time.
It’s not that Bruno is generally unempathetic, but many survivors trust women more than men. After all, a man just assaulted them, so why should they believe male detectives care?
With all else being equal, I’d have expected Curry to be the one to develop rapport. As a fellow Black woman, she might be able to relate to her concerns in a way others can’t.
I’m not Black, though, so if I’m wrong about that, I’d love to hear from Black people in the comments about your experiences.
Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 7 Spoilers Say Carisi Has A Larger Role Again
The logline for Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 7 suggests a big story for Carisi as well:
Bruno must get to the center of a victim’s incomplete story to track down a serial rapist; Carisi is helpless to stop a crime he suspects is about to be committed.
Hopefully, this will include more fallout from the various cases that remind him of the danger facing his girls as they grow older.
I’m curious what this Carisi spoiler means, though. It likely has to do with this case — it wouldn’t make much sense if he was worried about some random other crime — but Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 7 spoilers provide no other information about Carisi.
His feeling of helplessness in the face of future injustice is my favorite spoiler this week.
I know that seems cruel, but there are a lot of people right now, me included, who feel that way because we know what’s coming with the change of leadership in our country.
We need stories about people who feel helpless but do something anyway and are successful. We need that hope.
Carisi also has been feeling powerless to protect his daughters, so reckoning with that will be an interesting story for him.
Over to you, SVU fanatics.
What Law & Order: SVU Season 26 Episode 7 spoilers look best to you? Hit the comments with your thoughts!
Law & Order: SVU airs on NBC on Thursdays at 9/8c and on Peacock on Fridays
Watch Law & Order: SVU Online
