I cried during pretty much every episode of Eastenders last week.  I felt very affected by Ben’s storyline and I felt that it was very well written, very well directed and all three actors – Max Bowden (Ben), Aiden O’Callaghan (Lewis) and Tony Clay (Callum) really gave stellar performances.

I have been avidly reading Twitter, as I often do, regarding this story and there has been a real mix of feedback.  There has been a lot of criticism, a lot of which has been that ‘this kind of story’ shouldn’t be aired at 7:30pm.  Well, every soap has now covered the horrific subject of rape and they all air before the watershed.  So, reading between the lines, I can only conclude that the people raging about ‘my kids (that should probably not be watching Eastenders anyway) shouldn’t have to see that’ weren’t actually talking about the crime.

Excluding Doctors for a moment, only two other soaps have covered the issue of rape between two men – Hollyoaks twice and more recently, Coronation Street.

The first time, was one of the most ground breaking storylines, back in 2000.  It was so violent and such a taboo story that it was covered in Hollyoaks Later, airing at 10pm.  I was sixteen years old and to this day, I still remember sobbing my way through the episodes.  I have been genuinely sad, through Gary Lucy’s return to Hollyoaks that Luke Morgan’s story arc, post rape, turned him into an alcoholic, who never recovered from what happened to him as a teenager.  Since then, he has developed Frontotemporal Dementia and in the next few weeks, we will see him pass away.  But I think essentially, this is the point.  Although I wish he had returned to the Village as a superstar, it would have been unrealistic for him not to be haunted by his past so I suppose my sadness is the mark of good storytelling.

Hollyoaks tackled the rape of a male character again in 2014 but this time, it was less graphic and shown in their 6:30pm (Channel 4)/7pm (E4) slot.  The story was similar to Luke’s in that it followed months of harassment and bullying.  Luke was bullied by fellow footballer, Mark Gibbs and teacher, John Paul McQueen was bullied and harassed by students, Finn O’Connor and Robbie Roscoe.  The thing that that made John’s Paul’s situation particularly interesting was that he was an out gay man and the boys’ bullying was based on homophobia.  After school one day, Finn pushed things further and raped him.

Four years later, over in Weatherfield, David Platt made a new friend in Josh Tucker but on a night out, Josh drugged and raped him.  David woke up with very little recollection of events but began to piece together what had happened and eventually, with the support of his family, namely, wife Shona, he went to the police.  These were two heterosexual males and it aired between 7:30pm and 8:30pm.

Luke was pinned down and attacked, as was John Paul.  David was drugged.  With Ben and Lewis, it started differently.  It started as a matter consent, before Ben categorically said no and so was pinned down and attacked.  And that it why I think that underlying homophobia was the root of so many of the unpleasant comments I read on Twitter after the episode was aired.  I don’t believe it was just the rape itself that was the issue, even though that was enough to make me cry my eyes out.  I believe it was that they were in an intense, romantic situation first, which Ben very definitely called a halt on, that got the keyboard warriors going.

But the point is that Ben said no.  He put a stop to things and Lewis ignored him.  He wanted what he wanted and he took Ben’s choices away.  It has been so devastating to see Ben having to live with the consequences of what has happened and that because of his past behaviour, everyone thinks the worst of him.  Usually such a bolshy, mouthy character, he has no words to tell anyone the truth of what has happened.  I hope that now he is staying with his Mum, who has suffered the same kind of violence in the past, he will be able to speak up and get the help he needs.

I have also heard criticism about an LGBTQ+ character committing a sexual offence and I totally understand that.  We are so desperate for positive LGBTQ+ role models and presence on our TV screens and in our literature.  And Eastenders have written Lewis as such a likeable guy, I for one was so shocked at how things have turned out.  However, domestic violence and sexual assault does exist in same sex situation (and not just between men either).  We do need positive representation but just like the Gray and Chantelle storyline must have helped women who needed help or when Linda was raped, that would have helped people too, those of us in the LGBTQ+ community also need to see ourselves in the darker, harder hitting storylines.  And it’s not just about us suffering abuse from the straight community.  Men do assault men, women do assault women, even when they are meant to love them.  There are Queer people out there who need to see it, recognise it and feel they are being spoken to, as much as the heterosexual community are being spoken to.

And the more the keyboard warriors, harbouring underlying homophobia see us on screen in all kinds of scenarios, perhaps they will have no choice but to accept us.