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"Episode Three" is the third episode of season two of the ABC television series American Crime. It was written by executive producer Sonay Hoffman and directed by Gregg Araki.

Plot
Episode 3 opens with an interview between Leslie Graham, the headmaster of Leyland High School, and the reporter. Leslie makes it seem like Leyland did everything they could to help Taylor in this situation of rape. In this conversation, Leslie engages in victim blaming as she sees alcohol as the problem and not the lack of consent between Taylor and his rapist, Eric Tanner. The next scene features Taylor in a therapy session where he discusses how much regret he feels towards speaking out about his rape. “If this happened to a girl, people would lose their mind, but when it happens to a guy, it doesn’t matter.” - Taylor Blaine Immediately after this scene, Anne is seen at the restaurant she manages engaging in form of bystander intervention, when she sees a man being aggressive with his wife or girlfriend. The focus switches to Terri, Kevin's mother, at her job meeting with an African American employee of hers who she is firing. Afterwards, Terri finds out that her son's name has been splattered across the newspapers in Indianapolis, and reacts by removing her son from school that day and meeting with their lawyer. The damage has already been done at this point though and people are already talking about this online. In the meeting with their lawyer, Kevin admits to hosting the party, providing alcohol, and the team tradition of "Making the Team", where girls engage in sexual relations with team members of the basketball team. Several major developments in the actual rape case occur for Tayor's mother, the LaCroix's, and the actual legal nature of the case. Taylor's mother, Anne, talks to Taylor's girlfriend, Evy, and learns several important parts of features of the night of Taylor's rape, such as how Evy wasn't with Taylor the entire night and that Taylor's rapist was the one who drove them home. For the LaCroix's, they learn that the allegations were against another boy and not a girl. Both parents react very strongly and show disbelief about the validity of male on male rape. For the legal nature of the case, there were blood and semen traces on Taylor's clothing from the night of the party, which gives ample evidence for police to treat this case as an actual rape.

Perspective on Rape Culture
As noted in the book, Asking for It, victim blaming occurs, especially in cases of male rape. This is seen in the opening scene of this episode where Leslie blames Taylor’s drinking for the situation that occurred and not holding any member of the basketball team responsible.

Victim Blaming
During this episode we see a lot of intentional victim blaming by the Leyland school and by the Headmaster Leslie Graham. As we look into victim blaming and how it affects individuals, there were some reviews that also picked up on this message. Pilot Viruet from the A.V. Club writes “Season Two: Episode Three” brings the subtext into the actual text. It adds another layer to Taylor’s trauma: Not only is he still dealing with this traumatic event but he’s also forced to over-explain and relive it, to listen to people disbelieve him (which happens in a majority of rape cases, regardless of gender), and to seek out help on the Internet which just tells him to feel ashamed about it.” This is the sad reality for the victim of a rape. Far too often without proof, a rape victim may never be taken seriously and might never get the closure they so desperately need. This article goes on to talk more about how Taylor feels like nobody is hearing him, which is going to eventually lead him to his breaking point. Colin Fitzgerald from Pop Matters talks about Leslie stating “In episode three, she hits a new low by outright blaming the victim of the rape, telling a reporter the real question that needs to be asked is why he was out drinking that night in the first place. Any nuance the character once had is lost in that moment. These character flaws are written in under the guise of being realistic, a testament to the multi-dimensionality of the human psyche (nobody’s perfect, after all), but too often they don’t even ring true.”

Stigma of Male Rape
Rape is often thought of as a female getting raped by a male, few think that male on male rape happens. As we get further into this series we are shown just how true this is. A scene between Kevin and his parents perfectly plays out the shocking realizations people have with male on male rape. Entertainment Weekly had an article about this episode; they talked on the subject that maybe the LaCroix family wasn’t as angry that Kevin would have raped someone, as much as the fact the victim was male. Sarene Leeds from writes “And once again, in the recurrent theme of the season, they too are baffled by the idea that rape can happen between boys — or that their son might be gay. “Boys don’t get raped,” insists a flummoxed Terri, who is also under the false impression that any guy would just fight back. “Boys don’t do that to other boys,” she says."

Culture Bias
This episode sheds light on some of the biases, and cultural differences between Caucasians and persons of color. We also see some examples of classism when looking at the LaCroix family versus the Blaine’s and Tanner’s Sarene Leeds from Entertainment Weekly writes about how the Lacroix family deals with the allegations against Kevin and how because he’s black, this will follow him the rest of his life regardless of innocence. “Now that he’s been named in this article, the stigma of “alleged rapist” will stay with him, possibly forever.”