“365 Days” and the normalization of violent sex by Generation Z

Reece Chan

If you’re on TikTok, you can’t have missed the 365 Days content. And if you’re lucky enough not to have heard of it, it’s the Polish "erotic thriller" that was broadcasted and broke streaming charts on Netflix.

Centering around themes of coercion and sexual violence, this is another Stockholm Syndrome cliche started with Laura Biel being kidnapped and imprisoned by Italian mobster Massimo who then gives her one year to fall in love with him before setting her free. Even though Laura’s told not to be touched without her permission, Massimo does so consistently by groping her, shoving his hands down her trousers, grabbing her by the throat and tying her up. It’s basically a film glorifying rape culture and sexual violence.

What terrifies me the most is the audiences are meant to see it as a romantic film. In the beginning scene where Massimo pushes his employee down on her knees to give him a rough oral sex, with him holding her head onto him the entire time and choking her without letting her come up for air before finishing. To my disgust, the female employee responds with a witty smile afterward. I’m offended by the attempt to hides the facts that verbal consent has never been given and the female employee was actually suffered from unsubtle abuse of power. As for Laura, the looks on her face after being sexually aggressed against are meant to convince the audience she actually likes it. These problematic portrayals of sex are normalized by victims expressing pleasure or neutrality when being sexually aggressed against. We’re left with the impression that even though she said no, she secretly wants him – we’re meant to yearn for him to rape her.

Romanticizing sexual assault allows the audience to view this type of violence as acceptable, and this belief had been explicitly reflected via TikTok’s viral reaction videos and satirical memes about violent sex by its young users. Accompanied with jokes about sex-related injuries and assault, the hashtag #365dayschallenge has gone viral and gained more than two billion views on TikTok. Some users had joked about their friend’s bruises, with the caption “so my friend watched 365 days with her boyfriend”. Others joked about they’d like to be captured by Massimo. Some male TikTok users pretended to grab their partners by the throat, in reference to the most infamous scenes in which Massimo forces Laura into an embrace violently. These TikTok users, having the desire to be the chosen one, to be taken and protected by the alpha male, have been unconsciously adopted to the extreme version of misogyny that is engrained in the collective psyche of the society. Specifically, hypersexualized media works to groom teens into internalizing the thought that “rough sex” is normalized, legitimate and an accepted form of sexual play, which is totally unacceptable.

We need more portrayals of healthy, sexual relationships in the media. Sex shouldn’t be a taboo subject, and women should feel comfortable in their sexual preferences. It’s totally fine to fantasize about a hot mobster tying you up in bed — just make sure that it’s not because he kidnapped you, and that you agree to it first.