Esme, what a challenging subject you have taken on to write about. Thank you. As a man, it has astounded me the number of women in my life who have confided in me about sexual abuse or rape that happened to them in the past. They ways women have coped - or failed to cope - with such brutality and trauma are numerous and varied. And I think many men really just do not get it, that this is the world women inhabit. So, writing about rape and depicting it in movies has an important purpose. But, when it is used as a trope - aMacGuffin, as you say - it trivializes the reality. Personally, I hate shows or books that revolve around rape or any violence done to women. Because they are manipulating this real world horror for ratings. Oh, there are some amazing exceptions - The Color Purple, Promising Young Women - these spring to mind.

But these are the exception.

To me, one of the keys questions in a price or art is, is the woman depicted as a subject or an object? Is she the victim, or the protagonist finding her path, her humanity, through what has occurred?