Because it’s been on my mind for some awful reason I’d rather not find out;
Anyone who has known or followed me for any length of time knows I sternly maintain that Laura was the victim of rape on multiple occasions. I’m leaving that statement above the read more since it gives a damn good idea of what kind of triggers this could contain.
Laura was a prostitute. We know this. It’s mentioned several times in canon.
Now, I’m not an idiot, I know this alone is not grounds for a declaration of rape. I’m certainly not, and have never said, she was obviously raped because she was a prostitute. No. Not true.
If we look at the legal definitions of consent-
A person consents if she or he agrees by choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice. The essence of this definition is the agreement by choice. The law does not require the victim to have physically resisted in order to prove a lack of consent.
If he or she agrees. Clearly Laura agrees, she’s stripping down when a client has barely entered the room.
Its the next part that is important. By choice, and has the freedom and capacity to make that choice.
No.
Laura is under the thumb of a man who beats girls for implying they don’t want to have sex with a client. Yes, she could and does take him down. But the last time we saw her, she was fourteen, and the next time she’s given an age is well after this period and she’s sixteen. It’s logical then to assume she was late fourteen, fifteen or (very) early sixteen when she’s a prostitute.
She is severely traumatized, acclimatized to physical abuse and acting under duress at the threat of it, and at the bare minimum for most western cultures’ ages of consent.
Even if she took out Daddy, she’d have his thugs and allies to deal with. And after all, it didn’t take long for him to find her when she ran away. It’s pretty clear to me that this terrified and naive young girl would take the least painful way out in that case.
That’s just if she said no to Daddy.
If she said no to the client… Daddy’s clientele are very much portrayed as those who would take what they had paid for. Especially since Laura is presented as a girl with ‘special skills’. So here, she’s taking the lesser of two evils.
That’s the freedom.
Then there’s the capacity.
Laura was bred and raised to kill. She’s shown learning languages and tactics. The biology she is shown to understand is mainly biochemistry, specifically poisons.
I don’t know about you, but I highly doubt she was given anything resembling rudimentary sex education. She would have known instinctually what was going on, but she wouldn’t have fully comprehended it.
So. Her situation does not fulfill the (admittedly British) definition of consent.
It can involve forcing or manipulating someone to witness or participate in any sexual acts, apart from penetration of the mouth with the penis, the penetration of the anus or vagina (however slight) with any object or the penis, which is rape.
Again, it’s the second that’s important. The manipulation. She isn’t shown to be physically restrained in the club, but she is ‘kept in line’ by emotional manipulation and physical threat.
