"Loathing is an appropriate response to a rape scene. The American audience is too used to seeing rape exploited simply as a plot point in an entertainment, so it's refreshingif disturbingto see a rape scene portrayed as horrifically as it is in Showgirls. See ""I Spit on Your Grave"" for another example of a film that makes it abundantly clear that the rape scene is not intended for entertainment. As brutal as the rape scenes are in these movies, it's clear that both of them are anti-rape movies. So the scene has fulfilled its purpose. (Frankly, I'm a bit repulsed when someone suggests that the rape scene in Showgirls should somehow be softened.) 

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