This post will contain spoilers for the show, if you are keen to watch it I suggest not reading this until after you have watched the last episode.

This show has been given descriptions that it publicizes mental health awareness, and supports sex crime victims; it however does not have the power to paint a reality of it that isn't sensationalized to lie comfortably within current society's views. Firstly (and might I address that this is absolutely not an ill factor of the show), the show is about suicide, one of the reasons for the suicide is a rape by a wealthy male figure of the show who is revealed to have committed multiple rapes. To publicize the reality of such is fine and should be supported, people should not get away with such crimes and if it needs the strong influence of teen oriented media to support the ousting of such sex criminals then by all means it should be accepted.

My main problem with the show's new season is directly amassed in the last episode, where female characters of the show all testify in court revealing their sex crime victim stories, that each of these crimes was committed by men, that only men (not all men) do or are motivated to do these crimes, and that women who are victims are left with intense fear as to the capability of boys and men around them. I just don't know how to properly respond, this only instills and sets back societal views of sex crimes; that women can only ever be the victim, and men can only be the assaulter. Why this bothers me so is because when I was 9 I was sexually assaulted by 2 teenage girls; in a span of 10 minutes my friend who had accompanied me had ran, I had been threatened with stabs, I had been violated, left alone in a situation that has been seared into my mind, and given scars that are still visible today. It is views like those instilled by this show that are the reason I have never been able to tell anyone. I've had to come to terms with myself in mental confinement because I don't want to run the risk of being portrayed as a victim, or being ridiculed over my trauma, or telling someone I believe I can trust and having them tell my parents. As men in society we very solely speak of non-consented sexual situations where we were the victim, as we run the risk of responses like "she wanted you dude why did you bitch out?" "but you got laid! Who gives a fuck if she's dom?", "if you didn't want it you have the strength to stop it", etc... The belittlement of sex crimes where a man is the victim is abhorrent, and the ridicule of sex crimes where a woman is the aggressor only get further shoved out of the path of relevancy when media influences like this show speak on only the opposite situation.

Watching the first 5 minutes of this final episode will leave most men and those adept in men's issues frustrated, and for those in my situation will be left hurt and further demoralized. I took a break from watching after those 5 minutes and came back to it today to see if it redeemed itself later in the episode. A male character who was shown to have both weak and vengeful tendencies is portrayed getting beaten in a school bathroom by 3 male jock characters who force his head into a toilet, pull down his pants, and sodomize him with a wooden mop where blood is shown on the handle when it's removed. To put it short this character was previously seen shooting guns in the woods and committing defacement crimes around the school, acts for which the character was sent away to be rehabilitated and turned into a moral citizen. After this sexual assault scene I had only a droplet of hope that this prior character transformation would make the character an example of how to handle a sex crime by going through proper procedures and testifying to the police. But of course not, the writers room decide the only way this character will react to this sex crime is by shooting up the fucking school. That character transformation arc was for nothing, and once again instilled the disgusting view this show gives off that men can only act through aggression. Seriously, this show has all the power to say "No, these are not gendered traits, these are human traits. Humans are aggressors, humans are victims, gender does not need to be a factor in knowing which is which." but it stays silent, only sensationalizing the gendered stereotyping of these crimes which is generally accepted by society. It is even shown in a "what if?" type flashback that the female lead Hannah Baker grabs a man's genitals through his jeans to threaten him, which is portrayed as a moment of strength and courage for the character instead of being shown as sexual assault.

I'm not an overt activist for men's rights, I'm not an overt activist for women's rights, I'm a victim of female-on-male sexual assault who feels that the seriousness of his trauma has been buried deeper by media influence and society, and that it needs to stop. This type of sensationalized media has likely set back male victims another generation until they are recognized as people before victims, and as victims before "those who got laid".

As a side note, to further prove this show has no objective in portraying a proper spotlight on health (mental and sexual) the male protagonist Clay has PTSD induced hallucinations of the girl who committed suicide (Hannah Baker). He hallucinates her so many times that it comes to the point where he tries to shoot someone and then tries to stop his hallucination from talking. It is shown in the final episode that upon speaking at her funeral his hallucination goes away, promoting a view that if you face your fear your mental health is boom, like that, all good. This promotes an unhealthy view of those dealing with PTSD hallucinations that they can just get rid of it.

This show has absolutely zero rooting in proper education or portrayal, it's only grounding is in sensationalized media and extorting lies/half-truths of society in order to increase in popularity. I needed to get this off my mind.