EastEnders’ Kat Slater isn’t ‘too fierce’ to be a victim of abuse

When you deliberation of Kat Slater, you deliberation of a fearsomely loyal, eternally tragic yet loving character; you deliberation leopard people and leather boots and you thinkof sensational performances from the ‘YES I AM!’ queen Jessie Wallace.

When you deliberation of EastEnders, you deliberation of a amusement based connected household and community, of gritty storylines targeted astir often uncomfortable issues and of episodes that permission an affectional impact.

Marrying each of this unneurotic for a saga focusing connected the precise existent contented of child-on-parent home maltreatment has led to a almighty and agonising look at the horrific presumption Kat has recovered herself successful arsenic a mum.

Kat, a quality whose ain puerility was heavy darkened by abuse, is the epitome of a resilient, surviving, almighty pistillate of soap; the benignant of quality that goes down successful the past books of the genre.

Mess with Kat arsenic an force and you are apt to regret it. Have Kat connected your side, and you person a conflict already fractional won. As a character, she is simply a titan of feistiness, amusive and ferocity.

Does that mean that she can’t truthful find herself the unfortunate of maltreatment from a child? Despite the cries of ‘Kat would ne'er fto Tommy get distant with that!’, this is arsenic acold from the information arsenic tin beryllium and a misconception that proves precisely wherefore it’s captious for shows successful the nationalist oculus similar EastEnders to proceed shining a airy connected unit against women.

Depressingly, adjacent aft the soap genre has covered a myriad of circumstances astir maltreatment implicit decades, for some, determination remains a stereotype of what an maltreatment unfortunate should look and enactment similar connected TV. And, successful the aforesaid vein, what they shouldn’t – aka, which characters would ‘never fto maltreatment happen.’

There’s nary specified happening arsenic ‘letting maltreatment happen’ oregon ‘letting idiosyncratic get distant with that’.

And determination is nary specified happening arsenic the ‘right’ maltreatment victim.

Over the past twelvemonth and longer, EastEnders has been laying the seeds of a gradually worsening signifier of behaviour from Tommy, played highly good by susceptible young histrion Sonny Kendall.

Much of what would often beryllium enactment down to teenage angst arsenic good arsenic the lasting effects of being a kid brought up done traumas, started to play out.

Suddenly shouting, breaking things, storming out, making threats, playing caput games – has determination ever been a genitor who hasn’t travel up against immoderate of this from a teenage child?

No genitor ever wants to spot their kid arsenic immoderate benignant of monster and truthful it’s lone been precocious that Kat has been forced to look up to the daunting information that Tommy’s behaviours are adjacent level and spell acold beyond teenage tantrums.

There is thing to beryllium scoffed astatine here. Wanting to spot the champion successful Tommy is not a weakness and assertive actions similar unit and demolition are intolerable for astir of america to respond to and manage.

Part of the biggest trauma of maltreatment successful the location is that for the astir part, the perpetrator is idiosyncratic the unfortunate loves and idiosyncratic who is expected to emotion the victim.

It’s not a lawsuit of ‘oh, conscionable springiness the lad a bully thrashing!’ similar immoderate successful the ‘I was smacked arsenic a child, and I turned retired okay’ brigade are arguing.

Meeting unit with much unit would beryllium the worst imaginable happening to do, nary substance however overmuch we arsenic viewers privation to support and combat for Kat.

It is simply a horrible ticker and the instrumentality choler towards Tommy is palpable and for the astir portion justified – helium is played truthful good by Sonny that I perfectly detest the kid myself sometimes!

But conscionable due to the fact that we person seen Kat present Slater justness to men who person cheated connected her oregon women who person entered cat-fights with her, it doesn’t mean that she is abruptly invulnerable to abuse.

Comparisons betwixt her and quiet, much reserved sister Little Mo – besides an maltreatment subsister – are utile not to marque the constituent that ‘Kat is overmuch stronger, she’d ne'er extremity up there’ but to marque the constituent that immoderate person, nary substance their inheritance oregon the perceptions of them, tin beryllium a victim.

Tommy being the idiosyncratic successful the satellite Kat wants and needs to support supra anyone else, adds conscionable that other furniture to her abhorrent situation. In 1 moment, she is petrified of him and what helium is susceptible of and successful another, she is traumatised astatine the imaginable of losing him.

She volition walk astir of her clip wondering however helium is feeling, blaming herself, questioning her abilities arsenic a parent and asking herself – what a radical of radical who ticker the amusement are wrongly saying – ‘Where did I spell wrong?’

The complexities of wherever Tommy has ended up – and indeed, wherever helium whitethorn spell from present – are many, unsocial lone to him and his situation. Like with those who tin beryllium victims of abuse, determination is besides nary set-in-stone blueprint for who tin spell connected to beryllium a perpetrator.

There is truthful overmuch much to it than ‘he needs a spot of discipline’ and ‘the Kat of aged would ne'er person taken that!’

EastEnders is doing a superb occupation of exploring this script – however does a genitor navigate a beingness wherever their kid is besides perchance a monster?

It’s a question posed and dealt with arsenic brilliantly by Hollyoaks close present successful their storyline focusing connected sibling enactment abuse, wherever genitor Darren Osborne can’t basal to look astatine his son, the perpetrator, and yet is consumed by the agony of knowing helium volition endure the remainder of his beingness for his actions.

Watching a TV amusement and drafting that definitive enactment successful the soil connected wherever Kat oregon Darren should person known, should person acted and should person disowned is simply a mistake, due to the fact that determination is acold excessively overmuch nuance astatine play with parental and kid relationships, not slightest of each wherever maltreatment is concerned.

Kat the fun-loving, mischief-making beloved loudmouth section and Kat the struggling, traumatised and trapped mum are some the aforesaid Kat.

Both are valid and not 1 of the galore characteristics is susceptible of nullifying another.

While determination remains uncertainty anyplace that adjacent a pistillate outwardly exuding the astir feistiness tin autumn unfortunate to abuse, EastEnders and its soap cohorts indispensable ne'er halt bringing the challenging speech to the fore.

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