“Baby Reindeer” or “Baby Reindeer” quickly reached the top of Netflix. The miniseries tells the story of Donny Dunn, a bartender from London who is harassed by a woman named Martha day and night, forcing him to face his fears and traumas that he had kept buried.
If you haven’t seen this show, it’s important to know that there will be spoilers ahead.
“Baby Reindeer”: Donny and Darrien’s story reflects sexual abuse and grooming
In the first three chapters they focus on showing the interactions of the protagonists and the increase in harassment. An important point that had gone unnoticed was that Martha had discovered that a man had hurt Donnie in the past, though she didn’t know exactly how.
This is explained in the fourth chapter by showing Donny’s past, especially when he attends the Edinburgh Fringe festival. After failing at his stand-up shows, he manages to get into a VIP bar and there he meets Darien, a famous comedian whom he admired.
The protagonist explains that they become great friends when they start talking about theater-related topics and even helps him make the show interesting with his advice, which makes the protagonist very happy.
Soon after, Darien invites Donnie to write comedy with the promise that they could work together and even make him famous and a millionaire. Because of this, the young man agrees to follow his mentor in all aspects, which included taking drugs and heavy amounts of alcohol.
Darien makes Donnie come to his house and after they get together is when he rapes him for the first time. Unfortunately, this was repeated often as the comedian continued to flatter his work as a writer into thinking it could make him a star and thus keep him under his control.
What is the grooming that Donnie experienced in ‘Baby Reindeer’?
The events of the series indirectly highlight that Darien groomed Donnie, which is a deliberate act where an adult contacts a child or teenager in order to gradually gain their trust and then engage them in a sexual activity, according to the definition of “ The Save the Children portal.
Although the show is both adults, the premise proves to be the same as Darien gains Donnie’s trust and manages to manipulate him into committing sexual crimes after being drugged and unconscious for hours.
Grooming is divided into stages
Grooming is divided into several stages, the first is when the attacker chooses their victim, who is usually vulnerable in an emotional way, then they focus on gaining their trust and move on to the third stage, which consists of meeting the victims need of. , in this case it is attention and validation.
The fourth is isolation where the aggressor becomes the victim’s most important person in order to remove him from his inner circle. In the fifth the abuse begins, the victim believes it was his idea and that he is somehow indebted to the attacker.
Finally, in the sixth stage, the attackers maintain control of the situation through threats, violence or manipulation, the latter being the tool used by Darien.
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Source: univision
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
