"You know, 2025 has been such a chill year so far that I'm sure everyone was thrilled to spend some time relaxing with an episode of television entirely about a bunch of men demanding that a woman prove she is a virgin with a series of barbaric, humiliating tests. Not at all impossible to watch without wanting to throw my TV at the wall, right?"
"When we learned last week that, thanks to a letter from the ever-charming Lord Lovat, Isaac Grant was demanding Ellen submit to a virginity test, excuse me - he wants to make sure her virtue is intact, isn't that such a sweet way of putting it? - I knew Blood of My Blood would show some of this test. Outlander does love reminding us how much violence was (is!) perpetrated against women."
"that all the male characters we're supposed to care about - Henry, Colum, Ned, Dougal, Malcolm - really hate that they have to do this to Ellen. Like, really hate it so much you guys. While all of them take some sort of stance, either vocally "wishing" they could do something to intervene or simply look away in shame during the test, none of them does anything to stop it."
Ellen is forced to undergo a brutal, ritualized virginity test demanded by Isaac Grant via a letter from Lord Lovat. The procedures are portrayed as barbaric and deeply humiliating, prompting visceral reactions. Several prominent male characters—Henry, Colum, Ned, Dougal, Malcolm—express shame and verbal regret but take no decisive action to protect Ellen. Malcolm, who holds real authority and professes affection and trust for Ellen, fails to stop the ordeal despite fearing her bitterness. The narrative foregrounds gendered violence and the complicity of men who condemn abuse yet allow it to continue.
Read at Vulture
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