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Shameless

Shameless is a series based on the Gallagher’s, a poor, dysfunctional family who gets in all sorts of trouble and are just trying to make it through. The storyline includes their neighbors, the Milkovich’s, who are just as bad as the Gallagher’s, if not worse. The children we get a glimpse of are Mandy and Mickey Milkovich, and they have to deal with a father who is hardly there, and when he is there, he verbally and physically abuses his children.

Shameless is quite a sporadic show with plot twists every five seconds, however, sexual abuse was the last thing anyone thought would be a part of the show. In this clip, the audience finds out that Mandy was sexually abused by her father. There are many effects of sexual abuse, but RAINN defines one as “One of the most common of these [reactions] is depression” (RAINN)Mandy puts up a solid front, saying “He drinks and mistakes me for mom. Only once in a while. Not like it’s a big deal.” By saying this, Mandy distances herself from the situation, swerving away from any attention or pity the situation may have aroused. She does not want any pity anyone hands out to her, which makes it seem like she has already gotten used to the fact that she is abused. We can infer from the situation that the abuse no longer visibly affects her because she has had it done to her for so long. Throughout the show, Mandy shows a grumpy, almost curmudgeon-like attitude, and rarely does the audience get to see past that. Mandy has put this shield up because of the abuse for so long that, to her, it is hard to get out of.