A televangelist’s sexual assault victim was reframed as a seductress in scandal coverage

Evidence

It is worth noting, however, that Hahn’s version of events differed on key points. For Hahn, this was no “tryst”; what happened to her was premeditated rape. She told of attempting to resist Bakker’s advances, of being plied with wine and possibly drugs, and of Bakker complaining that his wife couldn’t satisfy him sexually. As he put it, “When you help the shepherd, you’re helping the sheep.” Looking back, Hahn acknowledged her naivete. She watched Bakker every day on television: “It’s like ‘Oh my God, this is like God walked into the room.’” She initially kept quiet after the assault. The church was her world, and she feared that “millions of people” would be affected if she told her story. In Hahn’s telling, beneath the scandal and sensationalism was an act of violence, the manipulation and rape of a young woman, a preacher’s abuse of power, and the betrayal of a faith community. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 300

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘shepherd/sheep’ power dynamic and male-centered redemption narrative echoes the militant masculinity frame of earlier chapters; connects to ‘On Sacrifice’ treatment of gendered power and trauma narratives. — connects to: Televangelist sex scandals discredited evangelical celebrity heroes in the 1980s — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 302; Evangelical institutions systematically shifted blame for sexual assault onto female victims — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 644
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Televangelist sex scandals discredited evangelical celebrity heroes in the 1980s — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 302; Evangelical institutions systematically shifted blame for sexual assault onto female victims — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 644

Broader Connections

• Evangelical institutions systematically shifted blame for sexual assault onto female victims #exemplifies (0.92) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 644