I was rewatching the show and it kind of clicked with me how often Shauna’s boundaries are completely overstepped and ignored. It happens so consistently that I decided to make a post on it.
From the moment she is introduced, Jackie changes the music without asking and then insults her inferior music taste, while Shauna is annoyed, she is unsurprised, as this seems to be normal Jackie behavior
In the same episode, Shauna poses for Jackie as she tries on clothes, again pointing out how normal this behavior is to her, and it can of gives off “dressing up your doll” imagery. I’ll get back to it later when I can prove my point better
This behavior is normalized even more when Jeff has sex with her, knowing that she was drunk as hell and was in a position of control here, (you know, being the driver, being considerably more lucid, and clearly knowing that would not be doing this while sober, ive talked about it in this post https://www.tumblr.com/friedobservationdeer/814620880636379136/the-double-standards-between-jeff-and-shauna-are?source=share
Yeah, Jeff oversteps her boundaries knowing that she has already set a boundary beforehand, while having been made responsible for her safety and wellbeing, for his own gain.
And later on Jackie does breach Shauna’s boundaries once again. Whether it’s having Jackie block Shauna’s way and refuse to move until Shauna tells the truth, trapping her until she speaks
During the seance, Shauna is called an instrument that will be used by the group, while the game is simply make believe at the time, it foreshadows her becoming the wilderness vessel
When Lottie freaks out, she grabs Shauna and Shauna alone, saying that it was “in her too”
As well as that, in the episode 7 as well, Javi goes through her bag without permission and Shauna has to call him out on that.
Right afterwards, Jackie steals and reads Shauna’s journal because Shauna’s been hiding things from her. Before you go all “B-b-but Shauna was sleeping with her boyfriend though, she had every right!” as I’ve once seen someone say on twitter, please note that regardless of the reason, it is still a breach of privacy, and is still a violation of boundaries, even if Shauna was keeping secrets.
In the next episode, Jackie puts Shauna on the spot and tells everyone Shauna was pregnant without her permission. Right after she does so, Misty attempts to touch Shauna’s belly without permission as well and has to be slapped off by Shauna, which is kind of interesting as this will not be the last time this happens
After Jackie dies, Shauna talks to her corpse, and when Tai finds out, she calls everyone outside and forces Shauna to tell them all “what she had been up to with jackie” and brings out the body for everyone to see
Yeah, Tai had good intentions, but it reinforces the already there lack of boundaries Shauna seemed to have. The humiliation will probably never disappear, and it just gets even worse from here.
Lottie acts incredibly creepy towards her and her baby, to the point it scares her, while everyone around her ignores the issue because Lottie’s super nice to them, and go all “Shauna grow up”
Lottie puts her head to Shauna’s belly and starts muttering to the baby in broad daylight, and nobody seems to see the issue. Mind you, at least when Travis was getting tortured by Lottie, Tai and Van stopped her, here Shauna is treated by the entire group like an annoying kid
Her boundaries are non existent to the group at this point
During the birth, Shauna’s one wish is completely ignored, and the group does their prayers in spite of her refusals. Yeah, I get they were genuinely afraid, but her wishes are still being ignored
Afterwards, they come up with stories to explain her babies death, her anger and straight up turn to infant worship. They spend six months worshipping that baby and refusing to listen to Shauna’s wishes, to the point that Shauna removes and reburies him out of fear
That one scene with Akilah and the crown, is completely misinterpreted as well. Shauna was not being cruel or malicious originally, she simply refused to wear the crown because she didn’t want to, and Akilah attempts to forcefully put it on her head anyway in spite of her refusal. No one looks twice at this and treats Shauna like the bad guy.
I still feel bad for Akilah though 😞
Afterwards, she ends up wearing the crown anyway, in spite of her anger and refusals and is forced to sit and watch a play about her dead son and best friend without anyone stopping and considering how Shauna might feel about the entire thing
It doesn’t matter how Shauna feels after all! No wonder she was spitting in the soup.
Her relationship with Melissa starts after Melissa stalks her to her baby’s new grave. And chances are, this isn’t the first time she has done this. Melissa stalks Shauna as an adult as well and sends her letters.
During the trial, both Misty and Tai use Shauna’s personal losses as tools for victory. Yeah, Tai does it in a nicer way, but the intention is still there. There is no other character put under the knife in this way, not even Natalie
Misty uses Shauna’s dead friend, baby and the task of cutting up Javi to sell a narrative that Shauna burnt down the cabin. Tai presses Shauna into recounting her painful childbirth to sway the jury. Shauna is outright slandered by Misty even when she isn’t on the stand
“Shauna would’ve left you in the pit”
Her breakup with Melissa is watched by the group, her fight with Jackie is watched by the group, her reacting to Jackie’s death is watched by the group, her childbirth is watched by the group, beating up Lottie is watched by the group
Every single thing that happened to Shauna is public knowledge and public gossip they can laugh about with their friends
Yay! How funny! Shauna might be making someone roleplay as her best friend who froze to death! Van you’re a riot 😂
The show is clearly trying to send a message here. And it gets even more apparent with the season 3 finale. When Shauna becomes antler queen, she is not putting on the clothes by herself, she is being dressed by other people. I don’t think the sock calms her down, I think she was completely dissociating at the time.
It’s clearly done for a reason and it does remind me of how Jackie used to look over or practically dress up Shauna before they left for a party, which used to anger Shauna.
As an adult, when she is first introduced, Jessica Robert’s is probing into her privacy and attempts to find out her secrets
Jeff steals her diary and uses the contents to save his furniture shop. And the fact that he had read those journals years ago.
Callie steals a jersey from her moms closet to wear at a Halloween party, without asking for permission, to role play as her during a Halloween party
Adam draws weird pictures of her without her knowledge, and attempts to get her to reveal her secrets. He manhandles her outside of her house and intimidates and insults her into sex, after standing outside of her house for almost half the night.
This is clearly a pattern the writers are following, and as Shauna grows desensitized to it, so do we. From her first appearances to the season 3 finale, she has been been stripped of all of her privacy by everyone in her life, whether they mean harm or not.