A pretty woman is applying lip gloss. Staring at her reflection, carefully dabbing her perfectly puckered mouth, she is focused. She is fixated. She is fine. Never mind the fact that her eyes are red and watery. So long as she keeps applying her lip gloss, everything will be OK. And yet, watching this moment in the latest episode of Euphoria, I found myself wanting to weep for this woman, a new character who has just started working in the strip club that Rue (Zendaya) is helping to manage. Her name is Kitty. And she has just been raped.
Perhaps this was to be expected. It may only be four episodes in, but Euphoria’s third season has set a strong precedent for misogyny and a general disregard for its female characters from the very start.
