Male Rape On General Hospital

While the sexual assault of 17-year-old Michael Corinthos happened a few months ago and has been part of GH‘s storyline, this week was the first time the character (played by actor Chad Duell) addressed the fact that he was raped.

The rape happened in prison—in a plot associated with James Franco’s character—and although the act itself wasn’t actually depicted on television (obviously), today’s episode was the culmination of the first storyline in daytime television to so explicitly deal with male rape. But unlike some soap plot lines wherein a female character is raped, Michael did not fall in love with his assaulter. Instead, the man was murdered. Interestingly, though, overall the topic of prison rape is being handled very seriously, with Michael’s mother stressing the importance of therapy to him.