It is this imperfect aspect of Arabella’s character that the true effect of internalised misogyny is revealed. Through flashbacks, we see that Arabella, as a teenager, resorted to schoolyard bullying tactics to victim blame a classmate, after she accused one of Arabella’s friends of sexual assault. The audience watches Kwame as he suffers in isolation and recoils into denial, an unfortunate reality of many survivors.Īs we watch Arabella respond to her friends’ disclosures of their experiences with assault, we see reactions borne out of internalised misogyny, making her character unlikeable at times. On the other hand, Kwame suffers in silence, being told by the police that his experience is invalid. Arabella finds comfort in sisterhood, attending support groups and finding solidarity within the arms of her friends. Kwame and Arabella have vastly different experiences. Kwame, a gay, black man, is assaulted by another man, but homophobia and toxic masculinity informs how Kwame isn’t believed by the police or his friends. The story of the character Kwame reveals how male sexual assault survivors are often silenced by toxic masculinity. Coel uses her writing to represent sexual assault survivors and raise how forms of bigotry affect the way survivors are seen and heard. I May Destroy You is handled with care and grace. From Arabella’s denial and self-destructive spiral, to her use of the power of writing to speak out against the injustice she faced, Coel demonstrates why we need more stories that draw from reality. Arabella’s characterisation is complex, unable to be placed neatly into either of those cliches. However, Coel challenges these depictions through the non-linear aspect of Arabella’s journey to healing. Often, survivors are placed in one of two boxes: the vigilante who seeks justice at whatever cost, or the reserved, hopeless survivor - two stigmas rooted in the toxicity of patriarchal perspectives. What makes this story authentic is its nuanced depiction of the experience, thoughts, and emotions of sexual assault survivors. Unable to place where it happened or who the perpetrator was, Arabella sets out to piece together the events leading up to the assault. One morning, she wakes up with a hazy memory of being sexually assaulted. I May Destroy You follows the story of Arabella, a young writer. Michaela Coel’s authentically crafted I May Destroy You follows a woman’s journey to uncover what happened on the night she was sexually assaulted, raising the question for survivors of sexual assault: ‘how does one carry such trauma?’ Receiving glowing recommendations across the world from esteemed writers, it’s easy to see why from the moment the first episode plays, this story needs to be told.

I may destroy you nominations