Outrage over 'Raped or Not?' Dutch TV show

The Dutch TV show Raped or Not features dramatisations of real-life rape cases from the Netherlands. Photo / CEN

A Dutch TV channel is launching a controversial new show where young people discuss whether or not rape took place in real-life cases of sexual assault.

Raped or Not? features dramatised incidents of alleged sexual assault, which are shown to young men and women who discuss if they agree or not with the outcome of a subsequent trial.

The show has unsurprisingly caused outrage in The Netherlands, with critics calling it "bizarre" and arguing that you cannot have an "opinion" on rape, according to the Daily Mail.

The first episode features a former couple who end up in bed together after a party. Photo / CEN

Producers have hit back, saying that it is important to discuss what is and isn't assault, in particular on the back of the #MeToo social media campaign and the Weinstein scandal.

The first episode shows a former couple who end up in bed together after a party and end up having sex even though it is not clear if both consented.

Another sees a young man who has just started as an intern with an female boss, where she "seduces" him during after work drinks.

Producer Bernard van den Bosch said: "First everyone raised their eyebrows, now everybody says: what timing."

According to van den Bosch, most of the outrage is due to the in-your-face title of the show, but that recent sex scandals, such as the accusations against Harvey Weinstein, has shown the topic has much more nuance.

Van den Bosch said: "Those are personal dramas. One says rape, the other sees it as an innocent sexual encounter. Our show is about that grey area."

The panel of young women discuss whether they thing one of the cases was sexual assault. Photo / CEN

The TV show's host Geraldine Kemper said that the cases discussed in Raped or Not are "not cases in which someone is dragged into the bushes and raped".

She said: "There is no discussion about whether or not that is rape. But in many situations it is much murkier."

Kemper said that when she saw the first images of some cases that she was not sure if she would call those incidents a rape.

Kemper said: "But by having a discussion together, our ideas about it can change. That is what we want to reach with this programme."