Looking through a lot of the analysis surrounding Mouthwashing, I see people mainly (and rightfully) focusing on the roles Jimmy and Curly played in what happened to Anya, the themes of bystander syndrome with Curly, and the idea of entitlement and apathy with Jimmy. but something I see a lot of people neglect is the role Pony Express as a whole played in what happened to her.
She was a woman trapped on a ship. The ONLY woman, trapped on a ship with 4 men. She was put into a position where they had the option to hurt her. One of those men took the option.
This is not a make-believe, made up scenario.
It comes back to the idea of the outsider.
It's prevalent in male spaces all around, but I would like to specifically call upon the "not all men" mentality a lot of men have. Because this idea of the "bad men" being outliers gives all men as a whole the benefit of the doubt. It allows men to be put into situations where they have the option to hurt someone, under the presumption they won't take it.
And this is something that happens in reality every day. Women are consistently seen as the outsider in everyday society, as men and women being opposing sides, but especially in the workplace, where there is 5 or more men to every 1 woman, as seen perfectly illustrated aboard the Tulpar.
So I don't think the question should be, "why did he hurt her." It should be "why did he have the option to hurt her to begin with?" And, more importantly "why does that continue to happen every day to real women, with no change?"
Because yes, there WERE good men there. Swansea and Daisuke most notably. But it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how many good men there are, period. For every day that women are seen as outsiders, as variables of less importance to be overlooked, or thrown in last minute, there will be women abused. And that, I believe, is the most important message of Mouthwashing.
