In this week’s episode of “Pretty Little Liars,” Talia’s advances towards Emily have left us uncomfortable and make us question the level of appropriateness in the girls’ relationship.
If you saw “Oh, What Hard Luck Stories They All Hand Me” this past week you may remember a certain scene involving Emily and Talia. While at work, Emily was reaching for a canister on a top shelf in the kitchen when her apron began to slip off. Talia came up behind her and voluntarily tied the apron back on. The moment then continued as Talia proceeded to rest her hands on Emily’s waist and lingered very close behind her, practically touching her body against Emily’s.
If you need a refresher you can see the moment we are referring to at the 41 second mark of this video:
According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission website, harassment in the workplace can include “unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature.”
Considering that Emily never openly returned Talia’s feelings or interest in furthering their relationship, Talia had no right to touch Emily in that manner. Not to mention that we were under the impression the Talia was much older than Emily, who is still only 17 and in high school.
Related: What’s next for Aria on Pretty Little Liars?
Now, we’re not turning our heads to past incidents with other girls, such as Aria and Ezra’s entire courtship. The Ezria relationship has been deemed “wrong” from the get-go while this moment seems to have gone a bit under the radar. We’ve spotted the topic on a Reddit post or two and maybe a small handful of websites, but other than that we’ve been hearing crickets on the subject.
Just because the the episode ended in a passionate kiss between the two girls doesn’t mean that the earlier scene was appropriate. By portraying this on television with no backlash it is making this sort of behavior commonplace, if not encouraged, in a place where you should be safe from sexual advances.