Elizabeth (Tea Leoni) punches President Andrada (Joel de la Fuente) after he sexually assaults her.
As the chief diplomat for the United States, Elizabeth McCord must do a lot of emotional labor constantly in order to please everyone around her. Additionally, as a woman, she is expected not to express emotions such as rage that are considered unfeminine. However, as this scene shows, emotional management has a limit. As much as Elizabeth feels she needs to maintain a diplomatic relationship with President Andrada of the Philippines, after he sexually assaults her, she acts out of rage and valid fear for what he might do next by punching him in the face.
Elizabeth’s press secretary Daisy Grant (Patina Miller) sits at a conference table in the State Department and voices her feelings about not telling the world what actually happened. Elizabeth explains the reasons it might harm the State Department agenda.
After she returns to the U.S., Elizabeth composes herself enough to begin surface acting. She is still very upset, so she’s not deep acting, but she decides that she won’t tell the world what Andrada did to her. She feels the need to conform to the feeling rules of her job which require her to put diplomacy over personal feelings. She believes that Andrada would retaliate and harm lives if she came forward and believes she must avoid that.
Elizabeth lays in bed with her husband Henry (Tim Daly). She discusses her feelings about not coming forward about her sexual assault.
Back home, Elizabeth talks with her Henry about whether or not to come forward. She voices her internal struggles with the feeling rules that influence her actions. She says that many victims of sexual assault face similar pressures but then challenges our societal priorities, asking why the rights of women aren’t more important than these feeling rules.
Source:
“Break in Diplomacy.” Madam Secretary, created by Barbara Hall, season 3, episode 15, Barbara Hall Productions Revelations Entertainment CBS, 17 March 2017, Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/watch/80188796?trackId=14170286.