Apparently there is some controversy surrounding the stick figure drawing that Hopper found in El's room at the lab and I have to say it's totally freaking me out. Here's an old post duscussing it: https://www.reddit.com/r/StrangerThi..._spoiler_ep_5/

I had briefly wondered when I fist saw the show if there had been sexual abuse going on at the lab, because these guys essentially had a kid they could do whatever they wanted with. But I brushed it off, telling myself "nah, I don't think the show would go THAT far". I figured that, other than the rough tossing into solitary confinement, the abuse was more psychological/emotional. Then I saw season 2 where Kali had the flashback to the fat guy poking her with the cattle prod and then it became clear that they DID use physical methods as punishhent. But again I just figured "well, it's a well-controlled laboratory environment and (as sick as it sounds) there are probably "approved" methods of "negative reinforcement" for when the kids don't do as they're told (just like how with research animals there are "approved" methods of euthanasia. Then I'm scrolling down the page on here and see that post about the picture and now I'm freaked out again. I know she's just a fictional character but it's normal to get atta hed to a fictional character and she's such a cute kid that I'd hate to have to add sexual abuse to her list of past horrors.

As sick as Papa was I honestly don't really see him being a child rapist, but there were all those other men in the facility, the orderlies especially. The two orderlies she killed - who knows, maybe they'd done worse things to her than just throwing her in solitary.

Some things to keep in mind - El had no probem stripping naked in front of the boys and had no concept of privacy, which indicates she would routinely be naked in front of adults, and not only did she know what a kiss was, but she appeared to be the initiator of the almost kiss in the bathroom. Precocious sexuality is a symptom of child sexual abuse.

I'm really really hoping that I'm wrong. I'm hoping that Brenner, as twisted as he was, was "by the books" and the orderlies knew that they'd be in deep **** if they administered any punishments that he hadn't ordered. I'm hoping that because El was raised by these people from birth, that they tried to limit their punishments and not do anything too cruel. God I hope I'm wrong.

I came across that theory as well. I like to believe that the stick figure just means that since Eleven didn't went to school or had a proper childhood...Even her drawings seemed like made by a much younger child. usually around her age most girls already think about makeup, fashion stuff, etc. Eleven was pretty much treated like a soldier, meaning she had no time or they would allow her too, be modest. Mike, Dustin and Lucas were the first to pretty much tell her "We don´t around naked like that". As for Brenner he was a psycho but in his twisted way yes, he was protecting his investment.

That looks like part of his suit to me.