Movie/Documentary Opinion: It Happened Here [Netflix]
Ref: It Happened Here [Netflix]
Context: This was another documentary I had to view for class . I figured I’d talk about it since it brings up a lot of issues and is also very accessible to the majority of us (who use Netflix anyways). This documentary focuses primarily on rape culture on college campuses and the after effects of how it impacts its female students.
The film introduces a very scary side to being on a college campus. Being a commuter, I’m not so familiar with peer pressure because I feel like I’m kept firmly grounded at home but I know that things like this go on and I fear for my friends who do live on campus for these reasons. “1 in 5 female students on campus get sexually assaulted” continues to ring in my ears over and over again, “1 in 5”. I’ve personally experienced sexual harassment for a good majority of my time here as a college student (and I’ll go into more detail on this later on) so I can only imagine how terrifying it is to experience sexual assault. What’s so surprising to me is that most of the cases of college campus rapes are done by friends or acquaintances, people whom you thought wouldn’t want to hurt you. It changes you, this experience, it brings darkness into your life. It’s not just a one night experience, these women live with this for the rest of their lives. They’re in constant fear, despite emotionally “getting over it”, the only thing they really CAN do is suppress these fears and act like they don’t matter. Even seeing their rapist and knowing of their presence on campus brings these feelings back.
How are you supposed to forgive and forget something that completely changed your life? This is one of the reasons why I feel that “whore-shaming” and “slut-shaming” is very important because it expresses this mentality of “she was asking for it”. The doc brought up past rapes highlighted in the news as people constantly try to suggest that it was the victim’s fault for the incident and not try to address the REAL issue at hand. “You were probably drunk”, “you shouldn’t have gone into bed with him”, “what were you wearing?”, these questions do not try to solve the issue, it is blaming the victim for being responsible and to account for the things being done to HER. When a guy “sleeps around” with many girls, they call him a winner, but when a woman does the same thing she is considered a whore. Women should be able to wear what they want and express their sexuality in the ways that they please without people accusing them of “asking for it”. As a kid, I never understood this and always sided with the perspective that “if they didn’t dress like that, maybe it wouldn’t have happened to them” but now I understand that women should not be controlled. We should be able to feel sexy and to feel pretty and to be beautiful without being labelled wrongly because of it. This mentality is the reason why I am very cautious (and paranoid even) when choosing what to wear everyday, asking myself constantly “would I be sexually assault or sexually harassed”? It’s unfortunate for us to constantly question ourselves, to live in constant fear of the world, to constantly be wrongly accused for things being done to us. I am scared of putting my trust into people because of things like this. The film states that only 20% of on-campus rapes are reported and of those reports, look at how the colleges address those issues. What I loved about this doc is that there was a positive conclusion, where we need to spread awareness of things like this happening and that we should be supportive of those who have survived these traumatic experiences.
We should not have to walk around in fear in an environment of learning.
It was hard for me to imagine some of the stuff that was going on with the victims because in a perfect world, none of this would have to happen. The administration would do something to help you, not accuse you of being the problem. It pained me to see that there was this constant defense for the rapist and not for the victim. I was very upset when they tossed her into a psyche ward after asking her if she wanted to commit suicide; she is being labelled as the crazy one and they’re doing absolutely nothing to the rapist. “Silence is the enemy of change”. This quote coincides with my readings from Guyland where many people (guys especially) tend to stay silent and don’t feel the urgent need to speak up against a friend who is doing something wrong. I read about a horrific experience of a 17 year old girl who was being raped by a group of guys from the football team. Many of the guys who realized that it was wrong, got up and left the scene but they stayed silent about its happenings and was at that moment apart of the problem at hand. It’s one thing to not be apart of a situation and it’s another to be not be apart of it but to KNOW that it is happening and to not say anything about it.
I’ve personally been sexually harassed by people surrounding the campus AND students on campus. A few months on campus, I’ve been stalked at the subway station. I’ve also been sexually harassed by a student (who, by the way, still continues to go around and sexually harasses other students as well) and is constantly harassed by a guy that takes the subway with me occasionally. I would like to note that (and I’ve stated this on a recent tweet as well) it is okay to find a girl attractive and to stare at her because you think that she is pretty, but it is NOT OKAY to continue staring at her when you know that she is COMPLETELY UNCOMFORTABLE. That is when it can be considered sexual harassment and I personally think that sexual harassment is taken so lightly within our society today. When people send you dick pics online, ask you to fuck them, asking if they can “lick the pussy”, constantly giving unwanted shoutouts to women as they pass by… I can make a really really long list, people are taking these things so lightly now. Even victims of sexual harassment brush it off as a joke or play it down like it was nothing, but it is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed. Even for myself, I don’t feel fearfully uncomfortable anymore, I’m more upset and angry when said things happen because it is now given a light of social acceptance, that it’s just going to happen and that you can’t do anything to make that change. It is a really big deal, if not to you, then to people who are being affected by it.
The film introduces a very scary side to being on a college campus. Being a commuter, I’m not so familiar with peer pressure because I feel like I’m kept firmly grounded at home but I know that things like this go on and I fear for my friends who do live on campus for these reasons. “1 in 5 female students on campus get sexually assaulted” continues to ring in my ears over and over again, “1 in 5”. I’ve personally experienced sexual harassment for a good majority of my time here as a college student (and I’ll go into more detail on this later on) so I can only imagine how terrifying it is to experience sexual assault. What’s so surprising to me is that most of the cases of college campus rapes are done by friends or acquaintances, people whom you thought wouldn’t want to hurt you. It changes you, this experience, it brings darkness into your life. It’s not just a one night experience, these women live with this for the rest of their lives. They’re in constant fear, despite emotionally “getting over it”, the only thing they really CAN do is suppress these fears and act like they don’t matter. Even seeing their rapist and knowing of their presence on campus brings these feelings back.
How are you supposed to forgive and forget something that completely changed your life? This is one of the reasons why I feel that “whore-shaming” and “slut-shaming” is very important because it expresses this mentality of “she was asking for it”. The doc brought up past rapes highlighted in the news as people constantly try to suggest that it was the victim’s fault for the incident and not try to address the REAL issue at hand. “You were probably drunk”, “you shouldn’t have gone into bed with him”, “what were you wearing?”, these questions do not try to solve the issue, it is blaming the victim for being responsible and to account for the things being done to HER. When a guy “sleeps around” with many girls, they call him a winner, but when a woman does the same thing she is considered a whore. Women should be able to wear what they want and express their sexuality in the ways that they please without people accusing them of “asking for it”. As a kid, I never understood this and always sided with the perspective that “if they didn’t dress like that, maybe it wouldn’t have happened to them” but now I understand that women should not be controlled. We should be able to feel sexy and to feel pretty and to be beautiful without being labelled wrongly because of it. This mentality is the reason why I am very cautious (and paranoid even) when choosing what to wear everyday, asking myself constantly “would I be sexually assault or sexually harassed”? It’s unfortunate for us to constantly question ourselves, to live in constant fear of the world, to constantly be wrongly accused for things being done to us. I am scared of putting my trust into people because of things like this. The film states that only 20% of on-campus rapes are reported and of those reports, look at how the colleges address those issues. What I loved about this doc is that there was a positive conclusion, where we need to spread awareness of things like this happening and that we should be supportive of those who have survived these traumatic experiences.
We should not have to walk around in fear in an environment of learning.
It was hard for me to imagine some of the stuff that was going on with the victims because in a perfect world, none of this would have to happen. The administration would do something to help you, not accuse you of being the problem. It pained me to see that there was this constant defense for the rapist and not for the victim. I was very upset when they tossed her into a psyche ward after asking her if she wanted to commit suicide; she is being labelled as the crazy one and they’re doing absolutely nothing to the rapist. “Silence is the enemy of change”. This quote coincides with my readings from Guyland where many people (guys especially) tend to stay silent and don’t feel the urgent need to speak up against a friend who is doing something wrong. I read about a horrific experience of a 17 year old girl who was being raped by a group of guys from the football team. Many of the guys who realized that it was wrong, got up and left the scene but they stayed silent about its happenings and was at that moment apart of the problem at hand. It’s one thing to not be apart of a situation and it’s another to be not be apart of it but to KNOW that it is happening and to not say anything about it.
I’ve personally been sexually harassed by people surrounding the campus AND students on campus. A few months on campus, I’ve been stalked at the subway station. I’ve also been sexually harassed by a student (who, by the way, still continues to go around and sexually harasses other students as well) and is constantly harassed by a guy that takes the subway with me occasionally. I would like to note that (and I’ve stated this on a recent tweet as well) it is okay to find a girl attractive and to stare at her because you think that she is pretty, but it is NOT OKAY to continue staring at her when you know that she is COMPLETELY UNCOMFORTABLE. That is when it can be considered sexual harassment and I personally think that sexual harassment is taken so lightly within our society today. When people send you dick pics online, ask you to fuck them, asking if they can “lick the pussy”, constantly giving unwanted shoutouts to women as they pass by… I can make a really really long list, people are taking these things so lightly now. Even victims of sexual harassment brush it off as a joke or play it down like it was nothing, but it is definitely an issue that needs to be addressed. Even for myself, I don’t feel fearfully uncomfortable anymore, I’m more upset and angry when said things happen because it is now given a light of social acceptance, that it’s just going to happen and that you can’t do anything to make that change. It is a really big deal, if not to you, then to people who are being affected by it.
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