On Netflix you
can find the powerful stories of many women who speak out against their
oppressors in the film The Hunting Ground. The film is about the problem of sexual assault
on college campuses and how it suppressed by universities, because they are
afraid of the bad press that could hurt them if word gets out that these
scandals are going on. Kirby Dick, the
director, presents the stories of several women about their stories of rape and
sexual assault, how people reacted to their stories—especially those who were
part of the leadership of the university—and how they felt personally
afterwards and sometimes months or years later now telling the story.
The stories of the women to me were very powerful. There were some interviews that were
accompanied by cutaways that showed scenes similar to what they were
describing, while some just stayed on the visual of the girl telling the
story. Whether or not there were
visuals, I was pulled in. I felt the
pain and the fear and the sadness of the terrible treatment of these women
through the plainness of their words. In
the interviews, there were also men that were violated that were featured, as
well as one man who had his face blurred out, because he confessed that he had
been a sexual assailant to show a little of the other faucets of this story.
Now, I thought it was very positive that they also had a
storyline of hope among the grimness of the situation. Though the stories left me touched, it also
left me feeling helpless. However, the
storyline of the two women learning about how to submit a Title IX complaint to
the government, then going across the country to teach other girls about it was
truly inspiring. I have seen the raised
awareness in my own community, at BYU, and to know that it was started by those
two women, makes me feel that a difference can be made in this world and that
it doesn’t always come from the “big guys.”
They were just like me, right in
the middle of a college degree, so what’s stopping me from making a difference?
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