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Prior to fourth grade and moving schools, I never thought of myself as a girl. I was just a kid who liked to balance on fallen tree logs in my pink tutu and watch Lawrence Welk on weekends. At this new school, I needed to shave my legs and wear a training bra and care about what other people thought, so I could be a girl and have friends. I also had to be vigilant of old men who liked to snatch little girls in the middle of the night. All because I was growing breasts that I didn’t want.
I’ve been on a mission to find a film that depicts and discusses sexual violence in a way that isn’t damaging to survivors or their loved ones. I was starting to lose faith that a film like that could exist until I saw Emerald Fennell’s new film, Promising Young Woman. As an homage to the rape-revenge genre popular through the 20th century, this film tells the story of a friend of a survivor named Cassie (played by Carey Mulligan) who is determined to seek justice for her friend, Nina. In a series of intricate plans that will leave you on the edge of your seat, Cassie moves from targeting random predators in bars to those who directly failed Nina when she was looking for help following her sexual assault, which is never shown on screen.
Yesterday I was taking a stroll down the street and I found myself unconsciously being extremely vigilant of my surroundings. The walk was supposed to help me relax– to give me time away from work and an excuse to get fresh air. However, my brain was continuously scanning my surroundings, sussing out potential threats.
I’ve always admired AOC. I feel like representation is very important, and she is very inspiring to me as a young Latina person who would like to work in politics someday. Watching her speak about being a survivor made me feel so understood and proud. It takes so much courage to be vulnerable about being a survivor. I couldn’t imagine doing it at the scale that she did.
A Thank You to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from the President of Survivors to Superheroes
This week, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez publicly stated that she is a survivor of sexual violence while recounting her experience during the capitol riots in early January. As a survivor of color, seeing other powerful women publicly sharing their survivor status, and denying the societal shame that is placed on survivors is deeply empowering. Although being met with the reality that so many of us have been violated and assaulted is horrific, every time a person shares about what they faced, our network grows bigger.