A candid conversation about sexual aggression and violence
Speaker 1: I get sick of feeling unsafe all the time whereas a lot of men don't have that issue.
Speaker 2: As a woman you just ... The amount of fear and the amount of bandwidth that I feel like it takes up. It's hard to even let your guard down.
Speaker 3: America definitely has a problem with sexual violence. It's seems to be just ingrained in the DNA of the country.
Speaker 1: I definitely have safety precautions if I'm walking alone.
Speaker 4: I don't tie my hair up because that's an easy way for somebody to attack you and grab you by your ponytail.
Speaker 5: If you're going out at night you know you want to have the buddy system.
Speaker 1: Don't wear these clothes because it looks like you're asking for it.
Speaker 2: This is just how it is. I have to be careful walking home alone at night if I can walk home alone at night at all. And that's not 'cause I did anything. It's 'cause I am a woman.
Speaker 6: I was sexually assaulted my freshman year of college.
Speaker 7: I remember it happening but being unconscious of what was really truly going on.
Speaker 1: He started kissing me, and I kept shoving him, and then eventually he pinned my hands down. He's a lot bigger than me.
Speaker 8: And I was screaming, and he didn't stop.
Speaker 9: And I fought him. I fought him off, and I was terrified.
Speaker 10: After that, he had this stupid smirk on his face, zipped up, and walked away.
Speaker 11: I was taught to think that rape happens in a dark alleyway. It is a violent crime, and as long as you don't do that, you're fine.
Speaker 5: Most people who report rape in one or another it's from someone they actually knew.
Speaker 1: I don't think everyone has the same definition.
Speaker 12: 'Cause you know when you're over the line. Getting close to the line is where it's blurry. That part is hard to define.
Speaker 13: I would say anything done without the other person's explicit consent and more than explicit consent, enthusiastic consent.
Speaker 11: I don't think that it's a guarantee that men will be raised to recognize at all what sexual assault is.
Speaker 13: I can think of at least 20 people who could conceivably accuse me of sexual harassment or even misconduct or assault. And were they to bring it up I would not be able to deny that.
Speaker 14: You know looking back at what I had done as opposed to what I thought I was doing.
Was I, was I a monster?
Speaker 11: I feel like I wasn't taught. I was sexually active before I started learning about consent.
Speaker 1: My first instinct was to go home and not think about it.
Speaker 7: I mean I just assumed that I was wrong like no one would believe me.
Speaker 8: I didn't even think that I could get ... That there was any point to my saying anything.
What was it going to get me? The guy would just deny it.
Speaker 3: People are always questioning the woman and why ... Why were you there? Well, what did you say to him? Well, how did it start?
Speaker 8: I felt like it was my fault. I got drunk, you know.
Speaker 10: That was the first place I went, where I went wrong. What could I have done to make it
not happen? Why did I let this happen?
Speaker 9: Humiliation. That we caused it. That it's our fault. That we're bad people 'cause that happened to us.
Speaker 15: It's something that takes over your life, and you never forget it. I'm 69 years old, and I still haven't forgotten it or been healed from it. It's just something that's a part of you.
Speaker 16: That's crazy. Why? I didn't even know that was a thing, that's crazy. 15 out of 16 walk free?
Speaker 9: None of the men that did anything to me ... there's never been any repercussions at all.
Speaker 6: No, didn't ... nothing happened to him. No.
Speaker 3: More people are speaking out so now it's like oh, it's a problem. It's been a problem. You know?
Speaker 2: As women, we're all trying to make the movement happen but when will men start being more accountable for the other men?
Speaker 9: I don't think a lot has changed. I mean the women are talking about it, but the men are still raping us.
Speaker 17: What has changed is that the hearts of women have changed. And more defiant and taking a place in our culture and our society.