Lena Dunham and the cast of Girls have lent their support to the “brave survivor” in the Stanford University sexual assault case in a video message calling for victims to be heard and supported.
The 7,500-word victim impact statement submitted in the trial of 20-year-old Brock Turner for three charges of sexual assault has drawn international attention since it was first published last week.
The victim also read an abbreviated version of her statement to Turner at the hearing, before he was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment in a county jail. He had faced a potential maximum sentence of 14 years in a state prison for sexual assault of an unconscious woman with intent to rape, and two other felonies.
The powerful writing, plus the leniency of Turner’s sentence, has started a conversation about treatment of sexual assault and rape, and particularly of victims – the subject of the clip released by Dunham.
Dunham shared the video on Twitter, dedicating it to “the brave survivor in the Stanford case who has given so much to change the conversation”.
I dedicate this to the brave survivor in the Stanford case who has given so much to change the conversation. https://t.co/KMOJUxvPu0
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) June 8, 2016
In it she appears alongside Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke and Zosia Mamet, her three co-stars on the HBO show Girls, which Dunham created and writes.
“We may star on Girls together, but that doesn’t mean we always agree,” says Kirke. “But there is one issue on which we are in total agreement.”
That issue is supporting and listening to survivors of rape and sexual assault, instead of victim-blaming.
“What if we chose to turn towards those in need, instead of away?” says Mamet.
The video cites figures from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that one in five women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, with 80% of those attacks perpetrated by someone known to her.
“You already have the power to create a safer, healthier environment for women to come forward,” says Williams.
Mamet says the video aims “to represent the solidarity and support all survivors should be able to find”, to which Dunham adds, “which may be the first time four white women can accurately represent anything” – a reference to early criticisms of lack of diversity on her show.
The clip concludes with calls for victims of rape and sexual assault to be supported, not because “she is someone’s daughter, girlfriend or sister”, but because “she is someone”.
The tweet had received more than 9,000 retweets and over 11,700 favourites in the first nine hours since it was posted to Twitter.
