It Happens Here

Within the past month, The Hoya has published the stories of Willa Murphy — in collaboration with Zoe Dobkin (SFS ’16) — and Olivia Hinerfeld (SFS ’17), two sexual assault survivors who have used their experiences to fight the systemic injustices of rape and gendered violence on Georgetown’s campus.

In solidarity with the efforts of Murphy, Dobkin, Hinerfeld and numerous other members of the Hoya community — and in hopes of furthering a more meaningful and change-inducing discourse about sexual assault on the Hilltop — 4E has elected to share the following photo series, which details the experiences of several sexual assault survivors at Georgetown.

The following photographs contain images of Georgetown students and alumni who are survivors of sexual assault and dating violence. Each poster depicts reactions that survivors encountered following their assaults. The names and schools of the survivors have been withheld to protect identities.

This photo series is in no way a full representation of the various intersectionalities of gendered violence on Georgetown’s campus, nor does it explore all of the complex matrices formed by sexual assault and biological sex, gender, age, race, education, ability, ethnicity and class.

Nonetheless, the photos and experiences presented by the following Hoyas demonstrate the damaging pervasiveness of rape culture at Georgetown. They are a terrible but necessary reminder that sexual assault happens here on the Hilltop, and much work must still be done to achieve personal and institutional justice for survivors.

Copy of Picture 1 — “This phrase was the first reaction of many of the people to whom I told my story. I refuse to accept ‘a cultural thing’ as an excuse for his, or anyone’s, inappropriate behavior. Not only is it insulting to people of that culture, but it abdicates him of responsibility. I understand my friends’ desires to explain such actions in simple terms, but it won’t stop the behaviors, nor their effects.” — Preferred not to disclose class year

Copy of Picture 6 — “After I was assaulted, someone from Res Living instructed me to always keep my door open when talking with a resident. Not only is that ridiculous and impractical, but to my knowledge no other RA has ever been told to do that.” — Class of 2015

Copy of Picture 13 — Preferred not to disclose class year

Featured image: vvmf.wordpress.com

The Hoya

The Hoya

The Hoya

It Happens Here

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