- 1.2Kshares
- Share
- Tweet
- Facebook Messenger
Disclaimer: This article contains violent imagery. Reader’s discretion is advised.
We’re nearing the end of 2017 and rape culture is still very much a part of our society. We still are opening up our voices and screaming #MeToo. We’re still explaining concepts like ‘consent’. Heck, I’m still writing this article.
In another way to make her voice heard, college student, Yana Mazurkevich has channelised her anger into creating a photo series on rape culture. The powerful campaign started by the photographer is called ‘It Happens‘.
This photo series was created as a protest against the early release of Stanford athlete Brock Turner who was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious 22-year-old.
1. “I blacked out and just remember very short flashing images…
…I remember him asking me if I was on birth control, but I was too incoherent to talk. I was trying to explain that I wasn’t. We had sex anyway. I didn’t want to and I barely remember it.”
2. “I was at a party once, sober, and two of my good female friends pulled me aside…
…telling me that someone needed help. They pulled me into this room and pinned me against the wall and started kissing me and taking my pants off, but I was able to push them off and leave. The two girls who were my friends claim that they don’t remember the incident since they were drunk.”
3. “I can’t remember details or the order of things…
…but she was very, very aggressive. She left bruises all over me and I was bleeding the next morning. She held me down and forced a lot. I didn’t say no clearly, but I definitely didn’t agree to the aggressive actions she took. Lack of consent is not the presence of a no, it’s also the absence of a yes.”
4. “He made me feel guilty if I didn’t do what he wanted…
…I remember on prom night, I was exhausted and just wanted to go home, but he insisted we mess around because that was the whole point of prom night, and that’s what we were supposed to do. I still wonder if he knew just how manipulative he was.”
5. “When I was in high school, the only place to live for me was my uncle’s place.
I thought I could trust them, but there were nights when I would wake up to one of them, the biological one, in my room, or he would sneakily try to touch my junk. I never really resolved it.”
6. “I lost my virginity at a party when I was in middle school.
He gave me a drink and I can’t really remember what happened after that. Just bits and pieces for the most part… but I couldn’t say no or push him off while he made me have sex with him. I woke up next to him and I was really sore but I couldn’t tell anyone what happened.”
7. “I was tattooed by a guy and while he was tattooing me…
…he kept inserting his fingers up my vagina. He said he had to keep his hand there to keep the skin taut for tattooing. The most ironic part is that the tattoo is the symbol for female; I wanted the tattoo as a sign of feminism and got sexually assaulted in the process.”8. “We had been drinking and, by the end of the night, I had lost all control…
…I was falling in and out of consciousness. I remember waking up with him on top of me but I kept passing back out before I could do anything about it. I always thought it was my fault for getting too drunk.”
9. “You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me.
You don’t know me, but you’ve been inside me, and that’s why we’re here today.” – Stanford assault survivor.
It happens, it happened and it will continue to happen unless we finally wake up to this gory reality that is so many victims’ lives.
These pictures have been used after permission from the photographer.
- 1.2Kshares
- Share
- Tweet
- Facebook Messenger