we just wanna hear you sing

When looking at a girl’s outer appearance, what do you look at first?

characterwork:

It Stops Here, that’s the name of a student written production about sexual assault on college campuses being performed at small private college in Greensboro, North Carolina. Today was the opening performance of the show, which all of the freshman students were required to see. The cast and crew were prepared for some uncomfortable laughter and maybe a few quiet comments from the audiences. They were not prepared, however, to be sexually harassed by members of the audience.

There was the usual chatter and phones out, which is always rude. But, there was also a group of freshman football players sitting in the third row who took it upon themselves to offer a running commentary of the entire show. That commentary included: -Gay rape jokes towards one of the male members of the cast -Loud masterbation noises during one of the more graphic verbal descriptions of sexual assault -Comments such as “He wants it in the ass”, “Oh, she wants it”, “She’s mine” -Inappropriate clapping during an audience participation portion of the show (clap if this is an affirmative form of consent, boo if it is not they did the opposite)

This was all said loud enough for the actors onstage to hear them. All of the actors in that show have had first hand experience dealing with their own sexual assault and/or dealing with a friend or a loved one who has been sexually assaulted. So, this show is traumatic enough without hearing comments like the ones listed above. One faculty member tried to stop this. ONE. Out of the five or six professors that were in attendance. Of the adults in attendance one of them was the DEAN OF STUDENTS. He was sitting two rows away from this group of disgusting boys, and did nothing. If the entire theatre could hear them, then there is no way he was oblivious. Yet, he allowed this behavior to continue for the entire show.

The harassment of the actors was so graphic and so upsetting that three of them became physically ill and threw up after the show was over. No one stopped the show, no one stopped these boys. Greensboro College is a small private college with less than 2,500 students and there hasn’t been a sexual assaulted recorded in the official report in years. Which is a blatant cover to protect the school from getting into to more hot water than it already is (having suffered from lots of financial problems in the past).

This is disgusting, and as a survivor of my own assault, and an alumni of this school I am appalled. All I can ask is that you share this story with everyone, and realize our fight is far from over. You always hear about the big universities and the scandals they have faced and covered up, but this happens everywhere. And we will fight just as hard to have our voices be heard. Please read this, please reblog this, share this everywhere. We need your help, tumblr. It has to stop here.

This happened at the school I graduated from. The writer of this play any many of the performers are my friends. Please signal boost this. 

I’ve taken it upon myself to email the President of the college, Lawrence Czarda. President Czarda is a good man, and I doubt he will tolerate this kind of behavior. If you’d like to send a comment to the school, you can do so here. Please, be respectful. Instead of lashing out against the school and it’s faculty, offer suggestions for change and prevention such as:

• Sexual assault and harassment management training for all faculty members
• Mandatory sexual assault and harassment seminars for all incoming freshmen
• Yearly screenings of “The Hunting Ground” in all First Year Seminar classes

whatever he does it’s onew condition

peter pan|tlp tokyo

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