Columbia University senior Emma Sulkowicz, 21, says she was raped in her own bed at the beginning of her sophomore year. This week, two years after the alleged assault, Sulkowicz, a visual-arts major, has made a promise to carry her mattress around campus every day as part of her senior thesis. It is, she says, a symbol of the burden sexual-assault survivors carry with them every day.
“The act of carrying the mattress from inside my room out into the light has mirrored the way my life has changed, as I’ve brought my personal story out into the light,” Sulkowicz told TIME. “This project is a way to heal one of the most difficult things that happened to me. As I will build muscle and get stronger, hopefully I will also build emotional strength.”
Sulkowicz started the performance-art project on Tuesday, and she said she is determined to continue carrying the mattress wherever she goes — to class, the library, the gym — as long as her alleged rapist is still on campus. That means her project could last until graduation day in May 2015 — unless her alleged assailant is either expelled or chooses to leave the school. Last year, Sulkowicz and two other women reported the same person to the university. All three cases were dismissed.
This article is from 2014
Yes it is. We’re in the TIL community.
I’m not judging, just thought it was useful information to add.
Turns out nothing much has changed when it comes to treating rape like the serious crime that it is.
I don’t think that is entirely true. The metoo movement has caused a lot of public awareness and outcry, which is still effective today. Even now, more women speak about their experience, which keeps the conversation going and keeps opening people’s eyes. Because it is easier (in a public sense) to talk about rape, ther is less judgement and more support.
There is now a culture around consent and how important that is. There is now also attention for power inbalace, like a boss and a employee. This even lead to a massive jiurnalist investigation in 2022 in my country (netherlands), where a few key figures in “The Voice Holland” were exposed as rapists. Two were taken to court, one got convicted.
I’m a simple white man, but from what I hear and see, there are a few things better than it was in 2014.
My country has also adopted a law in 2024 that broadens the spectrum of what can be classified as rape. Now you don’t have to prove force or violence, but things like coercion or online behaviour also counts as evidence. It is also easier to press charges.
There is still plenty of problems surrounding the treatment of rape a a serious crime, but I think it is better than in 2014. What is still definitely a problem, is that that the law requires hard evidence and rape is hard to prove with hard evidence. In that case it will always be your word against their’s. That has still not been solved, and is the reason why many rape cases don’t make it to court (because they don’t have the evidence and there no chance). But this is actually a hard problem to solve.
I’m in the US and we have such long backlogs of rape kits that are never even tested:
So when you say that the reason it’s difficult to solve rape cases is because there isn’t any evidence, I don’t believe that.
I think that our authorities don’t investigate rape hardly ever. 98% of perpetrators never seen the inside of a courtroom. Our president is a literal child rapist.
I’m glad that you’ve seen improvement in your country.
There will come a time when even the US will be a good place to live. Until then, I wish you all the luck.
Yepppp
CW: personal experience with this
When my wife was assaulted by a home invader the cops clearly didn’t care when investigating. Like, they didn’t investigate enough to see that there was a cut window screen and footprint on the spare bed under that window, instead insisting we’d left the door unlocked.
I’m so sorry your wife had to experience not only the original crime, but then the added victim blaming from the very people that are supposed to help her. It’s sadly way too common here.
It’s also turned out to not be true.
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Brother, of all the sources you could’ve shared, you went with the National Review? Are you joking?
I’m giving you a do-over to find something better. This is your mulligan.
Yeah linking a conservative opinion piece is iron-clad proof that Columbia took this rape allegation seriously. /s
Just got done reading the Wikipedia article on the matter. NYPD and the DA declined to pursue charges and the guy ended up suing Colombia for how they handled the proceedings on title IX gender discrimination violations. That lawsuit was settled.
WaPo is cited in there, it was bought by Bezos in '13.
The details of the settlement are sealed and it doesn’t prove that the rape didn’t happen, only that charges were never pressed against him for rape.
Considering the lengths that these Universities routinely go through to bury these stories, hide evidence, and not give evidence over to the DA and police departments, I have significant doubts that Columbia did the right thing here.
Link contains evidence and other sources. You are free to ignore them if you want.
It’s the National Review
Two things can be “almost true”. Wiki
See the references for more reputable sources.
This dude is referring to the fact that the carrying of the mattress was, indeed, performance art. That said, she did this performance art because she had been assaulted and hadn’t received justice.
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What? I can’t quite make out what you’re saying here.
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Oh…
It would be cooler if authorities took rape allegations seriously.
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It’s pointless to argue. These people will never believe a man over a woman.
Who says RamRabbit is a man?