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Kaitlyn Thomas

Prof. Larson

ENG 1101.243

01 October 2015
#WhoWillYouHelp?
Have you ever witnessed something you knew was not right but did not speak up?

According to Gerorge Mason University, 1 and 3 women will be sexually assaulted during their

lifetime and 1 and 4 women will be sexually assaulted by the age of 18. Every two minutes

someone is sexually violated in the U.S. In 8 out of the 10 cases, the victim will know their

attacker. When you say nothing you help him, but when you speak up you help her.

During the first 30 seconds of the PSA you are shown four different scenarios of sexual

assault/harassment. Your point of view is the innocent by innocent bystander and it shows you

the point of view from helping the guy to helping the girl. At the end of the video it asks you a

question, one that this company hopes will stick with you. “Who will you help?”. So as the

bystander you are given the choice, speak up or turn the other check.

When you come face to face with this decision on whether to say anything or not, ask

yourself, “What if this was my daughter?”. Would that help you decide to speak up? Would it

push you to get help or step in faster, before it was too late? Would you speak up or would you

still turn the other cheek?

Sexual harassment in the workplace is quickly riding with so many women entering the

work field. According to Aware.org, 54% of women have experienced some form of workplace

sexual harassment. 27% have experienced harassment by their colleague, while 17% were
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harassed by their superior. The most unsettling fact was 12% if women have received threats of

termination if they did not comply with the harassers request. Awareness of workplace

harassment policies in the office are not well known addressed with over 66.6% of men and

women not aware of any policies, 40.4% of the women surveyed stated they knew of a

department's or human resource they could approach about sexual harassment. The industried

with the most hihg levels of sexualy harassment incidents inclide business, trade, banking,

finance, sales and marketing, hospitality, civil service, education, lectoring and teaching.

Possible emotional and psychological effects of sexual abuse can include shock or denial,

depression, irritability and anger. Social withdrawal, nightmares and flashbacks, guilt, shame,

embarrassment. Substance abuse and suicidal thought shoot through the roof. Roughly around

33% of sexual assault victims will have suicidal thoughts. Around 13% of those victims will

attempted suicide. While half of those 13% attempting suicide be successful. Panic attacks,

hypervigilance, eating disorders and self-mutilation are unsettling uncommon.

Possible physical effects sexual assault victims could include pain, severe and terminal

injures, uncontrollable nausea, headaches and exposure to sexually transmitted diseases, cervical

cancer and genital injuries(www.cdc.org). Between 11% and 20% of pregnant teenager in a large

study became pregnant as a direct result of sexual assault. Annually around 14,000 women have

medically induced abortions due to sexual assault(www.zcenter.org). The social effects that

victims of sexual assault can go through are distant relationships with family, friends, and

intimate partners. Paranoia of constantly looking over your shoulder and being scared of the

littlest things that can easily remind you of the assault itself. Some victim even get criticism from

their community and sometimes even their own family for not being “smart” enough.
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What this PSA doesn’t show is how sexual assault/harassment affects men, 1 in 11 men

reported experiencing sexual assault at some time in their life. Something people tend to ignore

is men can also be victims of sexual assault. People in today's society tend to overlook the fact

that men are victims too. For example, when you hear about a male teacher assaulting a young

student, you instantly sympathize with that young girl. People reach out and try to help her and

prevent things like this. Now flip the roles and imagine it’s a female teacher who sexually

assaulted a male student. People instanting begin saying comments like “He’s living the male

teenage fantasy.” or “He is not a victim, he knew what he was doing.” See how fast our opinions

change just by flipping the genders? That is what is wrong with this ad. It is only showing how

you can help stand up for that female. According to Pacific Standard Magazine, each year 19-

31% of male college students are sexually assaulted by a female perpetrator. While these cases

are usually not as horrible as the women of sexual assault, it is still an unclear, not talked about

topic.

So when watching this PSA, think to yourself “What if I was a guy who is a survivor of

sexual assault, how would this make me feel?” It is a commercial that is only talking about how

to help the female in this situation, not the male. How upset would you be if you were in this

male victims shoes? How crappy and angry would you feel towards the company who produced

this ad? Sexual assaults in men are twice as likely to get reported to local law enforcement due

to this simple fact that society has convinced men they will never truly be a real victim of sexual

assault. We as a society has convinced these men that they are not really victims in this case, that

they are in a sense “lucky” and should be happy to get laid. So when watching heavily biased ads

like this particular one, ask yourself these two important questions. ‘What if this situation like for
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this opposite sex and what kind of demons do they have to fight to fully heal from a situation like

this?”

When you say nothing you help him, but when you speak up you are helping her. When

seeing ads like this,we as a society, need to be able to better understand all the issues and

struggles behind this particular subject. We need to stop assuming and really learn. We need to

be able to speak up and say something rather than hiding in the crowd. When you hide, you are

just as wrong as the perpetrator himself. We need to stop being so one-sided and biased and be

able to understand both sides. We need to learn that it is NEVER that victims fault. It does not

matter what he or she was wearing, how much they had to drink or how they were acting.

Nothing will ever make it okay to and justifiable to take advantage of someone. We need to learn

that no means no!