'A Needed Response': The Powerful Anti-Rape PSA That Everyone Needs to Watch Sarah Beston - TakePart
go to original May 19, 2014

'A Needed Response' was created by two University of Oregon students to shed light on an increasingly disturbing facet of rape culture. (Samantha Stendal)

It took two University of Oregon students just 25 seconds to make the seemingly obvious yet often forgotten point: Rape is never excusable.

U.O. students Samantha Stendal and Aaron Blanton’s anti-rape PSA, A Needed Response, was created in reaction to the rape of a high school girl in Steubenville, Ohio, in 2012, to shed light on an increasingly disturbing facet of rape culture.

The video - captioned “To the Steubenville rapists…or any rapists out there” - begins with a young man speaking directly to the camera: “Hey, bros, check who passed out on the couch. Guess what I’m gonna do to her?” We see a woman passed out on the couch behind him. Then, in quick cuts, the young man props her head on a pillow, covers her with a blanket, gets her a cup of water, and fixes her hair. “Real men treat women with respect,” he says, looking directly at the camera again.

The YouTube video, which began as a student project, has gone viral, with almost 8 million views since it was posted last March. Now the project has been awarded a prestigious Peabody Award.

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