Cast of Girls Create an Incredibly Powerful Video Against Sexual Assault

The cast of Girls TV series have come together to create a powerful video in the wake of the Stanford rape case that has made headlines.

Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet and Jemima Kirke, have made a stand in this video, encouraging women to do the same and stand up for each other – especially for the victims of sexual assault who are often blamed when their attack is made public.

The NowThisNews clip was shared by Lena on her Twitter account on Wednesday, dedicated to the young victim of the Stanford swimmer rape case.

The 30-year-old actor wrote, “I dedicate this to the brave survivor in the Stanford case who has given so much to change the conversation.”

And change the conversation we must, especially after the public outcry of the lenient sentence made to Brock Turner. He was found raping an unconscious woman near a dumpster outside a frat house party. Turner was given a lenient sentence of 6 months jail, but the Daily Mail Online has revealed he will be released after just 4 months in jail.

The victim (who has chosen to remain anonymous) wrote a letter to her rapist which has gone viral. In the letter, the victim said, ‘He is a lifetime sex registrant. That doesn’t expire. Just like what he did to me doesn’t expire, doesn’t just go away after a set number of years.’

The Girls cast has responded to the situation with this video. It needs to be watched, shared and put into action by people around the world. The actors urge people to ‘support, listen, take action’ to help survivors of sexual assault.

The Girls stars share horrifying statistics from The Center for Disease Control and Prevention stating 1 in 5 women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime and 1 in 4 of those assaults will happen before she turns 18.

The women know their attackers in 80% of cases.

It’s these statistics that prompted the Girls stars to ask ‘why is our reaction as a society to disbelieve? Or to silence? Or to shame?’

Zosia says: ‘What if we chose to turn toward those in need, instead of away? You have a choice to make things better.’
The suggestions offered are:

• Listening to a victim’s story
• Reaching out with a phone call
• Driving them to a medical care or counselling
• Calling out on a hurtful remark

All of these actions can change the culture of blaming the victim.

It’s all about creating a safer, healthier environment for women to come forward.

And it’s not because she’s someone’s daughter, or someone’s girlfriend or someone’s sister.

It’s because she’s someone and she matters.