On April 18, 2019, DSVS and Neighborhood Community Services (NCS) partnered to host a screening of the documentary, “Audrie and Daisy” for our first ever youth-specific Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) event. This event, designed by the Fairfax County Teen Ambassadors, invited teens from all over the county to learn about sexual violence, resources and how they can Be. The. One to Believe Survivors. By screening “Audrie and Daisy,” we wanted to facilitate a dialogue in a safe space about the ways sexual violence can impact teens because many conversations about sexual assault leave out the experiences of young people.
Filmmakers describe “Audrie and Daisy” as “an urgent real-life drama that examines the ripple effects on families, friends, schools and communities when two underage young women find that sexual assault crimes against them have been caught on camera.” The documentary covers extensively the intersection of violence, social media, bullying and the U.S. culture of victim blaming. It is important to bring attention to this intersection of issues because, unfortunately, teen survivors of sexual violence often face not only the trauma of the violence itself, but also the ripple effect of social media’s influence. From incidences of violence captured on cell phones and spread rampantly around schools and communities, to the misuse of social media to spread rumors and blame victims and survivors, healing from sexual violence is a multifaceted process for many young survivors.
Our Teen Ambassadors felt the narrative around these experiences is often missing in public school education and in everyday conversations. They thought it would be a powerful, meaningful and brave project to highlight real stories about victims and survivors for SAAM 2019, to show survivors in our community that we care and want to do better, and to teach our community how to break the cycle of violence.
To prepare for this film screening, DSVS’ Youth Education Specialist provided workshops about sexual violence and consent at various teen and community centers in the county. Workshop participants debunked myths about sexual violence, learned about the sexual violence pyramid, and mapped out what healthy sexuality and consent can and should look like. Engaging in education before the film screening allowed teens to learn more about sexual violence and rape culture so they could be better prepared to see a documentary that is explicit about the impact of assault. We also collaborated with the DSVS Counseling Team so we could have “care bears,” or emotional safety people designated at the event. The day of the screening, we set aside a room with sensory objects and coloring pages so if anyone needed a break from the film, or needed to process anything with our counselors, they could do so.
After the film screening, we hosted a panel with a variety of guests. Ariel spoke on behalf of the INOVA FACT Department and brought a rape kit for the audience to see in person. Peter Steinberg from Healthy Minds Fairfax shared the impact sexual violence can have on mental health and what trauma can look like. Jenn Spears spoke on behalf of Fairfax County Public Schools and also shared her experience on the Youth Suicide Review Team. And Aashna Sawhney from the JustAsk Youth Leadership Board joined us to discuss the similarities and differences between sexual assault and human trafficking, as well as the ways both forms of violence can uniquely impact teens.
While watching “Audrie and Daisy” as a community was an emotionally heavy and intense endeavor, it offered us some powerful outcomes. One of the biggest takeaways of the “Audrie & Daisy” screening was that a lot of people from many different communities and organizations were able to come together to talk about an issue that is widely silenced. We emphasized that youth survivors matter and as a community, we will not tolerate seeing our teens hurt by sexual violence. By creating a youth-specific event for Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we all conveyed the message that, regardless of the survivor’s age or life experience, we all can Be. The. One to Believe Survivors.
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