Tag Archives: sulkowicz

Columbia Student Who Turned Her Alleged Sexual Assault Into Performance Art Graduates

by EdwardoN54 Posted on May 19, 2015

Mother Jones

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Emma Sulkowicz, the Columbia University student who protested her alleged sexual assault by carrying a mattress everyday to campus last year, graduated today. The mattress, the defining symbol of her assault and her senior arts thesis titled Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight), was also present at Tuesday’s ceremony, despite the school administration urging students not to bring large items that could potentially “create discomfort to others.”

Sulkowicz was seen hauling her mattress to the ceremony with the help of friends and fellow graduating students. According to Columbia Spectator editor Teo Armus, when Sulkowicz went on stage to collect her diploma, she pointedly did not shake university president Lee Bollinger’s hand.

In September, Sulkowicz became a national figure and an unofficial spokesperson for sexual assault activists after she went public with her rape. She vowed to carry the mattress to class for as long as the student who she says assaulted her was not prosecuted or expelled. In April, her alleged rapist, Paul Nungesser, filed a lawsuit against the university claiming administrators exhibited bias and failed to protect him from the accusations. He says their alleged failure “destroyed” his college experience and reputation.

Nungesser also graduated and was present at Tuesday’s ceremony.

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Columbia Student Who Turned Her Alleged Sexual Assault Into Performance Art Graduates

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Oh Great, Here’s a Hit Song Demanding Women Shut Up and Drink

by TPNLachlan Posted on November 10, 2014

Mother Jones

While students around the country join Emma Sulkowicz’s fight against flawed campus sexual assault policies, a new song by popular duo Play-N-Skillz is glorifying rape culture to the catchy tune of telling women to quit resisting and drink up already. The video, which came out in late October, has already been viewed more than 600,000 times.

Sample lyrics include: “A shot of vodka? I can’t. Tequila? I can’t. After party? I can’t. Girl-on-girl? I can’t. Literally I can’t. Literally I can’t.”

This back and forth banter is repeatedly met with a resounding: “Oh my god. Shut the fuck up!”

On the surface, “Literally, I Can’t” is a weak, and late, attempt to poke fun at an internet-established joke about a woman’s inability to utter concrete sentences to describe their unbridled excitement/disgust/horror/delight. But the result is an incredibly offensive mantra with an equally repugnant video starring fratty dudes in “STFU” varsity jackets, imploring the prude sorority girls of LIC to give in and let loose.

Lovely, no? As for a purely musical assessment, the song is just insufferable. Envisioning bros singing along to it, red Solo cups at the ready, is eye roll-inducing. But when you recall that Sulkowicz is still out there literally carrying the weight of the issue, that’s when it gets truly heartbreaking.

(h/t Mashable)

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Oh Great, Here’s a Hit Song Demanding Women Shut Up and Drink

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