The Hunting Ground (2015)

Nominated for Best Original Song    This is less of a review and more of a rant.  Be ye warned.

This was not nominated for Best Documentary and that irritates the shit out of me because it was the most informative by far.  It was nominated for Best Original Song, a Diane Warren and Lady Gaga-written ballad called "Til It Happens to You".  Personally, I think that the Academy is just desperate for more Gaga and is looking for any excuse to give her an award.

This documentary focuses on the underreporting and general occurrence of rape and sexual assault on college campuses.  I'm not going to quote the statistics; watch it for yourself.  Seriously.  You need to see this movie.

This movie made me so angry I couldn't see straight.  It also made me really sad and disgusted.  For all the gains we have made in equality and all the talk about how things are so much better now for women, there is still so far to go that sometimes I think it's completely hopeless.  We still prioritize men's education over women's and money even more over that.  Many of the girls interviewed for this film were told by their administrations that their aggressors would not be punished, they were interrogated and strongly encouraged to drop their complaints, and in some cases ostracized and harassed to the point of dropping out of school.  Many of the aggressors were part of the Greek system, were known to be violent repeat offenders, and were not addressed in any way because colleges fear losing huge alumni donations.

I have always been critical of the amount of attention and acclaim lavished on athletes.  I think it creates a culture of infantilized men acting as war proxies instead of producing anything worthwhile for society.  Because I am definitely in the minority for that opinion, I cannot escape exposure to sports and sports news.  The number of professional athletes who have been accused of violence against women is staggering.  The fact that they are protected from an early stage so that their careers won't be harmed by these allegations is sickening.  Every time this happens, it sends the message that their actions are excused because they are financial commodities.  The few instances where athletes were punished was after the sports season, a tacit admission that they are only valuable while winning.

I doubt this documentary will change college culture.  I doubt women will be any safer until there are enough of them to not be ignored.  And I shudder at the thought of how many more will endure trauma to make that happen.