While we may be living in a post #MeToo world, the sad reality is that victims of sexual violence are often not believed.
This is what makes Fennell's Oscar-tipped look at rape culture, Promising Young Woman, so timely. The rape-revenge fantasy takes on the realities of sexual violence in all its forms — from men who "take advantage" of drunk women to college campus rape.
In light of the film's release, we spoke to BACP Accredited psychotherapist, Kate Megase, to glean some insight as to why we don't believe women who come forward about sexual violence, and the impact it can have on survivors.
"Most of the time when victims are not favoured or believed, it's assumed that they initiated the act, in a sense, or that they put themselves in a certain situation," Megase explains.
"Say, for example, someone went to a friend's house to have a drink — it doesn't mean they went there to have sex — but it can be skewed that way. It can be perceived as 'well, she shouldn't have been there in the first place," Megase continues. "So, it's because of the stigma that's been attached to sexual violence, and a lot of the time it's to do with a stigma in terms of gender, specifically."
This, of course, involves a "lack of empathy" on the part of those who are not willing to believe women. "Choosing to dismiss an allegation of sexual violence means that we're not really putting ourselves in the victim's shoes to see what their experience feels like. We're not trying to understand them in terms of the emotional trauma it's having on them, and the impact it can have on their mental health just to speak up about it in the first place."
The statistics around reporting sexual violence, and its outcomes, are certainly sobering. Only 15 per cent of women who experience sexual violence report it to the police, and in the year ending March of 2020, 99 per cent of rapes reported to police in England and Wales resulted in no legal proceedings against the alleged attackers.
Unsurprisingly, then, the first thing that goes through a woman's head when reporting sexual violence is the fear of not being believed. This is despite false accusations of this nature being incredibly rare. Research for the Home Office suggests that only four per cent of cases of sexual violence reported to the police are found or suspected to be false.
"From a psychological perspective, statistics like these add to a fear of not being heard," Megase continues. "You could have all the evidence, but everything shows that you may not be listened to by the people you love, or by the legal side of things. This means that you're not heard emotionally as well."
"This can have a terrible impact on a victim's mental health, causing issues with anxiety, insomnia and depression," the psychotherapist comments. "Low self-esteem, in particular, is a big one because the way the victim views themselves can impact their ensuing relationships. In extreme cases, some people have had nervous breakdowns as a result, or they spend years in therapy, while the person just got away with it."
In Nina's case in Promising Young Woman, after not being believed by the dean, and being bullied by her perpetrator's lawyer, she drops out of college. She later commits suicide.
Of course, it's telling that the film revolves around a rape that takes place on a college campus. A culture of condoning sexual violence against women is notorious in North American colleges — one only has to look at the 2016 Brock Turner case.
The Stanford University student was sentenced to an incredibly lenient sentence of just six months in prison after he was found guilty of assault with intent to commit rape of an intoxicated woman, sexually penetrating an intoxicated person with a foreign object, and sexually penetrating an unconscious person with a foreign object in January of 2015. Of his six months, he only served three.
The coverage at the time did not focus on the victim — who has since identified herself as Chanel Miller — but on Turner's promising career as a student and swimmer. As his father wrote in a court letter, why should his son's life be "deeply altered" for "20 minutes of action?"
So how can we encourage women to speak out about sexual violence? Megase says that victims must heal from the event first: "When we don't heal from our trauma, we have a wounded child. As a result, they begin to act out and it can contaminate their future in terms of being around men, and experiencing fear, anxiety, and even paranoia. So it's about trying to heal the emotional wound first."
There are also a number of organisations designed to provide support to victims of sexual violence, whether or not they want to report the crime to the police. One such charity is Victim's Support, which provides impartial advice and support for victims.
"We will believe you, and we will not question what you say," Valerie Wise, the non-profit's National Domestic Violence Lead, tells VT.
"We're there to give you emotional support, and point you in the right direction if you decide you want to disclose the crime to the police. We will stand by you every step of the way. And if we aren't able to support you, we will ensure that there's another organisation that can. Society often blames the victim, and that's why organisations like ours have such a critical role to play.
"Unfortunately, we deal with victims like this every day of the week. Sexual violence against women will not change unless we tackle it head-on."