Audrie & Daisy Review

One of the most fascinating things about becoming an adult, getting married and having a daughter has been the realization of just how naive I was as an adolescent. I had no idea what rape culture was because I never saw it, never considered it, never felt the pain associated with it. While in high school I attended an enormous amount of parties and the alcohol was flowing, but the line between right and wrong was never blurry for me. If I am 18 and she's younger, it's wrong. If I am sober and she's drunk, it's shameful to even consider. If I am interested and she says no, it's reprehensible. It's disgusting. It's rape.

It wasn't until a year ago when a local, extremely popular and talented athlete was accused of rape that I started to truly open my eyes to it. Rape culture. It's not that I know for a fact that this athlete was guilty, I have no idea. It was the automatic assumption of his innocence, the immediate desire of the overwhelming majority to assume the worst about the potential victim and continue to cheer their favorite player that I found nauseating. Wrong. Shameful. Reprehensible. Disgusting.

Why would she be at his house if she didn't want it?

What was she expecting to happen, being out so late?

She shouldn't put herself in that situation, drinking so much.

If she didn't want it, she shouldn't wear a skirt so short. She shouldn't show so much cleavage.

What a slut.

The new Netflix Original Documentary Audrie & Daisy is infuriating to watch. The girls that are assaulted and no one gives a damn, either ignored or shamed rather than supported by a world that refuses to listen to their cries. These two heartbreaking stories about young women who did nothing wrong, did nothing to deserve what happened to them and yet they become hashtags originated in mockery, pictures that spread like wildfire and/or videos that become viral among their peers. Victims who are demonized for what the demons did to them. It's not okay. It's the type of film that makes it really difficult for me to sleep at night, which explains why I am awake at this hour writing this instead of enjoying a peaceful slumber. The rage that is being emitted from my moving fingers, you may not appreciate or understand, but what happens to so many innocent people in this world while many others laugh, criticize, abuse and bully until the victims feel that the only way out of their pain is death. Suicide instead of living the long, meaningful, fulfilling life that they deserve. It's not okay.

As a documentary, it's a really solid work but no question it could have been better. I would have loved a deeper examination into rape culture, into what causes a man to be as pathetic and deplorable as the Sheriff that is featured during the Daisy portion of the film rather than quick interview portions that give him a platform to share his despicable views regarding whether or not the boys did anything wrong, regarding who really was to blame for what happened that night, but this portion of the narrative was too quickly put out there without any digging as to what creates such a harmful mindset. The intentions of Audrie & Daisy are brave and incredibly admirable and I truly believe a film like this should be required viewing for young people who may not fully comprehend just how serious this topic is, because I was once naive too, but at least I knew without a shadow of a doubt the difference between right and wrong. It's horrifying how many people apparently don't.

It's terrifying, looking in at my daughter right now and seeing the innocence, the optimism, the beauty of an 8 year old who still sees the world as such a great and exciting place because I refuse to believe how easily that can be taken away from her. I can't comprehend that she or any girl could someday be blamed for being assaulted. No victim should ever become a joke, a series of pictures they never wanted taken, a video they never consented to or a hashtag.

It's not fucking okay.





4/5