Few documentary makers see their work bring results as substantial as those witnessed by producer Amy Ziering and writer-director Kirby Dick when The Invisible War, their exposé of sexual assault in the U.S. military, was screened for secretary of defense Leon Panetta in April 2012. One of the key problems identified in the movie was the policy requiring any military assault victim to report the incident directly to his or her commanding officer, who might be friends with the perpetrator or might even be the perpetrator himself. The day after seeing The Invisible War, however, Panetta ordered this policy changed so that victims file reports of sexual assault further up the chain of command, to a colonel or higher-ranking officer.
Ziering and Dick make their case against the universities primarily through anecdotal evidence and statistics, which show that only 5 percent of campus assaults are reported and only a small percentage of those lead to expulsion or criminal prosecution. In 2012, 40 percent of all U.S. colleges and universities reported no rapes whatsoever, and 95 percent of all college presidents defended their institutions’ handling of sexual assault cases. The anecdotal evidence is even more damning, suggesting that even when a student is found guilty of sexual assault, his punishment is typically a slap on the wrist: one culprit was asked to draw a poster listing appropriate ways to approach a woman, another was assigned a paper, yet another was ordered to complete community service at a rape crisis center, and some lucky offenders were given “expulsion after graduation,” whatever that means.
Speaking at the Landmark, Kirby also noted that dozens of colleges and universities have arranged for special screenings of the film, which will help educate incoming students about the dangers they face on campus. The idea of cautioning young women to stay away from risky situations is derided by one of the movie’s interview subjects as part of the problem: women have the right to feel safe wherever they go, and warning them away from dangerous environments helps perpetuate the myth that they’re responsible for anything bad that happens to them. On the other hand, avoiding a sexual assault can be a lot easier and less painful than trying to get justice afterward, or living with the trauma for the rest of one’s life. Where American jurisprudence is concerned, an ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.
Directed by Kirby Dick
