#QuitThisShit helps sexual assault survivors stand up to their trash-talkers
Editor's note: This post contains language and details of sexual violence.
When Jada Smith was 16 years old, she was drugged and raped at a party.
Her attackers took photos of her while she was still unconscious and unclothed, posting them online with the hashtag #JadaPose. The tag quickly trended in her hometown, with her peers reenacting the original photo taken just moments after she was raped.
The attack happened in June 2014, and Smith, who has since become an outspoken advocate for survivors of assault, is still fighting for justice.
"The re-victimization survivors face from their peers after their assaults is as bad as the assault itself."
Now, she's joined Daisy Coleman and Ella Fairon, two fellow survivors, to launch an empowering campaign called #QuitThisShit. The hashtag and accompanying pledge tackle text and online forms of victim-blaming and trash-talking, hoping to prevent teens from harassing survivors of rape and assault in the future.
"The daily torment and re-victimization survivors face from their peers after their assaults is as bad as the assault itself," the #QuitThisShit website reads. "It is a quiet secret. A secret that we are here to break wide open."
The campaign is part of SafeBAE (Safe Before Anyone Else), a survivor-driven organization founded by Smith, Coleman and Fairon. SafeBAE empowers students to take an active role in curbing rape culture.
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In a powerful video premiering the campaign, the cofounders join others to confront the word-for-word disturbing messages they received from peers after their assaults.
One message reads, "Nobody will believe you." Others simply say, "Attention whore" and "You're worth nothing, skank." Several messages even seem to encourage suicide. Messages like these are familiar to survivors of assault, who are often threatened and harassed into silence after their attacks.
Through the #QuitThisShit campaign, SafeBAE hopes to shatter that silence and stigma by empowering survivors and allies to speak out about assault — and encouraging others to support survivors.
You can learn more about SafeBAE and the #QuitThisShit campaign here.
If you have experienced sexual assault or rape, call the free, confidential National Sexual Assault hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), or access the 24-7 help online by visiting online.rainn.org.
Topics Activism Social Good
Katie Dupere was a Social Good reporter at Mashable from May 2015 to July 2017, covering activism, identities and social impact. Prior to her work with Mashable, Katie penned pieces about queerness, body positivity, sex and relationships for Gurl. She also previously contributed LGBTQ news coverage to PinkNews.
