“Everyone knows that it's the thief at fault for stealing a wallet and not the person who carried it with them”
Criteria of Rape director uses personal story to create discussion on treatment of victims
content warning: discussion of rape
Jason Pchajek, staff writer
Telling difficult stories is hard, but its harder when it’s your own.
This was the task undertaken by Emelie Kastberg with her film Criteria of Rape, in which the Swedish filmmaker recounts her personal experience of being sexually assaulted while working in the film industry.
“The biggest reason why I chose to tell my story was to turn the spotlight on the right thing,” she said.
Still: Criteria of Rape
“There is such a big number of unreported cases and everyone feels alone in their stories. I wanted to create a true, vulnerable film, so every rape victim could recognize themselves in the situation and understand that we don’t have the responsibility over [the fact] that we got raped.”
The choice to go with a documentary versus a short film, which she has typically made throughout her career, was a simple one. She felt the story “needed to be as transparent and as real as it could be, to get the momentum to reach deep into our hearts and encourage the audience to reflect about it afterwards.”
Reflection is key to the film, and Kastberg knows this, but not only in a broad sense. Rather, she wants to reach out to victims who have not had their voices heard. Especially those who are afraid to speak up out of fear for what people may think.
“I want to create a sense of unity,” she said.
“To reach the ones in the audience who don't dare to tell their [loved] ones what they've been subjected to. I want to create space for discussions, and change the way many think about rape.
“No one should ever feel that someone else can take power over their body and as long as we keep putting the blame on the victims we will have half of the population being afraid of being raped.”
In the age of #MeToo and Harvey Weinstein, this story should not surprise, but it should shock. Victim blaming occurs with every case of sexual assault, with questions thrown at the victim to try and play down the actions of their – typically male – attacker.
Still: Criteria of Rape
As the name implies, through the questions – asking what she was wearing, did she fight back, did she say no, was she loud enough when she did it – we impose a ‘criteria of rape’, creating boundaries around what truly counts as rape, leaving victims unheard.
“In Swedish the film is called Att Våga Säga Våldtäkt which literally translates to ‘to dare to say rape,’” she said.
“With the title Criteria of Rape we want to point out how absurd the criteria of what makes a rape, [or] not, are and how often the blame gets directed at the victim in doing so. Blaming victims for what they potentially could've done is not helping the way we treat this problem.”
Society fights hard, asking questions to the victim, to try and verify if the crime occurred, but rarely are questions levelled at the perpetrators.
Kastberg fights just as hard to beat against this, turning an accusatory eye toward perpetrators of these crimes, to ask why they did it. Why did they feel like they deserved it?
“If we're ever going to get a hold of this problem we need to shift the view towards the rapists,” she said.
“We need to understand why certain men feel like their sexual drive is more important than another person so that we can eliminate that behaviour. In shifting the blame towards the rapists, more women would dare to speak out and press charges as well.
“Everyone knows that it's the thief at fault for stealing a wallet and not the person who carried it with them.”
Kastberg and her film represent a continued shift in public perception and discourse, carried forward by the Millennial and Gen-Z generations. Activism by young people continues to push the bounds of society with movements like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo, and when asked if she thinks her generation feels more confident than ever in telling these stories, Kastberg was positive.
“I think so, you can't take all of the battles on your own and that's why it's important that there's a wide range of people feeling confident in telling their stories and fighting for a better future,” she said.
“The important thing, I think, is to talk about these difficult topics among friends and family and change the perspective of the people around you to spark a chain reaction of.
“So maybe our generation will be historical moment when we dared to se and fight social problems.”