Nicole Skinner kicked off Sexual Assault Awareness Month with her video project, “The Experiences of Women in College,” on the evening of April 4.
Skinner’s project was her first program for the University of Idaho Women’s Center. The inspiration for it came from Skinner’s personal experiences with sexual assault, she said. She said she would like to use her experiences to change the world.
Skinner said it took years and multiple struggles before she felt strong enough, before she realized her experiences helped her feel empowered. Eventually, she realized she did not want others to feel the way she did.
The video began as a narrative, with views of the campus and Skinner’s voiceover. Then, the video continued with interviews of 13 women. The women told their majors, which ranged from engineering to apparel, textiles and design. Then, each woman explained why she chose to come to college.
Several interviewees majored in the STEM field. These fields tend to be male dominated, and each woman gave her description of what it’s like to be a woman among men.
Some described being nervous to speak up in class, because their male classmates speak over them or do not seem to take their opinions seriously. One woman pointed out how male teachers tend to be lenient toward female students when compared to female teachers.
Other women described the different ways female students are treated in general, compared to the male students.
“Guys get condoms when they come to college. Girls get tasers,” Haleigh Sims-Douglas said during her interview.
A common theme among the interviewees was safety. Skinner said she did not ask about sexual assault directly, and even attempted to be vague in her questions. However, the topic continued to come up among each of the women she talked to.
After, each woman was asked how UI can improve campus safety. Several interviewees said the university is doing well as is, but so much can still be improved. The fear of sexual assault changes how women live their lives.
Skinner said women are taught that their existence itself is something to be afraid of.
“Life as a woman should not be this scary,” one interviewee said.
At the end of each interview, Skinner asked the women how being a woman feels to them in one word. Each woman had a different answer, except for two who exclaimed “empowering.”
Mary Phipps can be reached at [email protected]