The Linor Documentary Project

I’ve been wanting to write since I was in New York. I flew back to Israel at the end of April to finish my first year of law school. I’m almost done with my exams and I’ve never worked so hard in my life!

New York was my first international trip to meet with rape survivors and talk about rape. Meeting with all the women who came forward was incredible. We all share the same pain, the same thoughts and the same almost everything. The only difference is that every woman is dealing with it in a different way. For many of them, it’s very complicated, and I just see it as a crime. I don’t think it has to be easy, it has to be hard. It was a very traumatic experience. But I definitely cannot understand the shame associated with it.. How can you feel ashamed, for what? I understand where it comes from, but I cannot agree with it. It comes from parents making their daughters feel like they’re second hand, or it comes from their friends talking about it at work… But feeling ashamed? It’s a crime that someone has to be punished for, that’s it. The rapist is the only one who should feel shame. Make everybody talk about him at his job, make his family and his friends talk about him. Make everybody know that he’s a rapist.

The way we deal with it should be the same when any crime happens. We have to go to the police, we have to talk about it, and not be ashamed!

I think it can be changed. If I can help a hundred girls, or two girls, or one girl, it doesn’t matter, as long as it can help someone. That’s why I’m making a documentary. I hope I can push girls to come forward and not keep everything inside. I’m a good pusher J. I just want to help women that don’t have the courage to speak out. I believe that I can be the one to stand and shout it’s wrong and it’s a crime, and whoever wants to stand with me can do so.

Throughout my journey I will be meeting with a lot of women. It really encourages me and gives me a lot of strength to continue with what I am doing. Maybe we can get the police to believe rape victims, and maybe we can get longer prison sentences.

For the women I met in New York and New Jersey, I hope you’ve thought about telling your parents, your daughters, your sisters. You know who I mean. Don’t keep it inside. Please write and let me know how you’re doing.

I’ll be in Los Angeles at the end of August. I’m hoping to meet with the girls who testified against a fashion designer who is being sentenced. He was convicted of assaulting 16 girls and women. I know how hard it is to testify and I’m so proud of them for doing it. He’ll never be able to rape anyone again.

I’m also going to Cleveland on September 9th, to be the Keynote Speaker at the Cleveland Rape Center’s 35th anniversary luncheon. I’m really excited about that because of how important the rape centers are. If there are any women who want to be part of my film, in Los Angeles or Cleveland, please let me know, I’d love to meet you.

This post was submitted by Linor.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 18th, 2009 at 4:52 am and is filed under Linor's Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.