Why? Sexual Violence and Teens

Danielle Sturk tackles the grim and, sadly, all-too-common reality of sexual violence against teens by boldly asking: Why? The Franco-Manitoban filmmaker meets with those directly or indirectly affected by the issue and willing to discuss it: young men, who share their observations on male culture and society at large; and young women survivors of sexual assault, who describe incidents ranging from catcalling to domestic violence. The decision to take this approach to the interviews was motivated by the gendered nature of the violence, given that 98 percent of reported sexual assaults are perpetrated by men (as Sturk’s documentary informs us). The format alternates based on who’s talking, with the male interviewees sharing their thoughts on-camera and the women telling their stories in voiceover to a sequence of images. The result is a deeply subjective film that offers a rich array of personal reflections on masculinity, the psychological and social repercussions of sexual violence, and the context that enables and even normalizes it.

Why? is also profoundly disturbing, not only in terms of what its subjects report, but also because of the sobering facts it presents, painstakingly culled from Canadian statistics on the topic. It’s impossible to remain indifferent when we learn that one in three women in Canada will experience some form of sexual assault during her lifetime, or that 70 percent of victims are aged 18 and under—and these statistics cover only the incidents that are reported.

A wake-up call for parents and other adults who spend time around teens, Why? probes the extent of the problem and its consequences, in a bid to spark the dialogue needed to find the strategies, approaches and solutions that can help put an end to sexual violence. Because things only change when people start talking and taking action.