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Carry That Weight By Emma Sulkowicz Analysis

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Carry That Weight By Emma Sulkowicz Analysis
“Carry That Weight” - Artifact 3 The performance art “Carry That Weight” is the thesis project of a Columbia University senior, Emma Sulkowicz. Her performance is a superb artifact because it displays colleges’ lack of protection for rape victims, the need for better laws against rape, and the detrimental effects of letting an accused walk free. Emma Sulkowicz was allegedly raped in 2012 and reported it in 2013. Her alleged rape has lead to national attention because of her thesis project “Carry That Weight”. In this project Emma Sulkowicz carries the mattress as symbolic to her shouldering the burden of her rape and carrying it throughout society. Ms. Sulkowicz has vowed to carry her mattress until she graduated or until her alleged rapist was expelled. As a result, she did carry her mattress even onto the stage for her diploma. Her project displays the need for better protection for sexual assault victims, it is because of her project that her rape is getting any attention at all, otherwise it would have been swept under the rug like all the other college rapes. This …show more content…
Only with the help of improved laws, will colleges be able to truly improve their handlings of sexual assault cases. Sulkowicz case is the epitome of reason why rapists should not be allowed to walk free. Allowing rapists to go free damages the victim because they have to see their assaulter day after day. Victims of sexual assault often have PTSD and forcing them to worry about seeing their assaulter could cause them to relive their experience. As a result, there could be a traumatizing effect and a deeper fear set into their minds. Despite questions to the legitimacy of Sulkowicz’s alleged rape, her thesis project performs its intended purpose of showing exhibiting the need for improved rules and regulations for rapists and the need for more punishment against sexual assault

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