What we’re missing in #freeKesha
One in four college women will be the victim of sexual assault during her academic career – that’s only reported cases
Let’s talk about Kesha.
In the unlikely event that you either don’t have a Facebook or don’t pay attention to the trending topics panel to the right of your newsfeed, you might not know that Kesha has recently been in court fighting to end her contract with her former producer, Dr. Luke, on grounds of emotional and sexual abuse. Dr. Luke and his team of lawyers – that his contract with Kesha bought him – have denied these charges and claimed that she made all of this up to get out of her contract with him. Unfortunately for Kesha, she cannot terminate her contract with him as well as her producing label until the court decides she can.
So what?
All of our favorite actors and singers have signed these contracts. If you’re not a fan of Kesha, picture your favorite star (male or female, because this can go both ways) in her position. The fact is that this could have happened to anyone and could very well be happening to other stars. It’s not so hard to swallow the fact that she was denied the right to record music anywhere – it is that she accused someone of sexual assault and is still legally obligated to produce music with him (and share those proceeds with him). Guilty or not, these contracts should have some sort of emergency brake or 911 button for celebs to pull so that when a line is crossed, they are able to at least suspend things without the need for a public court case. Because I’m sure doing all of this legal stuff in front of millions of people makes all of this that much easier.
What kind of precedent does this set?
If Kesha loses this battle, it would only be another time where a woman is denied her right to be an individual. This conversation is not new. Celebrities have been speaking out about they are treated differently in both the film industry and the music industry. It’s not about the money for them. They just want equality. They don’t want to be treated like objects anymore. And it’s not merely actresses like Jennifer Lawrence protesting this. Even in popular media women are treated unfairly. Sure, we have the strong female characters such as Katniss Everdeen to balance things out, but one of the highest grossing series of books is 50 Shades of Grey, a series in which the main character is a female essentially used as a sex object by an extremely wealthy business mogul. If women are denied their freedom in fiction, how does this affect our fight in reality? Kesha’s potential loss in this shows not only that women should allow themselves to be treated like this but that it’s okay for men to treat us like this.
So what does any of this have to do with me?
Sexual/physical/emotional abuse is not something that only happened to Kesha. It’s not something that only happens to women. Every 21 hours there is a rape on an American college campus. One in four college women will be the victim of sexual assault during her academic career. That’s only the reported offenses. Friends, the statistics show that we are at our most vulnerable for sexual crime right now. If Kesha is forced into producing with Dr. Luke after all of this, that only shows that these crimes can go unpunished and it diminishes the usefulness in reporting them. Kesha is giving a voice to victims everywhere by standing up for herself and for trying to reclaim her life. Being a victim is an incredibly isolating experience, something only victims really can understand, and we need to remember that no matter what, it is our responsibility to care for victims and to fight the propagation of assaults. We’re all stuck on this earth together; we may as well respect each other. We shouldn’t wrongfully convict people of such serious crimes but we shouldn’t condemn the victims either.
What now?
As a college student, I hear stuff about how to prevent or stop sexual assault everyday. We get flooded with emails, there are signs covering my dorm (even in our bathroom stalls), and people talk about it. But we need more people like Kesha who are unafraid to stand up and say ‘no more’ to our bullies. We still have a long way to go, both with fighting gender inequality and in the culture surrounding assaults. No assault is minor. Stalking, harassment, rape, bullying – it’s all a form of assault. We need to keep talking about it because by opening up the conversation to more people we may be able to team up and find a solution. Until then, we need to join hands with Kesha and everyone else trying to escape their demons and fight for them because if we don’t, who will?