Normal

“Normal” Outreach Plan

Sydney Haven, Kelsey Eick, and Lydia Lane

“Normal” is a short film about two high school girls dealing with the aftermath of being sexually abused as children. Kay is a goody-two-shoes who is just starting to remember what happened to her, while Jay has already begun to cope with her memories. Together, the two make an unlikely pair, but all you need is one thing in common.

In order for this film to truly have an impact, there are two audiences that need to see it in very different settings. Girls who have been the victims of sexual abuse need to see the film in environments that support recovery. In our research, we found several different organizations that would be able to use the film as a tool for helping young girls. “Girl THRIVE (Teens Heal Rape Incest Victoriously Emerge)” is an organization founded by Dr. Patti. The goal is to “offer more stories from more girls who have been reaching out” (girlthrive.com), allowing girls to heal not only through coping with their memories, but also by connecting with other survivors. The organization is also “the only one to honor teen girls and young women who have survived incest and all sex abuse through scholarships, opportunity and education. Girlthrive Inc. empowers girls by providing tuition scholarships, laptop computers, funds kickboxing, art classes and more.” (girlthrive.com). We would like to contact Dr. Patti and have her put the film up on the website so that the organization can use more types of media to reach their target audience with their message. Girlthrive is about connecting with other survivors, which is also the idea behind “Normal”. If girls can learn to find strength in each other, then maybe they can learn to be normal again.

The Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, also known as RAINN, is another organization that could benefit from the film “Normal”. RAINN is a prime candidate to benefit from “Normal” because it “is a frequent resource for television­, radio, and print new outlets” (rainn.org). Since the film is short, the organization can play it through many different outlets, allowing it to become a conversation starter online and in public sessions. Once the topic has been brought up, it will allow a smooth transition into the organization’s resources for abuse victims, including “the National Sexual Assault Hotline, and the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline” (rain.org).

The other audience that needs to be educated about sexual abuse towards children are those who have no idea what it is, or how often it occurs. Both GirlTHRIVE and RAINN, along with the Child Sexual Abuse Response Team, also known as CSTART, aim to educate people about sexual abuse so that they can help prevent it from occurring. GirlTHRIVE is “reaching out to… [those] who just want to know the truth about sexual abuse” (girlthrive.com). In the mission statement of CSTART, the organization dreams of “utilizing our community and resources to foster community involvement in prevention and intervention of child sexual abuse” (cstart.net). “Normal” can be used by both groups to educate the community through a narrative interpretation of what it is like to begin the journey of healing after being sexually abused. Instead of asking young victims to tell their stories to strangers or loved ones, the film allows two fictional characters to become real enough that their stories can touch the audience.

In order to get the film out to more people, we would also like to post it online on several different websites, including youtube.com and vimeo.com. To further the grassroots advertising, we would also create a Facebook fan page that would host discussions on the issues raised in the film by both survivors and non-survivors, allowing an open network of information to be displayed in a public space.

Normal from Lydia Lane on Vimeo.

rainn.org/​get-help/​national-sexual-assault-hotline
girlthrive.com/​
The facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Normal/169326236455164

In the United States, 44% of sexual assault victims are under age 18.
1 out of every 6 American women have been the victim of an attempted or completed rape in her lifetime.
Onlyt 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail.
Approximately 2/3 of assaults are committed by someone known to the victim.
THE GOOD NEWS
In the last ten years, 2,546,420 sexual assaults have been prevented in the United States. Knowledge is one of our biggest weapons in fighting this crime.