This semester, I decided to take a performance class. I have always loved being a part of musicals and seeing shows. I thought it would be a fun class where I could re-live some of my theater memories. For the most part, the class is fun. We get to do fun warm ups, improv, and read plays. There is always something exciting happening.
Last week, it was not as fun as usual. We had an assignment to pick a monologue from one of two plays and perform it. Our professor decided to do a monologue as an example. She chose “Elsa Wertman” from the play Spoon River Anthology by Edger Lee Masters. Her performance was amazing and her empathy for the character was incredible. However, the class did not pick up on the immense struggles Elsa Wertman describes in her story.
The monologue clearly implies Elsa Wertman was raped. The portion where she discussed her rape goes as the following:
“…Right in his arms and kissed me on my throat,
I turning my head. Then neither of us
Seemed to know what happened.
And I cried for what would become of me….”
When my professor was finished with her performance, she asked us, “Do you think this was consensual, or was this rape.” I raised my hand right away, but the professor called on another student who said, “This was completely consensual.”
I raised my hand again, still I was not acknowledged. I had to sit there, hand raised, listening to people say this was not rape. People reasoned that when Elsa Wertman says “I turning my head,” meant she was turning her head so her lips could meet his. The worst part was that my professor went along with what the students were saying.
That whole discussion, I sat there, hand raised high, and never got a word in.
I have had a week to process the events that transpired that day, and I am still confused as to why anyone would say Elsa Wertman does not imply rape. Are people confused about what consent is? Do people not want to talk about and acknowledge rape? Are we really this immature? I like to think college students are decent at identifying sexual assault, but apparently, that is not true. It pains me that my entire class agreed with the one student who believed it was a consensual moment. Not one person said Elsa Wertman was raped. Not one.
As I think back on this class, I wish I would have said something even though the professor did not call on me. Rape is something that needs to be talked about. We cannot pretend that everything is always fine and nothing bad ever happens. Sexual assault is way too common in the world. Pretending that stories like this imply consent is a slap in the face to anyone who has ever endured such trauma.
To everyone in my class: That is a story about rape. No part of the monologue hints to a girl who was so happy to have sex with that man. Rape is sexual assault, and you should all be able to identify it.