Date Rape Is Real Rape
by Marcella Chester, advocate and author 
PSA
Suggested PSA

Sexual violence prevention, not just for girls

Shot 1: Teacher leads group of first graders down sidewalk toward park visible in the distance. For no apparent reason, a block from the park the teacher turns to the left and starts leading her charges across the street. A student balks.

TOMMY (pointing):
Ain't we going to the park?

TEACHER:
Just follow me.

Shot 2: As they once again march toward the park but from the other side of the street and at a much faster pace, the teacher keeps glancing at a house they would have walked by if they hadn't crossed the street. Nothing about the house makes stand out from the houses around it.

Shot 3: Tommy climbs the front steps to his house looks over his shoulder at the house across the street and down 2 doors which had his teacher's focus. He enters the house and he drops his bag with a thunk.

TOMMY:
Mom.

Shot 4: Tommy and his mother are sitting at a dining table.

MOTHER:
A bad man lives in that house and you must never go there. if he tries to talk to you, run home.

Shot 5: In a home office, Tommy's mother is at computer looking at map of registered sex offenders.

Shot 6: Tommy, a year older, with his friend Jonas enters a bedroom which obviously belongs to teenager. 

JONAS (crosses room to computer):
Want to see what girls really look like?

TOMMY:
Whatever. 

Shot 7: Inside a classroom with just students present, Tommy and Jonas watch a girl lean over to put away a box filled with colored construction paper. Jonas nudges his friend.

JONAS:
Dare ya.

Tommy strides across the room, stops behind her and reaches for the girl's hips.

Shot 8: The teacher returns to find the girl crying. The girl mumbles something only the teacher hears.

TEACHER:
Just ignore him and he’ll leave you alone.

Tommy smiles when he realizes he won't be scolded.

Shot 9: Tommy, now a 4th grader, is playing with classmates when the bell rings. He grabs a girl as she starts to follow her friends. He refuses to let her go.

TOMMY:
Kiss me and I'll let you go.

She tries to get away, but can't. She looks for help from the teacher holding the door for other students. The teacher laughs.

TEACHER:
Break it up there, Romeo and Juliet.

Tommy still won't let her go and now the teacher is tapping his foot impatiently. She nods in resignation.

Shot 10: Tommy, now in junior high school, stalks a younger girl with fully developed breasts down the hallway as other students fill their backpacks. They round a corner out of sight. The girl screams in fright. None of the students still visible respond to what they hear.

Shot 11: Tommy, Jonas and another boy stand outside the junior high school in the shadows and watch that same girl approach the school. They cut her off.

TOMMY:
You’re going to admit you lied, aren’t you?

The girl clearly terrified, nods.

Shot 12: Tommy, now an 18 year old, sits in an interrogation room.

INVESTIGATOR:
You’ve been accused of rape, son.

Tommy shrugs, obviously not taking the situation seriously.

Shot 13: Inside of a courtroom Tommy sits next to his lawyer looking smug.

JURY FOREPERSON:
Guilty, your honor

MOTHER (visibly distressed):
That girl lied. I know my son. That girl lied.

Shot 14: The teacher from shot 1, much older now, stops at the corner where she turned before. She looks from Tommy's house to the sex offender's house across the street. She steers her first graders to the right so it is clear they will go around the block to get to the park.  The boys in the class who follow her look as innocent as Tommy looked in first grade.

Shot 15: Screen fades to black, then white lettering fades in saying, “Sexual violence prevention. It’s not just for girls.”

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