Project Unbreakable

As some of you may know, this week has been Sexual Violence Awareness Week on campus. If you've been invited to the event on Facebook, you've probably seen various posts of support groups, interesting public service announcements about sexual violence, etc. One girl posted this website the other day, and I decided to take a look. I encourage you to look at it for a few minutes before reading the rest of this post. Put simply, it is a tumblr blog of pictures of rape victims holding up cards with quotes said by their attacker.

The main purpose of Project Unbreakable is to provide a form of closure for victims by allowing them to tell their stories in a safe, understanding place. However, its secondary function, for those reading it, is to raise awareness and concern for the heinous issue of sexual violence. Project Unbreakable executes this secondary function perfectly.

After looking through just a few posts, I was really disturbed. The words are disgusting, demeaning, and scary. The pictures of victims with their attackers' quotes create a bond between the reader and the content because the content is so shocking. This helps readers to empathize with the attacks the victims were put through, and creates discomfort with this status quo. Ideally, this discomfort will translate into readers taking action against sexual assault, in order to change the status quo. The fact that these victims remember the exact words used by their attackers also plays upon pathos, emphasizing how emotionally painful and scarring rape is, such that every detail is engraved into the victims mind.

Another interesting rhetorical aspect to Project Unbreakable is how the pictures are taken. Some are taken with the card taking up most of the frame, covering the victim's face, while others are held right next to the face, while still others have just half of their face showing to the side of the card. This also plays upon pathos, demonstrating shame and embarrassment felt by victims.