Inés Hercovich: Why women stay silent after sexual assault (with English subtitles) | TED

(Full English subtitles are available for this talk -- click the CC button in the bottom right of your screen to turn subtitles on.)

Why do women who experience sexual assault rarely speak up about it? "Because they fear they won't be believed," says Inés Hercovich. "Because when a woman tells what happened to her, she tells us things we can't imagine, things that disturb us, things we don't expect to hear, things that shock us." In this moving talk, she takes us inside an encounter with sexual assault to give us a clearer idea of what these situations really look like -- and the difficult choices women make to survive.

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

[nayelis]

Why do some men always feel entitled to be a part of everything? Just let women have this spotlight. This woman is speaking on behalf of other women because she can empathize with them. You don’t always have to be part of everything. Men get sexual assaulted. So do kids sometimes. So do transsexuals. But this video is about woman. Let them have the spotlight, alright? So many people here talk about why how she is only speaking about woman... well if you care so much, why don’t you go up and speak on behalf of men? You can have your spotlight, but also let woman have their spotlight?

[princedaniell]

It was a bit difficult to watch the entire video without crying after knowing someone close to me that was in that situation. Made me feel guilty for being suspicious and doing exactly what the speaker said about 'blaming the victim'. My cousin didn't report it as well, and even kept the baby. So I'm really glad this video was posted. Thank you for making me realize what I did was wrong and that I selectively heard what I wanted to hear from her.

[danielpace]

If you want to know why women stay silent all you have to do is look at that comments on this video.

[lockeforeer]

It's not 'why men stay silent' because women are most commonly the victims of sexual assault and men are most commonly the perpetrators. Of course you guys already know that's the reason, it just makes you irrational and defensive to hear it.

p.s. TED is not solely a science channel, stop pretending it is. It's a channel for ideas and perspectives you weren't yet aware of. If you're not even willing to listen to other ideas or perspectives, why are you here in the first place? Instead just shout you opinions into a canyon and enjoy hearing them echo back at you.

[KazulTheSelkie]

@every single "why do men stay silent" or "what about men": you know, "because a family member assaulted them" and "because nobody will believe them" are STILL the answers to that question you absolute gremlins

[bunny]

TED isn't just for science? Nor has it ever been. Their website even says, "(it) covers almost all topics. From science to business to global issues." This isn't about you. Not everything is about you. It is about the countless women afraid to speak up for themselves. Maybe if you watched the video before automatically disliking, you might be able to understand her perspective. It's important when people are struggling, to listen to what they have to say. It's disgusting how a video with the message, "Rape is bad. Women are being hurt." is dismissed as SJW bullshit. It's a fact women are struggling, but that doesn't mean men can't struggle as well. A video from a woman's perspective doesn't automatically discount a man's experience with sexual assault/rape. Men's struggles are valid; just as valid as this woman's. In fact, because some men do experience this as well, this video is applicable to them as well.

[jungen]

This just makes me see how hard it is for people and myself included to distinguish what rape actually is. So many variations of rape. We all have mothers and this scares me.

[RedEyedCrow]

Good speech that everyone should listen. These are things that happen to girls and women more frequently than you think. Thanks TED for the upload.

[gloglotv]

Esto es tan cierto. La verdad es que en muchos casos, las violaciones no son con un hombre desconocido y violento, si no de una persona con quien la mujer confiaba. Y en muchos casos, cuando la mujer dice no, y el hombre no le respeta ese “no”, las mujeres se culpan a si mismas por no haber hecho más para evitarlo. La realidad es que en ese momento muchas mujeres tienen miedo de arriesgar que la situación se haga violenta y por eso se dejan, y luego no dicen nada por qué piensan que no fue una violación de verdad. Pero si lo fue, el momento que usted dice “no” y el sigue, es una violacion. Me hace tan triste que para muchas, eso no es claro.

[erikaadalen]

There have been TED talks that relied too much on emotion and pleading, instead of logical arguments. This talk, however (if you actually watch it instead of just reading the title), is pretty intelligent, well thought out, and eloquent.

[florzinnha]

It seems that a lot of "people" are upset with the video.

Good.

[rodrigomedeirosdasilva]

What's with all these sad men crying in the comments section?

[dianasalinas]

Some may think that they most definitely would report any sexual assault but fail to realize that you're mind is so powerful that you may not even believe what happened yourself or you try to rationalize it because it's not "normal" to experience something traumatic and then feel guilty. Even if you manage to say a no you're body may paralyze and everything feels so out of control that your mind doesn't want to believe what happened.

[HCEllwine]

I understand the importance of this type of discussion. We should shine a light on it for sure. I have had friends who have been mistreated, raped and/or violently attacked. It goes both ways though. I have a couple male friends too that have been raped by women. I had a male friend who was beaten by their girlfriend and when he wanted to speak out she said she would say he hit her, he raped her, he attacked her; knowing society would believe her over him. Assult is assult and time has changed but basic insticts may not have. Do the science behind that.

[IsabelleMN]

this is hands down one of my top 10 talks. brilliant

[Cangeltibon]

Hmmm the video is over 16 minutes it was posted 8 minutes ago and there are already dozen of negative/anti-woman comments....shocking.

[tonus]

Over 600 dislikes??? What has happened to this world?

[xShamanx]

Thank you TED for sharing this. Gracias TED por hacer este video.

[mobilemarshall]

Can't wait for the comments on this one.

[Phyrexious]

TED really needs to step up their game for naming these video's. There's too many men getting triggered by these titles, who downvote without even watching the video. Just name it more neutral that invites people to actually watch.
Not a title that people already have a strong opinion on.