Wednesday, April 22, 2009

My Sister-in-Law is Better Than Your Sister-in-Law

Okay, maybe not. I mean, for all I know your brother could be married to Mother Theresa. In which case he's now a widow and I am so sorry.
No, my sister-in-law Morgan is only saint-like, and I am pretty sure all this fawning will make her uncomfortable, but I am just so proud of her. In conjunction with the District Attorney's office of San Diego County and local community organizations, she has created, directed, edited and produced an online ad campaign aimed at teenagers and geared to prevent rapes by intoxication. Please visit the website here.


A too-small still photo of Morgan from her video. Mwah! Seriously, so proud.

Rape by intoxication is defined as taking advantage of someone who is too drunk to understand what is going on; if convicted, the felony can carry 8 years in a state prison and a life-time of having to register as a sex offender. The website gives tips for prevention and protecting yourself, as well as videos from law enforcement agencies, fraternity members and rape survivors. If you have any high school or college-aged kids in your life, please send them the website. Rape by intoxication is a preventable crime, and education is key. As a woman and as a mother, thank you, Morgan.
xo,
Susannah

15 comments:

Kamryn said...

What an awesome way to turn a horrible situation into one of inspiration. Good work Morgan and thanks for sharing this Susannah.

vicki archer said...

You should be proud - bravo to Morgan, what a brilliant sister-in-law, xv.

Sarah @ BecomingSarah.com said...

What a great idea; I can't wait to check out the website. I wish I'd known about stuff like this when I was a teenager. I was never raped, but I knew someone who was. It's such a horrible, devastating situation for so many young women to find themselves in and I'm glad that your sister-in-law Morgan was able to find a way to help them out.

krista said...

my first time was exactly this type of situation. i'm grateful and inspired by people willing to get the point out there that when a girl is unconscious, she's not consenting. even if she told you you were hot a half hour ago when you were both swigging tequila from the bottle.
(especially when she's 15 and you're in college and should fucking know better, you douchebag.)

Anonymous said...

Thank you Morgan, you're amazing!

Judy said...

I am so PROUD of my newest Daughter, Morgan! What an amazing project.You are every bit as AWESOME as I always thought you were....and more! Love you!
Mom

Black Dog Salvage said...

how brave - best wishes to your sis-in-law (& your brother, too!) i have no doubt this will make a difference in many young womens (and mens)lives!

Morgan said...

Thank you Susannah! And THANK YOU everyone who took the time to go to the website and watch the videos, it means a great deal to me. April is Sexual Assault awareness month and so we just launched these videos last week at a press conference in San Diego. I've gotten such an amazing response to the videos, which makes me stronger and more motivated each and every day.

If you or someone you know was sexually assaulted or raped it's important that they get help and I would encourage everyone to report to the police. Even if you don't report your assault to the police it's imperative to get help. There are MANY organizations that will be able to provide examinations, counseling and victim's advocates. In California there is a rape shield law that protects victims and provides them counseling and advocates.

It's also important that we teach young men that if a woman is too intoxicated, unconscious, asleep, passed out, that they absolutely cannot give consent to sex. Rape is preventable! Men can stop rape. I think that the more we talk about this type of crime and the more we educate younger people the faster we can stop rape by intoxication. And this is why I came forward, to share my experience and hopefully inspire others to do the same and to provide hope for other survivors of rape that are out there who have been burying the trauma deep inside themselves. My last message is, if this has happened to you, you are not alone and this is not your fault.

Thank you everyone for your kind words and support. Much love!

Sarah Ring said...

This is a great website - I have a friend who mentors highschoolers so I will definitely pass this along. Thank you for posting this and thank Morgan for creating it. I hope this reaches many impressionable youths and makes them more aware.

anita said...

Bravo to both of you! This is such an important topic to be brought out in the open. I will pass the website along to help spread the message!

Anonymous said...

What an important subject. I forwarded the website to my alma mater's Women's Center.

jen said...

You know, this whole subject is so disconcerting for reasons other than the obvious. I work as a chef at a sorority and they're ALWAYS talking about "blacking out" and waking up weird places. So so scary.

s. said...

Thanks, Morgan. And thanks, Andrews. This is a very important message and I truly believe that stories like yours will help make a difference.

Not a criticism but a comment: a MALE friend of mine was sexually assaulted while wasted. Afterwards, he felt many of the emotions that I imagine that female assault victims might feel but with the added shame and isolation of being a guy. He never reported the crime... too many mixed emotions, too much fear of how he'd be perceived as the victim of a male-on-male assault, not much support or education for a 18 year-old guy high school male in this situation, etc.

Jessie said...

Just now getting a chance to watch the video...

Morgan is a beautiful person, inside and out! Thanks for sharing your story!

dee said...

I'm somehow just now seeing this but wanted to say how moved I was by the video, Morgan. I give you so much credit for coming forward and helping others. I know so many people that this happened to who never said anything because they felt stupid for being so drunk, like they'd done something wrong. I hope this helps give more people the strength they need to speak up and defend themselves.