Films on Sexual Violence:

• Palm Trees and Power Lines (2022) - Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Youtube : A film that shows the power of grooming and how it can play into sexual violence, which in this case includes sex trafficking.

• Procession (2010) - Netflix : Based on true events, six men who were sexually abused by Catholic clergy as boys become a makeshift family and find empowerment by creating films inspired by their trauma.

• Athlete A (2020) - Netflix : This documentary reveals decades of abuse of power by a doctor of the US’ women's national gymnastics team, Larry Nasser, who sexually assaulted over 500 girls and women. Although he was convicted, the documentary calls for some accountability for institutional structure and practice that protects perpetrators, silence survivors, and harbor abuse.

• Promising Young Women (2020) - Crave, Youtube : This fiction depicts a young woman’s attempt to enact revenge on those involved in her best friend’s sexual assault. It addresses the culture that enable and protect many perpetrators while denying support and justice for many survivors.

• I May Destroy You (2020) - Apple TV : After being sexually assaulted in a nightclub, Arabella's life changes irreversibly and she is forced to reassess everything, including her career, friends, and family. The question of sexual consent in contemporary life and how, in the new landscape of dating and relationships, we make the distinction between liberation and exploitation. This depicts the multidimensional aspects of sexual assault and exploitation and move the conversations on consent beyond the surface-level understanding.

• Citation (2020) - Netflix : A Nigerian student takes on the academic establishment when she reports a popular professor who tried to rape her. Based on real events, it contextualizes the prevalence and underreporting of sexual violence in post-secondary institutions and tackles weak institutional responses. 

• Bombshell (2019) - Netflix : Based on true events, this movie depicts the story of three women who exposed a series of sexual harassment by the CEO of one of the biggest cable television networks - Fox News.

• Unbelievable (2019) - Netflix : This crime drama series is based on the real-life story of a then 18-year-old who reported of being raped by a masked intruder in her apartment in Washington but was re-victimized by the investigating officers who accused her of lying and the legal process that made her to retell her story multiple times. One of the lessons of the movie is that people react to trauma and violence differently, and there are neurobiological  explanations to help us understand these different responses.

• Sex Education (2019) - Netflix : The series follows the lives of the students, staff, and parents of the fictional Moordale Secondary School as they contend with various personal dilemmas, often related to sexual intimacy. In particular, the show details sexual assault and the effects of sexual violence, such as self-blaming, avoidance, isolation and fear.

• Spotlight (2015) - Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime : Based on true life events, this movie follows a team of journalists who investigate allegations of child sexual abuse against John Geoghan, a priest in the Catholic Church accused of molesting more than 80 boys. The journalists, later unraveled a systematic cover-up by the church of abuse of thousands of boys by priests all over the world.

• Precious (2009) - Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Youtube : Unraveling the themes of domestic and sexual abuse and incest, this movie follows the journey of a teenager trying to speak out and leave an abusive household where she was abused by her parents.