Hey.
So if you are pretty involved in the youtube community chances
are you’ve heard of Sam Pepper. Sam Pepper is 25 years old, has around 2
million subscribers (subscribers are dropping) and makes “prank” videos. In
these “prank” videos, Pepper goes out into the public and performs pranks and
films the strangers reactions.
What draws the line between a harmless prank video and
assaulting strangers? Pepper has made many videos of him harassing women on the
street, in one video he lassoes women into him and in another he handcuffs
himself to women and the only way to be released is to kiss him. Pepper has
recently caused a stir with his video “Fake hand ass pinch prank” in which he
gropes women on the street and laughs it off when they have discomfort and
confusion written on their faces.
That video was posted on the 22nd of September,
and #ReportSamPepper was trending on twitter. Many respectable Youtubers voiced
their outrage, including Tyler Oakley, Mamrie Hart, Hank Green, and so many
more. Laci Green in fact wrote an Open Letter to Sam Pepper (http://lacigreen.tumblr.com/post/98083811325/an-open-letter-to-sam-pepper
) which has over 100,000 signatures.’ Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank’ was removed
from Youtube and Hank Green tweeted “For people asking, it’s safe to assume
that people who assault women in ‘prank videos’ will no longer be welcome at
future VidCons.” https://twitter.com/hankgreen/status/513776219574530048.
But it did not end there.
Pepper posted a second video in which he called “Part 2/3
Pinching ass prank” I’m not entirely sure if that’s the exact video name, but
yet again it has been removed. This video consumed of women doing the same ‘prank’
on men. Outrage continued, and Pepper meanwhile was tweeting about mundane
things like pizza. Then on the 24th of September, Pepper (I’m
calling him Pepper because I really do not feel comfortable calling him Sam)
posted a video titled “Fake Hand Ass Pinch Prank THE REVEAL part 3/3” which as
of now is still on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kf2beNubWj4
)
In this video, he claims the whole thing is a ‘social
experiment’ to raise awareness about sexual assault on men, saying that he’s
proud of everyone for speaking up. I find this extremely interesting that to
raise awareness about sexual assault he is performing it himself? That’s like
kicking a puppy uploading it to the internet, then kicking a cat and uploading
it and then saying “Oh I did it to raise awareness to animal cruelty. Puppies
and cats are both abused that’s why I abused them, duh!”
Since Peppers videos have been posted many brave young women
have come forward about their experiences with him. Once of which is Dottie,
Dottie has a youtube channel called ‘thisbedottie’ I’ve been subscribed for a
few months now, and she makes really thoughtful beautiful videos. Dottie has
come out with her story and while being hard to hear it is so important. Her
video is called ‘A Cautionary Tale’( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wgviv47pBc
) Please do take the time to watch her video and hear her story.
More women have been coming out with their stories, not for
attention but because now with all this circling there’s a chance people will
listen… and believe. I just watched this video(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vIh2-q0NTs
). In this video an anonymous girl talks about how Sam Pepper raped her. She is
too scared to show her face or name. The video is so heartbreaking and it is
again, very hard to listen to. But, the reality is sexual assault is a real
problem.
Another story was posted on tumblr, (http://shirleyhatessam.tumblr.com/post/98329399669/i-was-sexually-assaulted-by-sam-pepper
) and another here; (http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/youtube-star-sam-pepper-accused-of-soliciting-nude-photos-fr#4hesji7
) the thing thats relating all of these videos
is the fact that every one of these women assaulted were teenage fans. Pepper
is 25. Essentially what he’s doing is paedophilic, disgusting, degrading and
wrong.
As I wrote above about Laci Green, there is more about her.
Laci makes videos related to sex, sexuality and everything in between. Laci,
after posting her open letter was bombarded with threats from not only Pepper
himself, but his diehard fans. Laci Green has made a video on it all (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9qVaMhnJB8
)
Sadly this is not the first Youtuber sexual assault story.
There have been Tom Milsom in 2008-2009, Mike Lombard in 2012, Alex Day in
2013. The thing that connects all of these is they’re all men and they have all
preyed on 15-18 year old teenage girl fans. Taking advantage of women is
disgusting for one, but these girls looked up to them, they idolised them. How
would you react if you were so young and being treated like this by someone you
look up to?
No matter what your gender is or where you live; sexual assault is real
and it is happening. We can make a difference and make a change. Just getting
people to hear these stories and to know that if someone is touching you and
you don’t want them to you have a right to say no. You have a right as a human
being to be respected. You deserve it. Its not your fault, you didn’t ask for
it, you didn’t dress ‘slutty’ ITS NOT YOUR FAULT. How it happened or why it
happened isn’t nearly as important as the fact it did happen. And you don’t deserve
to be treated as less than human.
 |
| stay strong loves, and remember this quote. xx |
Videos about consent that I found very thought provoking are below.
ps. While writing this I was listening to Consent by Jack
and Dean, (do look them up I think they’re great.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTxlB_RFrB0
thanks for reading! xx
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