Columbia University ‘Mattress Girl’ films rape porno depicting alleged rape

After carrying her mattress around Columbia University for a year in protest of her school's handling of alleged sexual assault, Emma Sulkowicz has released a short porno depicting her rape. 

Sulkowicz appears to star herself in the four-paneled video, Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol (This is Not a Rape), during which she enters a sparse dorm room and proceeds to have consensual intercourse with a male, whose face is blurred. During the graphic video, which contains nudity, she eventually tells the man to stop during sex, which he does not--much like how she described her alleged assault in an initial police report. 

The time stamp on the video is August 27, 2012, the day Sulkowicz has publicly claimed she was raped by Paul Nungesser, a fellow Columbia student who maintained his innocence and was cleared by the university. 

“Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol is not about one night in August, 2012,” the description prefacing the 8-minute film reads. “It's about your decisions, starting now. It's only a reenactment if you disregard my words. It's about you, not him.”

“If you watch this video without my consent, then I hope you reflect on your reasons for objectifying me and participating in my rape, for, in that case, you were the one who couldn't resist the urge to make Ceci N'est Pas Un Viol about what you wanted to make it about: rape,” she wrote. “Please, don't participate in my rape. Watch kindly.”

Prior to the video, Sulkowicz also listed a series of questions for the viewer to use in reflection with the porno. 

According to the site artnet News, Sulkowicz shot the short porno over winter break with director Ted Lawson. 

In her interview with the site, Sulkowicz said the media attention surrounding her for the past year has been “terrifying,” despite the fact that her father hired a “high-profiled attorney who knows how to work the press” when she first went public with her accusations. 

Sulkowicz also claimed the piece was separate from the “Carry That Weight” Mattress Performance--her senior thesis project--and hoped that people should view it as such. 

“Yeah, I mean, when people call me ‘Mattress Girl’ I find that really infuriating,” she said. “It's like, okay great, so you think that I'll never progress beyond that point. That I'll be a ‘Mattress Girl’ rather than a living, breathing person who has the ability to change.”

During the interview, Sulkowicz said she has another project in the works that will be released soon.

Sulkowicz initially reported the alleged incident to the school and law enforcement. However, she decided to not pursue criminal charges as that would be “too draining.” The university also found Nungesser innocent in its own proceedings. 

Meanwhile, Nungesser has filed a lawsuit against the Ivy League school, its board of trustees, President Lee C. Bollinger, and an art professor. The German student, who also graduated last month, claims the university did not do enough to protect him against slanderous attacks. 

Sulkowicz graduated from the school in May. Prior to the ceremony, posters popped up around New York City labeling her a “pretty little liar.” 

Via Daily Caller.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @K_Schallhorn