Last year was a busy time for media and information senior Laura Swanson.
In addition to receiving the iAspire Grant for her sexual assault awareness advocacy and appearing on the “Dr. Phil” show in December to speak about her documentary film “Every Two Minutes,” Swanson is an active member of the Sexual Assault Crisis Intervention Team, The Firecracker Foundation and is co-director of the 2015 MSU “Vagina Monologues.”
While her advocacy work had been known at MSU for quite some time, the opportunity to appear on national television offered Swanson a venue to get her message out to the rest of the country. However, the call from the producers of “Dr. Phil” came at a rather inconvenient time.
“It was the week before finals week, and they called and said, ‘Hey, we want to fly you out in six days — during finals week — to be on the show,’” Swanson said.
Although she’d shared her story as a survivor in “Every Two Minutes” and had been active in the public eye for some time before her television appearance, Swanson said she was still nervous about being evaluated by the entire country.
“It was definitely very scary because I think a lot of people — especially when they’re survivors — are intimidated by the media and how they might be portrayed,” she said. “But when I was at the ‘Dr. Phil’ show I was seated in the audience for the first few episodes, and when I walked up onstage Dr. Phil shook my hand and told me they wouldn’t grill me or ask uncomfortable questions.”
That assurance, Swanson said, relieved her immediately and created a comfortable environment to talk about “Every Two Minutes” and the work she was doing to fight sexual assault.
When she initially proposed the idea for “Every Two Minutes” to her advanced documentary film class, Swanson was amazed at the positive response she received both from students who wanted to help her make the film and from sexual assault survivors themselves.
Seventeen stories of sexual assault are included in the film, including Swanson’s own, though a total of 23 survivors were involved in the project. The interest was so great, she said, it was unfortunate that not all of the stories could be included in the final film.
The “Every Two Minutes” crew has received feedback from people around the country since the film’s release and Swanson’s subsequent nationwide television interview. Survivors continue to thank them for telling these stories about sexual assault, and students from other campuses have become inspired to start advocacy at their own universities.
Swanson said it wasn’t necessarily her own personal experience as a survivor of sexual assault that made her passionate about the issue, but the stories her friends shared with her about their experiences.
“The overall issue that made me realize I had to take action was that my friends wouldn’t call what happened to them rape or sexual assault. They would normalize the issue,” Swanson said. “I realized that was society’s problem.”
It was that realization that Swanson’s experience with assault was not at all unique that led her to become a strong advocate for other survivors.
In terms of what’s next, Swanson is already planning another documentary centered on human trafficking. She is also in the process of organizing a “healing through movement” dance class at MSU for sexual assault survivors.
