Daisy Coleman was 14 years old when she woke up on her front lawn with her hair frozen to the ground after attending a party with her older brothers friend. Soon after, Audrie Pott, aged 15  was sexually assaulted at a house party. A week later, Audrie was dead, having committed suicide.

This new Netflix documentary looks at both their stories, and the shame associated with being the victim of an assault like this.  It asks if it was the assault itself that pushed Audrie to take her own life or the vicious online abuse and bullying she received afterwards.

Daisy was reluctant to take part initially, but she felt that she had an obligation to represent Audrie. “I feel like [Audrie] didn’t get a fair chance to use her voice. I decided that I would go full force for the documentary to be Audrie’s voice.”

The film looks at the slut-shaming, victim-blaming and judgment that victims of sexual assault are sometimes subjected to. After pressing charges against the young man who’d assaulted her, Coleman’s family had to leave Maryville due to the sheer volume of threats they received. In 2013, their house was burned down. It was this same kind of bullying and online slut-shaming that presumably led Pott to take her own life.

Wath it now on Netflix, let us know what you think…

https://youtu.be/29Dr4ChJUBc