(audio thumping)
- [Narrator] Abortion is murder and I still support it.
Three, two, one.
(light chiming) (indistinct murmuring)
(people chuckling)
- [Sam] I don't wanna get flamed for this,
but I have like I have a rationale.
(suspenseful music)
- [Narrator] What if you could speak your mind
without fear of judgment?
(gentle brooding music)
We brought together seven strangers,
protected their identities,
and created a space for them to be completely honest.
What will be revealed when they take the mask off?
(gentle brooding music)
(audio thumping)
- [Narrator] "I have slut shamed someone."
(countdown chiming)
(audio beeping)
- [Mabel] Hell, yeah, I have.
(people laughing)
I mean I probably did it last week, you know what I mean?
Like I think, I don't do it to people's faces
but like misogyny runs so deep.
- [Person] Mm-mm.
I'm gonna think bad things about a girl
that's prettier than me.
I'm gonna, like,
"Oh, you know what a slut."
I'm gonna think that.
- [Sam] I went to Catholic school.
We were forced to sign chastity cards,
like physical cards.
We had the whole presentations
where they literally would, like, wrap a present
and then, like, rip it apart and kick it and be, like,
"This is what happens when you have sex before marriage."
And, like, I was definitely kind of (beep)
to some of my, like, first friends
who had been, like, having sex for a while or whatever.
It's definitely partially a product of, like, religion
and the way that this whole country is tied
into Protestantism and everything as well.
- [Shay] When I was in the eighth grade,
there was this girl...
My friend group, they would slut shame her
because she was always, like, hypersexual.
And once me and her got close,
I found out that she was sexually assaulted.
And so, you know, ever since she told me her story,
I stopped slut shaming.
Even if I don't agree with what someone is doing,
I just say that is their business
and they will take it up with God on their judgment day.
It don't got nothing to do with me.
(audio thumping)
- [Narrator] "I've used my sexuality for personal gain."
(countdown chiming)
(audio beeping)
- [Sam] Listen, if I'm gonna be oppressed for it-
(people laughing)
I'm gonna use it to my advantage when I want to.
Like, it's something that is unavoidable.
- [Person] Okay, I think I misunderstood question.
So I, like, I'mma flip it.
Oh. (people laughing)
I was, like, "Hmm, okay, got it.
All right, all right."
(people laughing) (audio whooshing)
- [Stella] My whole life I felt, like, I was sexualized
and I was an early bloomer, too.
So, I felt, like, I was constantly sexualized as a child.
And when I got, like, past,
like, losing my virginity, and then being groomed,
and then being assaulted,
and I got to the age
where I was, like, "That's so (beep) up."
That it was kind of, like, a revelation for myself
being, like,
"If it's what'll get me,
like, what I need, I'll use it."
- [Sam] Yeah. - [Person] Yeah.
- [Stella] You know, like if I'm gonna get catcalled,
I might as well get something out of it.
(people laughing)
- [Ruby] Like, not monetary personal gain,
but internal personal gain.
- [All] Yeah.
- [Sam] Like, fitting in, getting positive reinforcement,
that sort of thing.
I still feed into the insecurity
of if I'm not getting that, like, what am I worth?
- [All] Hmm-mm.
- [Sam] And I feel, like, that's very dangerous.
I'll be, you know, getting dressed
for a night out or to go out and I'm, like,
"Why am I wanting to dress a certain way?
What kind of attention do I really want to get?"
(audio thumps)
- [Narrator] "Not all women should be believed."
(countdown chiming)
(audio beeping)
- [Sam] Y'all, hear me out.
- [Maya] Okay, I'm gonna start here
and then figure out if I change it later.
(people chuckling)
- [Mabel] I'm automatically switching.
I'm, like, I've rethought this.
- [Sam] I think that the first thing
that jumped into my head
that made me, like, go with, like, I agree with this
is all as stupid as white women
that call the cops irresponsibly
and without reading reason and stuff like that.
that's sort of where my logic went in on this.
Not so much regarding like S.A and stuff, like, that
because I would support any woman in that.
Even if she's lying, I'm still gonna believe her.
- [Ruby] I feel like there's, like, a line.
Obviously, believe all women when it comes
to, you know, sexual assault.
But then there's, like, the line
that, like, knowing that people are bad, you know?
There are people who want to do harm
And if they're are woman, then sucks.
You know?
- [Maya] (sighs) I guess-
I guess why I went with this is to say,
not immediately saying no right away.
And to be like, "Okay, here we are."
This happened, let's talk about it. "
- [Mabel] I think for me, it comes from me,
like, the misogynistic, like, idea,
that a lot of women just, like, lie because
they're like Jezebels and (beep).
You know, like , just kind of we're just, like, tricksters
for some reason.
Like a lot of people, specifically men think, like,
"Oh, well, they're just saying it to get fame or fortune,"
or whatever.
And I'm like, can you name one of the people
that Bill Cosby assaulted?
No.
My initial, similar to you is just, like, "Yes."
Like, "I want to hear what this woman has to say,"
because I've been lied to way more by men in my life
than by women.
(audio thumps)
- [Narrator] "Canceling men is necessary for progress."
(countdown chiming)
(audio beeping)
- [Ruby] I feel, like, it's a double-edged sword.
I'm not necessarily pro-cancel culture
but I'm pro-holding people accountable.
But I feel, like, with canceling men,
I feel, like, we saw this a lot with the...
Who was it? Andrew Tate?
It was really good that we were bringing attention to it
and women saw how much of a scumbag he was.
And I feel, like, a good amount of men did too.
But at the same time it became kind of, like, a joke.
It became entertainment for men.
- [Simone] I agree with, like, accountability for sure.
I feel, like, canceling someone or canceling a singer,
or a rapper or whatever,
just, like, not listening to their music
or not supporting them.
But like men as a system, that's, like, not possible.
They hold the power so, like, not,
you know, engaging with them isn't gonna, like,
progress us any further.
We have to engage with them to progress further.
- [Sam] You need to be able to converse with the issue
to have the issue fixed.
Like, because if you like run to cancel someone,
then they're gonna be defensive
and not learn anything from it.
Like, if somebody really and truly,
I think should be canceled like fully,
they should just be, like, convicted,
like, put behind bars.
(people laughing)
Like, there's a crime, a real crime.
- [Maya] And Sometimes jail doesn't even work
because, like, Bill Cosby's out of jail,
like, he got out on a technicality.
- [Mabel] It's exactly, I don't trust the system.
I, as much as the example,
I'm currently always going back to
is the Brock Turner case.
(person indistinctly thinking)
Because if, you know, he raped a girl,
and he got six months probation, served three of it.
And the way I've seen cancel culture help in that case,
I feel, like, sometimes cancel culture can step in
where the law and our government
and our judicial system fail.
(audio thumps)
- [Narrator] "Abortion is murder, and I still support it."
(countdown chiming)
(audio beeping) (people indistinctly murmur)
- [Ruby] I feel, like, it's a weirdly-worded
question in a way.
(people indistinctly talking)
- [Maya] Yeah, I didn't think about the phrasing
of the question.
- [Sam] I don't wanna get flamed for this.
But I think I have, like, I have a rationale.
Yeah, yeah.
- So, I 100% anybody that wants an abortion
should have full access, no barriers, everything.
I think, and I don't-
I'm not even sure I agree with saying that it's murder,
but I think that sometimes people talk about abortion
very callously
and ignore the, like, trauma that is associated with it.
Even if you have zero regrets,
like, you are...
It's the best decision you've ever made in your life.
Women that I've, you know, listened to
and heard from and read, you know, opinions from,
it's still, like, a traumatic experience.
I don't know.
I think you guys understand what I'm trying to say
but I think just the weight of it now
has been lessened a little bit.
I think that is shifting back again though
because of awful recent events.
But I would say for the past, like, five years or so,
I've just heard it in my own community,
it's like tossed around lightly.
And I don't necessarily think
that it should be handled really lightly.
- [Simone] I agree with, like, the latter half
of the statement.
I feel like it's like if it were to be considered murder,
I would still support it.
- [Ruby] Oh, yes, okay.
Yeah, then yeah, I would say-
- [Mabel] That changes it.
- [Ruby] Because it's not-
(people laughing)
- It's still -
Even if it is murder, it's not an easy choice.
Like that makes it even more
of a difficult conversation.
You know, it's like such a deeper thing.
- [Shay] This question is actually making me
really emotional
because I just gave birth in February
and
I love my son,
he's, like, my world.
But...
- [Maya] I want to, like, hold your hand.
- [Shay] Thank you.
I recently thought I was pregnant again,
and
I'm not a position to have another baby right now.
Any baby I make, I want to keep.
But I knew if I was pregnant, this one,
I wouldn't have been able to keep.
So, and I just know,
like, some people
who I know, they wouldn't have understood it.
So, yeah.
- [All] Thank you for sharing that idea.
- [Simone] And that's the reality, you know?
It's not, like, people are maliciously
trying to, you know, what I mean-
It's a choice.
And am I going to be able to provide for myself
and my already born child?
Or, you know, is this gonna be healthy for my mental health?
It's not like you are maliciously trying
to destroy a clump of cells.
It's your life.
And that matters more than, in my opinion,
than any kind of potential baby.
- [Person] Yeah, absolutely.
I feel like because of this-
The dissolve of Roe v. Wade,
like, I feel, like, I don't even wanna try
to have kids anymore.
Like, they're doing the opposite thing to us.
There are so many women who want to try,
but we've heard the stories of women who have miscarriages
and go in and try to get seen by a doctor and say,
"We can't do that till until we call your lawyer."
And I have so many health issues.
I have endometriosis, I have PCOs,
like, I have everything under the female sun (chuckles)
that could exist.
I could very easily carry a pregnancy that's not good.
I could very easily die from ectopic pregnancy.
And the fear that if for one day this expanded
and reached where I live, I could die, you know.
And it's so scary.
And it deters women like me who are on the fence
from even wanting to have kids.
(audio thumps)
- [Narrator] "The future isn't female."
(countdown chiming)
(audio beeping)
- [Mabel] As much as I wanna fight for it,
I see this misogyny in my brothers.
And, you know, my father even told me
when I was in high school, I asked him, I said,
"Do you think that men are superior to women?"
And he said, "Yeah," to my face.
I'm his eldest daughter, his only daughter.
You know.
So that (beep) hurts.
And to see that-
It puts a really gray tone over the world for you,
- [Simone] I guess I'm I'm super radical and I'm, like,
just end all of this stuff.
(people chuckling)
And so I feel like feminism is, like, is for the time being.
I wanna end gender as a whole
because I think it's binding and it's oppressive.
So, I feel, like, the future is neither female nor male.
- [Shay] I don't know, I do like the concept of gender
because to some degree it is not who we are as a whole,
but it does make us.
I like identifying as a woman
and also I'll challenge that by saying,
"Who are gonna be the ones to be the voices
for queer people and non-binaries
because it's not gonna be cis hetero men?"
- [Maya] That's true, yeah, yeah.
- [Shay] It's gonna be women.
- [Maya] Yeah, yeah. - [Person] No.
- [Director] We're gonna have you put your masks back on.
(masks rustling)
- Thank you so much.
(chair clanking)
(gentle brooding music)