These days, we see more and more YouTube stars coming out with their own printed versions of their life story and adventures. With these stories come massive book trailers that contain a collection of vlogs to a narrative of personal stories. But in Eva Gutowski’s case (mylifeaseva), she touches on a very sensitive story. In her most recent video, she narrates the aftermath of her sexual assault at 16 years old. The video, which doesn’t dive into the actual event itself, describes her feelings and emotions throughout the investigation and beyond that. Though the boy, a classmate of hers, was never caught, she has an eye-opening moment. Thus being the journey of her eventual online success.
At the end of the video, she tells why she decided to spread her story.
“This is a problem that is happening everywhere and I’ve been over it since I was 16 years old. I’m tired of sexual harassment not being taken serious as an issue; which it is.”
The story was also not originally part of her book, My Life As Eva: The Struggle is Real, according to her interview with Seventeen. Instead, she decided to add it after learning about the Brock Turner case, believing that it might help others. It’s doing just that. Underneath the video, there are comments of fans telling their stories and massive waves of support from peers and fans throughout social media as well.
According to RAINN, someone is sexually assaulted in America every 98 seconds. One out of every six women has been a victim of attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. Sexual harassment is a very big deal that the world has been ignoring for too long. As a victim myself, I admire people like Eva who use their platform to help others and the bravery it took her to share this with the world.
Thank you and stay strong Eva.
You can watch the video below and look into organizations like Take Back The Night.
