Emma Sulkowicz
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
When Columbia University dismissed her sexual assault complaint, Emma Sulkowicz came back to campus carrying a mattress like the one on which she said she was raped by a fellow student — and never left it behind. The image of a young woman carrying her mattress quickly became the new symbol of the national movement to end campus rape.
The mattress “represents a private place where a lot of your intimate life happens,” said Sulkowicz in an interview with New York magazine. “I have brought my life out in front for the public to see.”
Sulkowicz’s protest was finely tuned performance art. Conceived as her senior thesis, the “Carry That Weight” project was conducted according to several “rules of engagement.” Sulkowicz had to carry the mattress with her at all times while on campus and she could not ask for help, though she could accept it from others. If Columbia expelled her alleged rapist, she would end the project immediately. Sulkowicz carried the mattress to her graduation in May.
Her project was heralded with awards from advocacy organizations like the New York chapter of the National Organization for Women and the Feminist Majority Foundation. She was also invited to the State of the Union address by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Though Sulkowicz, 23, has not found legal recourse — even as two other women’s complaints about the same person were found “not responsible” by Columbia — she did succeed in one sense. By shouldering that mattress, she showed that her burden is society’s burden to share.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
