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​Shia LaBeouf Claims He Was Raped During Performance Art Piece

​Shia LaBeouf Claims He Was Raped During Performance Art PieceQExpand
In an interview with Dazed Digital's Aimee Cliff, Shia LaBeouf has revealed that during his #IAMSORRY performance art project earlier this year, a woman observer whipped him and proceeded to rape him.
Back in February, LaBeouf put on #IAMSORRY in Downtown Los Angeles. In the piece, he silently sat in a room alone, dressed in a tuxedo with a paper bag over his head. People would enter the room one at a time and these viewers, who became "actors," in the piece, could do whatever they wanted with him. Some held his hand and cried with him. Some told him to "figure it out" or to "be a man." One woman, however, sexually assaulted him. When asked if any experiences from the #IAMSORRY project stood out to him as "particularly moving or unsettling" he responded:
One woman who came with her boyfriend, who was outside the door when this happened, whipped my legs for ten minutes and then stripped my clothing and proceeded to rape me… There were hundreds of people in line when she walked out with dishevelled hair and smudged lipstick. It was no good, not just for me but her man as well. On top of that my girl was in line to see me, because it was Valentine's Day and I was living in the gallery for the duration of the event – we were separated for five days, no communication. So it really hurt her as well, as I guess the news of it travelled through the line. When she came in she asked for an explanation, and I couldn't speak, so we both sat with this unexplained trauma silently. It was painful.
LaBeouf doesn't mention reporting the rape or pressing charges against the woman. His dedication to his art and metamodernism is clearly extreme, but that remains a horrifying experience.

Image via Getty.
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I'm really asking myself if this can be considered rape. Am I a bad person now?
First, he wasn't in any way drunk, drugged or in any other way unconscious that he wasn't able to give consent.
Then, he is, of course, entitled to not be violated by anyone and he also doesn't have to verbally ask for not being violated since it should be the obvious and right way to treat a human being.

The thing here is, that he could have said 'no' and he choose not to because of his 'performance' in which he asks people to do with him what he wants. Also, how long did she have to manipulate his, er, penis until he got that much aroused so that she could insert it into her vagina?
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Look, if someone had picked up a gun and shot him, would it not have been murder? Taken his watch, that's still theft. Punched him in the face, still assualt. Just because he allowed himself to be vulnerable does not mean that anyone should take advantage of that. Also, arousal of any form is a biological response to stimulation. A boner does not equal consent.
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The comments* on this story that I have read so far are really weird. La Beef is a tool—there's really no denying it—but that doesn't mean he deserved to be assaulted. I don't understand the people claiming he's lying or he brought it on himself...Would they be saying the same thing if he were a woman we all think is an asshole?
ETA: *comments both here and on Gawker
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My puzzlement is because felt he couldn't break character during the assault - it seemed like he felt it was a role. I think it's horrifying, but I also can't imagine being so confined by performance art. I do believe him, I just am having difficulty processing the circumstances.
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That's beside the point. It's like asking why a woman just didn't say no when she was cornered in a room alone with a man...Maybe she felt threatened or that no one would hear her cry out. Maybe she was afraid of what he would do otherwise. Your asking why he couldn't say no is the same thing IMO.
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I see what you're saying. I agree that we should not dismiss on the account that he's a man and he was "in character." However, I'm a bit shocked that he wouldn't break character and say "not okay, not doing this, unacceptable." Now I'm not saying because he didn't do those things that he's wrong, bad, lying, dirty, etc. Just wondering what his thought process was that didn't allow for him to express himself in that manner (if he didn't...he doesn't say that he didn't tell her no so this is under the assumption that he didn't. If he did refuse, then my thoughts on this are invalid.)
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It is sad that this needs to be stated, especially here. The articles first comments were very dismissive and that people didn't believe him. That breaks my heart.
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So much this right here.
I actually like Mr. The Beef as an actor, when he actually tries. Fury? Really good. But even if you think he's horrible, and his work is horrible, he deserves neither to be raped nor disbelieved about his rape.
This isn't about "men get raped too!!!" it's about how we treat victims in general. They have waaaay less reason to lie than to tell the truth.
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Rape victims are treated like garbage by the vast majority of police, we just went over this with the Cosby case. What happened to Shia is not okay and I hope he gets connected with whatever supports he needs.
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Some woman (allegedly) thinking that a performance piece was license to sexually violate someone is further proof that we are in desperate need of public education on consent.
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If you tell someone they can do whatever they want with you, and they proceed to have sex with you, is that rape? Serious question. Not trolling. Looking for thoughtful dialogue here. Would that directive not be the same as consent? Obviously of course if he withdrew/didn't consent and she still proceeded that is clearly rape.
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Legally, I don't think it's rape. The consent was "do whatever you want to me", and it doesn't appear he withdrew that consent verbally or nonverbally (he may have, and just left that part out). Unless there was a disclaimer regarding removing clothing and performing sexual acts. Other people are equating it to murder- but the difference is, you can't consent to be killed.

Emotionally and psychologically, though, it may be rape. My fear is that he's using rape when he means something else. Which sometimes happens- I've heard young men say "she totally raped me" when they simply mean that the woman he was with took a more dominant role. Which is gross because rape isn't that.

If he is using the term properly, though, I hope he can find whatever healing he needs.
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Yeah, isn't that the point of this "piece"? Give consent for people to do whatever they want then see how far they take it when there's no limits? I guess it's possible that he was so shocked by what was happening that he was unable to withdraw consent but I can't tell if that's what happened here.
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There was no presumption that no-one would harm him. He literally provided participants with a whip and pliers as two of the six or so objects they were offered to use on him. Plus, he based his piece on Abramovic's work in which she was harmed.
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Okay, I read and reread this comment to make it as uninflammatory as I could while also being precise about what I mean. But just in case, TW for the following.
I believe him. I think that human nature is terrible enough that I'm surprised this kind of thing doesn't happen more often at these kinds of "do whatever you want to me" exhibits (which is part of why I find them creepy in general). I just find it odd that he would stay in character throughout. I mean art be damned, I don't think anyone would condemn him as an "artist" for objecting to being sexually assaulted. That's not okay and I think it warrants shutting the show down at least temporarily to make sure he was okay, or at least to apprehend the girl? I dunno.
And my other weird question (which I predict will deservedly incur ire for victim blaming) is where does the line of consent fall in a situation where the victim has said ahead of time that nothing is off limits? It's not okay that she raped him and there's no disputing that. I just think arguably, hitting someone in the face isn't okay either and I presume that falls in line with what is "acceptable" in a performance piece like this. And why I ask is because consent can be rescinded at any time (making any further actions rape/assault/a crime), which is why I find it weird he "chose" not to. (Not that I'm saying he "chose" to be raped, because that's not how rape works)
But also I guess, you wouldn't think there'd need to be a "please don't rape the artist" disclaimer on there would you? And it sucks that he apparently needed to be explicit about not actively harming him. People are the worst and I hope he reports it formally. I wonder if maybe there was footage of the room that might help them catch her?
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I think part of the problem is that when people say "do whatever you want to me" or "I'm open to anything", there's still an implicit set of things that still aren't ok, almost like fine print. But what, exactly, is part of that fine print isn't really understood well, both because it varies from person to person, and because it's non-verbal.
Basically, this is why I'm super over the whole "open to anything" mindset; whatever it contributes happens largely by negative things happening, most of which people could have figured out by simply thinking.
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Right, because they probably also didn't say "please don't murder Shia La Beouf" and no one tried to kill him (as far as we know) so like you said, there is that unspoken fine print as to what is or isn't okay, acceptable or excusable, and obviously rape falls in that category. I just... I feel like there's no real way to examine the whole concept of this happening within the context of the performance piece without victim blaming actively or passively. That's why I find it strange that there 1. weren't people in the room to enforce those unwritten rules so that he could stay in character if that was his choice and 2. wasn't something that explicitly defined the parameters of "anything." Specifically to avoid shit like this where people come in and abuse the vulnerability that they have been given access to.
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It's weird to me because I would never, ever do something like that without saying "do whatever you want except ____" because I have a pretty intense distrust of human nature. Maybe it's part of being a woman, though - I'm always aware of sexual assault as a possibility (and it's already happened once), and I get the impression that men don't worry about it nearly as much. Like, the idea of being raped has never even crossed my husband's mind, because he's a big dude and sees himself as able to protect himself (totally ignoring all the sorts of non-violent rape that happen ALL OF THE TIME).
And, sadly, men are told all the time that they're less "manly" if they report a rape and that they're so lucky and "whatever man, you got a boner, you liked it." So it's like this shocking thing is happening and the desire to stop it is warring with all of those ingrained ideas. That's a pretty awful situation. And she's a fucking psychopath.
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I... dont really know what to say about this.
However, in regards to the headline, I would like to say that I do think its disrespectful to write that he "claimed" to have been raped. It adds a layer of disbelief. If it was a woman you damn well know you would have stated frankly that she WAS raped, not that she CLAIMED to have been raped.
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I don't think we do know that Aran would have written "was raped" if it was a woman. Going through Jezebel's rape tag, the most recent similar Jezebel headline refers to women who report being raped as "accusers" not "victims"
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Here's what I don't understand, if this guy's going to be sitting in a room in silence and letting people basically do whatever they choose to do , why weren't there any security guards? It sounds like such a high risk of having anything happen.
Also, not that I'm victim blaming, but I don't understand if he chose to stay quiet to continue his "performance" or if he just really felt like he was unable to do anything about it. He obviously wasn't asking for it and didn't deserve that but I can't help but wonder if that could've been prevented.
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"No that I'm victim blaming, but I don't understand if he chose to stay quiet"
Actually, you are victim blaming. Questioning the victim's - instead of the rapist's - actions is a text book example of this.
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Maybe he was shocked and didn't quite understand what was happening or how to stop it without seeming like an overreaction from the people outside. Maybe it took him time to realize how terrible that was and how much it had affected him. I really hope he is taken seriously and his experience takes us (public, media) to an honest conversation about consent.
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I think you're both right. Your question is victim-blaming, but it is a legally valid one. I've been through a trial as a rape victim, and in reality every victim is challenged on the issue of consent, even when it's much more black and white. The thing is, we aren't in a court room. In response to someone publicly saying they were raped, I think it's prudent to believe them first and foremost.
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I didn't say that he chose to stay quiet. I'm wondering what happened to him. I'm a rape survivor so I know that the reason varies. I'm just trying to wrap my head around how other people didn't help prevent that. Obviously, the rapist is to blame and what she did is absolutely disgusting and horrible and I hope she ends up in jail.
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Guys, we've been over this. There's literally no reason for anyone to make up a rape. why do you feel the need to advertise that you don't believe him? He's not even saying a name- the rapist is just "a woman", one whose face he probably never saw, one whom he could never claim to identify.
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I immediately thought of Marina Abramovic and it's hard for me to work out. With Marina Abramovic, she gave permission/consent, but consent doesn't override the law when it comes to murder. Since she didn't ask to be killed, it wouldn't have been assisted suicide. The person would have made a decision even if she implied the option. When she was cut, was that assault? If two friends agree to fight, or if professionals box, is that assault? I think in both cases the artist is implying consent by the nature of their experiment, but also silence doesn't imply consent, so not saying no doesn't mean yes. It seems like if he didn't stop the performance, it's not that it wasn't rape, but that seeing the experiment/performance through was more important to him than his own safety. This is just what I am thinking now, I am totally open to/wanting criticism on my thought process.
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I was thinking the same things as you, don't worry. Say Marina wanted to charge the person who stuck her with rose thorns with assault. Would it hold up? She never gave them permission to hurt her. She gave them permission to do whatever they like with her, but does that mean a person could still break the law and hurt someone? If I give my partner permission to smack me during sex, that's consent. Explicit consent. If I give them permission to be rough with me and they stab me and kill me, that is uh...murder?.
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There's a thing people in the kink community call "Sub-Space." You make a commitment to being submissive to one person or a specific group of people and when you commit you go into a kind of trance, really. I'm mostly sub, and at the time I'm doing this role I'm very very vulnerable. Of course it's my right and responsibility to say when things go too far for me, but because I'm in this state my Dom has the responsibility to make sure nobody else takes advantage of me without consent and to make sure everything's SSC. They are also in charge of making sure if I pass out or get weird and hysterical that they stop the scene, and after any sort of scene they're responsible for bringing me out of subspace gently.
Tl; DR: Shia was in a very vulnerable and submissive head space, and it can be very difficult to react quickly and strongly enough to fend off unwanted touching.
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