Black Women On the Record About Sexual Assault

“I realized that many people had some sort of experience that was connected to mine,” she says. “There were so many different ways to explore consent and how it affects us today. What better place for a story than one that I felt many people could find an identification in?”

I May Destroy You was raw, taking the audience through a roller coaster of emotions. Michaela will make you laugh, cry, and critically think about the emotional and psychological pain survivors of sexual assault and rape experience. As a writer, Bella is robbed of her integrity in one night. The story amplifies the journey of a survivor of rape — post-traumatic stress disorder, guilt and self-blame, one-on-one talk therapy, group therapy, self-medicating with drugs and alcohol, and struggling to concentrate on other life areas like relationships with friends and family. Bella is struggling to write her second book and loses her contract with the publishing company, but ultimately self-publishes a book based on her rape. One of the most interesting parts of the series is the end after Bella has done so much work to try to find the man who drugged and raped her. In the last episode, we’re taken through several scenarios where Bella imagines how she’d get justice, but in the end, Bella publishes her novel and Coel leaves the audience to make up their own justification of accountability. It’s unnerving, but it seems like Bella is most proud of helping other women who had similar experiences and focusing on healing. In the end, Bella gets to take full control and ownership of her narrative and her healing moving forward — a reflection of Michaela Coel’s experience.

As of recent, none of the women have received justice through traditional systems to have the men who sexual assaulted and raped them held accountable. However, they are seeking a form of justice by reclaiming narratives about Black women and sexual violence.

Michaela Coel turned her experience into a phenomenal show on HBO giving examples of treatment, going to talk therapy, exploring group therapy with women that had similar experiences, and writing a book about her story to help heal others. Drew Dixon got back into the music industry and listened to tracks she made years ago because she didn’t want to relive the traumatic event. Sheri Sher wrote a book about Mercedes Ladies and is still writing and recording music. Sil Lai Abrams is an award-winning writer, journalist, and activist for gender-based violence awareness and prevention in the Black community.

Telling the truth of our stories and experiences is a type of justice for Black survivors of sexual violence. Owning our narratives is a form of taking back power and having the freedom to heal.

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