Power Trip
On the Anniversary of #MeToo, the ‘Mattress Girl’ Doesn’t Need Your Belief
Emma Sulkowicz wants to see #MeToo move beyond testimonies, and towards making amends
If you’ve heard of Emma Sulkowicz, it’s likely because of a single art project they created as a senior at Columbia University. (Sulkowicz identifies as a non-binary femme and uses they/them pronouns.) In the fall of 2014, Sulkowicz mounted a nine-month long performance art protest of campus sexual assault called Mattress Performance (Carry That Weight). Sulkowicz lugged around a mattress identical to one that they’d been sexually assaulted on, vowing to continue their protest all the way through graduation — or until their alleged rapist was removed from campus. A potent combination of Ivy League drama and powerful commentary, Sulkowicz’s story was snapped up by the media, which breathlessly documented Sulkowicz rallying other survivors, facing pushback from their alleged assailant, and being denied the standard congratulatory handshake from President Lee Bollinger as they made their way across the stage at graduation.
For many, Sulkowicz remains frozen in time as that angry Columbia student; a young person who — depending on your perspective — was either a brave warrior in the fight to make people listen to…
