The Real “Drunk Girl in Public” Social Experiment

As perhaps a follow-up to the street harassment video posted recently, Stephen Zhang has come out with a social experiment video of his own, following a young woman on Hollywood Boulevard who pretends to be intoxicated to see if anyone will help her get home.

Would it shock anyone to discover that all the guys shown in the video (except for possibly one) are fairly intent on getting her to come back to their homes with them? And that their intent in doing so seems less than innocent? Probably not.

But as is often the case, the true social experiment with this video appears to be how people are reacting to it. Yes, “don’t read the comments” is a fantastic rule of thumb for all online media considering comments sections often become a cesspool showcasing the worst of humanity, but if you do read the YouTube comments, it’s a lot of “justification” as to why the men shouldn’t be blamed for trying to get a strange drunk girl to come back and, presumably, sleep with them in the middle of the day.

And of course, there are people pointing out that this could very well have been staged, or that we don’t know how many people she approached and if others actually did try to help without ulterior motives.

There is no way of knowing what the actual story behind the video is, unless those who made it come out and give a statement and provide the unedited footage, but regardless of its authenticity, it’s yet another piece serving to further conversation (and full-on verbal sparring) between feminists, anti-feminists, and all those who fall somewhere in between about perception and society and where we go from here.

In the meantime, this comment seems to sum up where we’re at with this as a society so far:

What do you think about the video? The reactions? Share with your friends and see what they think. If you’re feeling particularly daring, even share it on Facebook!