Why The 'Girls' Sexual Assault PSA Is So Powerful

In the week since news of the Stanford sexual assault case, in which Brock Turner was sentenced to six months in jail for assaulting an unconscious woman in 2015, first broke, thousands of people have taken to social media to voice their opinions on the matter. From Vice President Joe Biden writing an open letter to the anonymous victim to stars like Brie Larson expressing their outrage on Twitter, it feels like practically everyone has weighed in on the situation — including the cast of HBO's Girls , who released a PSA on Wednesday all about sexual assault. Yet according to star Zosia Mamet, the PSA was actually not intended as a response to the Stanford case; rather, its release on June 8 was simply due to very, very good timing.

"We actually made it before all of this broke in the news recently," Mamet explains, speaking to Bustle the day after the PSA was released. "It happened to come out on the heels of [the Turner news], which was timely, but... we were just making it because we felt it needed to be talked about in the first place."

The PSA, which was released via Lena Dunham's Twitter account on Wednesday, features all four stars of Girls — Dunham, Mamet, Allison Williams and Jemima Kirke — discussing the scary statistics and haunting truths about sexual assault. One in five women, they explain using CDC statistics, will be assaulted during her lifetime; one in four will be sexually abused before the age of 18. With facts like these, "why is our default reaction as a society to disbelieve, or to silence, or to shame?" the Girls stars ask. "What if we chose to turn toward those in need, instead of away, to listen, to support?"

It's a hugely powerful video, and one that will hopefully have a large impact on viewers; as the cast says in the PSA, "you already have the power to create a safer, healthier environment for women to come forward" — by offering an ear to listen or a shoulder for support, anyone can be an ally for survivors of sexual assault. Mamet explains that Dunham had the idea to make a PSA on this subject a while back, during the filming of Girls Season 6, and when she broached the idea, Mamet and her co-stars "immediately jumped on-board." They made the barely two-minute video in the span of their lunch break.

"We’re all really proud of it," Mamet says now. "We wanted to try and do whatever we could in terms of that situation."

Their work isn't ending with the PSA, though. Mamet reveals that the Girls cast is hoping to eventually sell T-shirts, stickers, and other items with the logo "#SheIsSomeone," with all proceeds going to support a rape treatment center. Says the actor, "Hopefully it’s just getting the word out there... we just all wanted to help raise awareness and affect change if we can." With nearly 20,000 retweets on Dunham's original post and surely many more arriving in the coming days, it's clear that the actors' goals are certainly being met.