I’ve spent the last hour watching the official video of Jensen McRae’s song “Wolves“. Watching … and crying … and crying.
In our anti-trafficking research, Bella and I have been inspired by a particular approach to preventing the abuse of young girls in Fiji. In a program that used to be run by Homes of Hope, young men were challenged to think about who they wanted to be when they grew up. Would they be warriors who protect those around them, including the girls who experienced such high rates of violence and sexual danger? Or would they be wolves who prey on them?
The violence inherent in the “warrior” metaphor is not ideal, but we love this idea that from a young age we can draw people toward the best they can be. What sort of person do you want to become? Will you decide, now, to chose a life path than can bless rather than exploit other people?
What drives people down that other path: the path to becoming wolves? What brokenness and inhumanity within them has made that path seem desirable? Why must their pleasure be at the cost of another’s suffering?
McRae’s song is simple and horrifying. Having encountered wolves, can you ever trust anyone again? Even those who escape are maimed by such experiences. Can you ever again take the risk of relaxing and being yourself?
My God, what have we done? What damage do we keep doing to each other?
But then you watch the brilliantly directed and acted video, and another story emerges even more deeply disturbing.
Jensen McRae only appears in the video for 10 seconds at the end, just before the kicker appears: a quote from Alice Bolin that forces the whole song to be re-interpreted. The lyrics may be about the scars left by wolves, but the video is about the repeated re-abuse of victims by our societal obsession with documenting, interrogating, and making a fetish of others’ (particularly women’s) suffering.
Those who watch, however compassionately, impose another layer of predation. The abuse is visible in the courtroom just as much as in mass media. The survivor is pushed into the limelight to be ogled and pitied, “to kill her again and again.” The wolves in the video are the production crew filming the girl’s pain.
My God, what have we done? What damage do we keep doing to each other?
The self-reference and irony are unavoidable. “Wolves” is impossible to write about without repeating the same error. May I be forgiven for the contradiction of my own role through writing about it now. It needs to be spoken of. But more crucially, it needs to stop.
Wolves of this world: you are better than that! Life is not a competition in which your success requires someone else’s suffering. Find a way forward that doesn’t involve being a predator.