Paul’s alumnus, and I, along with Chessy, have started a nonprofit called I Have the Right To, to raise awareness about the prevalence of sexual assault in high schools, the need for consent education in schools, and to help survivors know and exercise their rights. Chessy has written a book, “I Have The Right To: A High School Survivor’s Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope,” to let survivors and their loved ones know that they are not alone, and to help them find strength to stand up to their perpetrators and the institutions that protect them. As my still-teenager has said, four years later, we’ve been dragged through the mud, and need to share what we’ve learned. My family and I are committed to letting teenage survivors know they are not alone. Even in the #MeToo era, how can survivors be expected to come forward and seek justice of any measure if their communities and our country still have the primary impulse to attack the veracity of survivors?
Paul’s board of trustees, who earlier this year described my daughter’s sexual assault as an “unfortunate event for everyone.”Īs Chessy says, it is far easier to believe that a girl or woman is a liar than to believe that someone held in esteem could be guilty of something as heinous as sexual assault. I couldn’t help but think of Archibald Cox Jr., the head of St. Just this week, our president questioned the delay in reporting by Ford, claiming that the details of her assault couldn’t have been as bad as she says if she did not come forward at the time. Paul’s, after my high schooler spent days on the witness stand under grueling examination.
#CHESSY PROUT FACEBOOK TV#
The unprecedented campaign by a Supreme Court nominee - appearing on TV with repeated public denials - and an unapologetic president of the United States by his side to rip into the victims reminds me of the public relations machine that went into overdrive, employed by St. I can see that same swagger in the disparaging response that has met Ford and Deborah Ramirez since they stepped forward. “Deny until you die” was the phrase that Labrie used to talk about the sexual assault of my daughter. Paul’s tried as hard as it could, even threatening Chessy’s anonymity. The playbook is simple: deny everything at all costs, and bully and shame victims into silence. Paul’s School was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to witness as a mother. Watching anyone - but especially your teenager - endure the criminal process and suffer from the tactics of the well-worn playbook of perpetrators, their apologists, and complicit institutions like St.
Ultimately, no one can answer that question except Ford and her family, but I can say from experience it will take some time to process the answer. I think about Ford being forced into hiding before the Senate hearing and wonder if the public service of stepping forward is worth the price she and her family will pay.
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