The school has acknowledged a long-standing history of misconduct at the institution, which is now under the oversight of the state Attorney General’s Office in lieu of criminal prosecution for child endangerment. Paul’s, where former students dating back to 1948 have reported abuse by faculty and staff. The Prouts said they will continue to network with sexual assault survivors at St. For example, in January 2017, Chessy spoke at the Washington Area Independent School Summit on Sexual Assault and Consent, hosted by Georgetown Day School in D.C., and her parents led a parent workshop at the National Organization for Victim Assistance’s annual conference that summer. Prout said the nonprofit organization formalizes much of the outreach and education the family has long engaged in. We would have appreciated so much the support of another family early on, to know how to navigate this and how best to support our daughter.” “It was probably more than two years before we spoke to another survivor’s family, and looking back on it now, it really shouldn’t have been that way. “We wanted to save others from what we’d gone through,” Susan Prout said. As their daughter recounted her journey, Alex and Susan realized they, too, had so much to share with parents of high school sexual assault survivors. Paul’s and her advocacy work.įrom the family’s Florida home, Chessy worked with co-author Jenn Abelson, a member of the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, on writing the book. The book takes readers on an emotional journey through Prout’s childhood in Japan, her time at St. This winter, Chessy published her highly anticipated memoir, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor’s Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope, giving readers an unfiltered look into her assault, the criminal trial and her decision to go public. The high-profile trial of Owen Labrie, of Tunbridge, garnered national and international media attention, as Chessy’s assault was part of a sexual conquest ritual known as the “Senior Salute,” in which senior boys would compete for dates - and often sex - with younger girls. Paul’s School when she was sexually assaulted in May 2014 in a mechanical room on the Concord prep school’s campus. We want to remind everyone that you have a right to reclaim your voice however you want to do so.”Ĭhessy was a freshman at St. “Chessy’s certainly was a very unique one but it’s not for everyone. Paul’s School and to note that everyone’s process of healing can be a little different,” Susan Prout said. “Our mission first and foremost is to shine a light on the problems that exist on campuses at St. She did so to destigmatize survivors of sexual assault and to urge other victims of what is a grossly underreported crime to come forward - both goals of the family’s new organization. That month, Chessy went on national television to shed her anonymity as the survivor in the St. “I Have The Right To” derives its name from a social media campaign launched by Chessy, in coordination with the national advocacy group PAVE, or Promoting Awareness/Victim Empowerment, in August 2016. Amid a backdrop of high-profile sexual assault cases capturing news headlines across the country, the Prouts’ “I Have The Right To” nonprofit organization got its stamp of approval from the government this week to begin its work. “Watching these cases from decades ago makes it really clear to me how overdue these conversations are and how important it is to shine a light on the issue of sexual violence,” Prout, the mother of sexual assault survivor and activist Chessy Prout, said by phone on Wednesday afternoon.įor more than a year, Susan and her husband, Alex Prout, have been working to establish a nonprofit organization based in the nation’s capital with a mission of increasing awareness about high school sexual assault and creating a support network for victims to feel safe coming forward. Senate Judiciary Committee - and the world. Susan’s cellphone buzzed intermittently as she shared messages with friends and loved ones in anticipation of the historic moment in which Ford would tell her story before the U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh had drunkenly forced himself on her at a high school party when she was 15. Christine Blasey Ford who came forward to say U.S. The next day, Prout was at her Washington home as the nation awaited the testimony of Dr. Washington - With a close family friend and advocate inside a Pennsylvania courthouse on Tuesday, Susan Prout stayed close to her phone to get live updates from inside the sentencing of Bill Cosby, who was found guilty of drugging and raping a woman in 2004.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |