![]() ![]() ![]() But when I ask about her own political ambitions, Prout isn't committing to running for office just yet. Prout says she's found a "second family" in the advocacy community, and she has worked with Annie Kuster, the Democratic Representative from New Hampshire's second congressional district, to advocate for survivors on several occasions. "People who are in power can’t ignore our voices for long." "But it’s also inspiring to see people begin to care, to see conversations start on social media, on the news, everywhere," she continues. "Frankly, it's been infuriating to see #MeToo take hold," she says, "because you see the rampant sexism and fear that women have to deal with and feel in the workplace, in schools, anywhere they are." ![]() Prout has mixed feelings about the movement. Not long after Prout finished writing her memoir with investigative reporter Jenn Abelson, #MeToo consumed the headlines in America, forcing a national conversation about sexual assault, harassment, and inequality in the workplace. He has had to register as a sex offender, and is currently petitioning the New Hampshire Supreme Court for a new trial.Ĭhessy Prout with her father and younger sister at the Women’s March in Naples. Prout's attacker, Labrie, was acquitted of rape in 2015, but convicted of three counts of misdemeanor sexual assault, endangering a child, and the felony of using computer services to lure a minor. The federal lawsuit, which was filed in June of 2016, claimed the assault was a "direct result of fostering, permitting, and condoning a tradition of ritualized statutory rape." We teach students extensively about sexual assault prevention, and have strengthened our robust programs on health, well-being, and mutual respect."Įarlier this year, Prout's parents settled with the school for an undisclosed amount. The school has no tradition or culture that would ever allow or condone what happened to Chessy. ![]() "The senior salute-something similar to asking someone out-was never a tradition and was not about assault or coercion. Chessy bravely stepped forward to address an issue important not just to schools, but to the entire country," it reads, but then goes on to criticize her account of what happened to her. "We fully support Chessy’s trailblazing work to give a voice to sexual assault victims. Paul's issued a statement, which praises Prout for her advocacy. It usually started around May, when they invited girls to a secret spot with the hopes of hooking up."įollowing the publication of Prout's book, St. Paul's where sixth formers tried to make out with as many younger girls as possible before graduation. She also writes that her assault was part of a tradition called the "senior salute," which Prout describes as "a well-known ritual at St. Paul's as a place where "everything was about status, tradition and hierarchy- and guys ruled all three."Ĭhessy Prout with her family following her high school graduation. (She transferred back home to a school in Naples, Florida after the attack.) Throughout the text, she recounts the misogyny she faced at the formerly all-male institution, at one point describing St. To put it mildly, Prout doesn't paint a lovely picture of her former high school in the book. She says she "wanted to tell the harsh honest truth of what it’s really like to go through something like this" in hopes that it might help readers understand the survivors in their lives. The text recounts her sexual assault and her multiple trials in explicit detail. "I felt like I was strong enough to share my story and hopefully offer an inside look into at least one survivor’s mind," she says. They’re protected under anonymity, but at times that can really hurt us as much as it helps us," Prout tells me over the phone, when asked about why she wanted to write a book. "So often victims and survivors aren’t given a voice through this process. Now, she's taking back her narrative again, in a memoir titled I Have the Right To, A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope. "I feel ready to stand up and own what happened to me,” Prout told Savannah Guthrie at the time. ![]()
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