Representative Anne Kuster, a New Hampshire Democrat, was strongly in Prout’s corner from the start. Prout said she didn’t have high expectations for Shaheen and Hassan, who were not outspoken in support of her previously. “It’s been a lot of talk and not so much action.” “There’s so much talk you can do, there’s so many posters you can hang, so many social media posts you can do to support survivors, but that means nothing - nothing - unless you support them. Both have pushed legislation to support sexual assault survivors and said they admire Prout for her advocacy.īut Prout said all that is meaningless if they vote to confirm Delaney. New Hampshire’s Democratic senators, Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, who recommended Delaney in a pool of candidates that Biden chose from, also said they stand by his nomination. Delaney’s full record into account when considering his nomination.” Asked about Prout’s criticisms of Biden, a White House spokesperson on Wednesday pointed to that statement. The White House stood by the pick, saying last month that it “expects senators to take Mr. victim intimidation tactics,” she said, “it just blows my mind that there isn’t a better option.” “It is really disheartening that it’s this political party that has been so vocal about supporting survivors, and the fact that they now are throwing their wholehearted support behind a nominee who basically practiced. “I felt like the tides were turning.”īiden continued his work on “It’s On Us” after the Obama administration and Prout said she participated in a conference call he held with student leaders in 2017 in which he promised to keep fighting on the issue despite having left the White House.īiden’s nomination of Delaney left her “extremely disappointed.” “To see this issue be brought up in a really public and noticeable way right when I was going through this issue personally, it felt like kismet, it felt like it was meant to be,” Prout said. The launch of that initiative in 2014 in the aftermath of her own assault helped steel Prout to keep fighting, she said. After what he did, he doesn’t deserve to be a judge.īiden’s history of fighting sexual violence against women, including active participation as vice president in an Obama administration program called “It’s On Us,” had once inspired Prout. So I’m really tackling that head-on in retelling my story through a book, talking about it with people, and I feel like after this, I’m just excited to become a college student, to study, and learn from other people.Related : Opinion | Chessy Prout: I know Michael Delaney. So it’s something that survivors have to come to terms with and have to get through the trauma and get through the pain. I’ve seen people and met people who have kept silent over the years and who can point out different relationships in their lives or different things in their lives that have been caused, and problems that have been caused, by their trauma that they haven’t dealt with. The trauma and aftermath of sexual assault manifests itself in so many different ways. People wrote terrible things about me and my family online and I wanted to reclaim my narrative. Speaking out was the right thing to do for me because my name was blasted on the internet. There are so many different ways that a survivor can seek justice and healing after trauma and speaking out is not always the most helpful and healing to survivors because we have so many issues with the criminal justice system and a lot of times survivors don’t find support from their families and communities. The school seemed only interested in protecting its reputation, at the expense of its most vulnerable students. Paul’s raised $100,000 for Labrie’s legal fees. During Labrie’s highly publicized trial, the school petitioned to release Prout’s identity publically, despite her young age, which should have protected her anonymity. The assault was part of a long-running (if unofficial, according to the school) tradition called the “Senior Salute,” in which seniors try to “score” with as many underclassman girls as possible. In a new book detailing her experiences, titled I Have the Right To, Prout describes an environment in which young boys are kings and girls are targets. Paul’s that allowed these sort of acts ran deep. Yet it was Prout, not her assailant, who found herself targeted and harassed. Her rapist, graduating senior Owen Labrie, was acquitted on three felony counts, but convicted on three counts of misdemeanor sexual assault, misdemeanor endangering the welfare of a child, and use of a computer to engage a minor in sex (a felony). When Chessy Prout was a 15-year-old freshman at a prestigious New Hampshire boarding school, she was sexually assaulted by a fellow student and subsequently became one of the most prominent faces of the movement to end campus rape.
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