In the course of a subsequent criminal trial that made headlines across the United States, in which Prout appeared as an anonymous victim, she continued to suffer in silence and isolation. The book, which she wrote with Boston Globe investigative reporter Jenn Abelson, recounts how the school and her perpetrator denied responsibility by disclosing a number of messages exchanged between her and them following the attack. And yet they faced an unforeseen backlash from a wide section of the community at a school they had once trusted. Prout, who relocated to the United States from Japan following the March 2011 massive earthquake, and her family did everything they could to address the attack. (Chessy Prout's family at a Japanese-style "ryokan" inn on Miyajima Island near the city of Hiroshima in 2013) The assault took place in a secluded mechanical room on campus as part of a ritualized competition among some upper classmen called the "Senior Salute," in which the boys are said to have tried to have sex with as many younger girls as possible before graduation. ![]() I wanted to reclaim my voice and I wanted to use my voice." So through writing the book, she said, "I wanted to reclaim my story. "Nobody cared about who I was or what I was going through." "I was the nameless, faceless victim," she said. Joining hands with other women who had stayed silent for decades, she has become much more active in telling her personal story in and outside the United States since the publication in March of her 405-page memoir, "I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope."ĭuring her visit to Japan, she promoted her memoir and spoke about sexual violence at a gathering at the International School of the Sacred Heart in Tokyo, where she used to study. She also did not know how to fill an aching void - until being encouraged and inspired by seeing countless messages of support on social media for sexual assault survivors, while mainstream media outlets also finally started to give sexual assault some of the attention it deserved. She had heard enough of the seemingly endless news of sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry, the workplace, the political sphere and school. Paul's School in May 2014, she had to look at her hardships intensively in retrospect.Īfter months of writing, she was weary. Prout said she was in a particularly somber mood around November, as it coincided with the time her memoir was in the final phase of editing, and her story had not yet been told.įor the book detailing her life before and after the assault at St. "So for a while I felt really helpless and depressed that I couldn't do anything." There were "millions of other people who were going through and feeling the same thing as I was feeling and I could do nothing to help them," Prout said in recalling her first reaction to the movement during her recent visit to Tokyo to promote her memoir going into depth about the assault and subsequent trials. ![]() But she also felt overwhelmed by the scale of sexual violence. In this initiative Chessy encourages survivors and others to assert their most important, basic rights, and uses her voice to let other survivors know that you are not alone.Ĭhessy Prout was an inspiration behind the A New Day x Vital Voices limited time Target collection.Chessy Prout, an American teenager who lived most of her life in Japan, at first felt a sense of powerlessness when seeing the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault beginning to gain steam last year.Ībout four years before the movement became a global force, Prout, currently 19 years old, was sexually assaulted by one of the most popular seniors at an elite boarding school in New Hampshire.įast forward to late 2017, and she saw she was not alone in her experience. Chessy’s case and eventual trial garnered national and international media attention, as her assault was part of a ritual competition at the school called the “Senior Salute.” Two years later, in Chessy’s pursuit for justice, she decided to step forward publicly in August 2016 and launched the #IHaveTheRightTo initiative with the organization PAVE, for which she is an ambassador. There, as a freshman, Chessy was the victim of a sexual assault. ![]() Paul’s School‚Äîa boarding school in New Hampshire, where her father and sister attended. ![]() Raised in Japan, Chessy matriculated to St. After surviving a sexual assault in high school, Chessy became an activist and author, publishing her memoir and launching the #IHaveARightTo movement.Ĭhessy Prout is a high school sexual assault survivor.
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