Chessy Prout > Quotes

“I was too trusting, too naive. I felt like it was all my fault. It would take me years to accept what now seems obvious: rape is not a punishment for poor judgement.”
― Chessy Prout, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

“We can change the laws, but what really needs to change is the culture of sexual violence. That begins with conversations and the strength to speak the truth to power...”
― Chessy Prout, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

“Rape is not a punishment for bad judgment.”
― Chessy Prout, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

“These are precisely the kinds of cases that prosecutors need to tackle in order for society to understand that agreeing to kissing is not an invitation to have sex. That victims freeze. That survivors deserve to be believed.”
― Chessy Prout, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

“It reminded me how our deepest wounds are usually invisible, how easy it is to misjudge each other's pain, how the most important thing we can do is to treat one another with kindness and respect. Everyone has a story.”
― Chessy Prout, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

“#IHaveTheRightTo find my voice and use it when I am ready.
#IHaveTheRightTo be called a survivor, not an "alleged victim" or "accuser".
#IHaveTheRightTo spend time with someone and be safe.
#IHaveTheRightTo say NO and be HEARD.
#IHaveTheRightTo not be shamed and bullied into silence.
#IHaveTheRightTo not be isolated by the crime against me or by people who want to shame me.
#IHaveTheRightTo name what happened to me because being sexually assaulted is never excusable or "complicated". There is no perfect victim.
#IHaveTheRightTo be happy, sad, upset, angry, and inspired anytime during the process of my healing without being judged.
But most importantly, #IHaveTheRightTo stand with you.”
― Chessy Prout, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

“You don't just move on from sexual assault. What happened doesn't just go away with time.”
― Chessy Prout, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

“I listened intently to Julia Dixon as she described how survivorship and healing is not linear. It goes up and down like a mountain range. Some days you have the emotional bandwidth to heal and feel positive, she said, and other days you don't.”
― Chessy Prout, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

“#IHaveTheRightTo”
― Chessy Prout, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope

“the words”
― Chessy Prout, I Have the Right To: A High School Survivor's Story of Sexual Assault, Justice, and Hope