April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, so my mission with writing this post is to dive into survivor stories that educated and moved me. We’re fortunate to have so many courageous people coming forward to share their experiences overcoming the trauma that sexual assault experiences cause, to raise awareness for survivors and current victims. This is what helps us get closer to putting an end to this behavior altogether. Yet another thing storytelling does for us – creates conversation around, and raises awareness for, important causes.
Here are my favorites:
Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika Krouse: This book is part memoir, part true crime, written by an award-winning fiction writer turned private investigator. Erika Krouse began working for a lawyer from her hometown on a case surrounding a local college’s recruiting process for their D1 football team. Krouse uncovers an astonishing culture that preys on college women, led by a group of powerful men in college sports. As she works her way through the case, she also processes her own experiences with sexual assault. She was abused by a person in her family who she refers to as X throughout the book. This is an educational, emotional, and satisfying read, that made me cry tears of sadness and then joy until the very end.
Beads: A Memoir of Falling Apart and Putting Yourself Back Together Again by Rachael Brooks: This is a book that needs to be stocked in college campus bookstores everywhere. Written by NC author, Rachael Brooks, Beads share her survivor story as a fresh UNC Chapel Hill graduate. Brooks was heading out on her next adventure in Washington, D.C. when she was violently raped in the back of a car that pretended to be a taxicab. What followed were years of courtroom battles, traumatizing encounters with law enforcement, searching for the right coping mechanisms, facing the person who assaulted her, and more. Beads is a story of bravery, told through the eyes of a woman going through the difficult process of healing and ultimately, surviving.
Know My Name by Chanel Miller: Chanel Miller was the young woman at the center of the high-profile Brock Turner rape case, where she was assaulted behind a dumpster in a dark alleyway. At the time of the courtroom case, she was known only as Emily Doe. In her memoir, we learn who Miller is as she reclaims her name and identity through the power of words. Miller battled difficult emotions such as shame and depression in the aftermath of the rape trial (where Turner was sentenced to a minimal 6 months in prison). Know My Name is about surviving excruciatingly painful experiences – not just how we do that, but that it’s possible.
For those of you who are interested in how you can support survivors of sexual assault, I encourage you to visit the nation’s largest sexual violence prevention organization, RAINN here.
Until next month, happy reading!