#BUZZFEED CHESSY PROUT TV#
The unprecedented campaign by a Supreme Court nominee - appearing on TV with repeated public denials - and an unapologetic president of the United States by his side to rip into the victims reminds me of the public relations machine that went into overdrive, employed by St. I can see that same swagger in the disparaging response that has met Ford and Deborah Ramirez since they stepped forward. “Deny until you die’’ was the phrase that Labrie used to talk about the sexual assault of my daughter. Paul’s tried as hard as it could, even threatening Chessy’s anonymity. The playbook is simple: deny everything at all costs, and bully and shame victims into silence. Paul’s School was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to witness as a mother. Watching anyone - but especially your teenager - endure the criminal process and suffer from the tactics of the well-worn playbook of perpetrators, their apologists, and complicit institutions like St. Ultimately, no one can answer that question except Ford and her family, but I can say from experience it will take some time to process the answer. I think about Ford being forced into hiding before the Senate hearing and wonder if the public service of stepping forward is worth the price she and her family will pay. A false but predictable narrative was spread that Chessy’s father was angry at her for having sex and forced her to cooperate with a criminal investigation.Īpparently, the fact that Chessy wanted to be a good citizen and protect other girls from getting hurt by Labrie was incomprehensible to her school community - just as it seems is Ford’s decision to shed light on the character of Kavanaugh, a nominee for a lifetime appointment to the country’s highest court. The vitriolic attacks on Ford dredged up memories of how Chessy’s peers bullied and ostracized her, because she had the audacity to call out a powerful student with a bright future. Paul’s parents and alumni who helped raise $100,000 for Labrie’s legal defense. The prep school alumni who signed a letter blindly defending Kavanaugh reminded me of the St. In the days since Ford stepped forward to name Kavanaugh, I’ve had flashbacks to the horrible moments that have marked our lives since Chessy reported.
I am grateful that Chessy picked up the phone at midnight and called me for help. In the days after, girls approached Chessy and told her that Labrie had done the same thing to them.Ī dorm adviser overheard Chessy sobbing in her room, and instructed her to call me. Chessy initially didn’t have the language to describe what happened to her as assault, nor did she understand it was against the law. Like most victims, Chessy struggled with guilt, shame, and blame. In spite of progress we have made with #MeToo and #IHaveTheRightTo, it appears that rape culture and its playbook are still very much alive in our culture. Paul’s School, a prep school in New Hampshire, when senior Owen Labrie sexually assaulted her in a locked mechanical room in 2014.
As the parent of a child who reported her sexual assault at age 15, I am disgusted by the response to the sexual assault allegations brought forward by Christine Blasey Ford about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
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