by Chessy Prout
This book would not have been possible without the expertise and energy of our family friend and my book agent Carla Glasser, and the dedicated, kind team at Simon & Schuster and Margaret K. McElderry Books. Ruta Rimas, our editor, and the entire team of professionals who gathered for our first meeting with S&S: thank you for believing in me. Thank you for giving me an amazing outlet to tell my story.
My counselor Buzz at St. Paul’s did the right thing and called the police after my mom disclosed to her that I had had an “unwanted sexual experience” and called it what it was: rape. I owe a lot to Tabitha, my freshman-year roommate, for keeping me grounded when the St. Paul’s culture would consume me, for continuing to fight on campus for change, and for inspiring me to continue to fight for survivors because too many survivors don’t have the family to do so. Catie also was a grounding force, someone who always knew how to cheer me up and stood by me even when it meant social ostracism.
Naples, Florida, was the perfect place to land after two traumatic events, and I have a close community of friends and family to thank for that. My teachers at the Community School of Naples (CSN) helped me make it to graduation, a day I couldn’t really see in my future after the assault. Arielle, Scott, Zach, and the rest of my friends at CSN, the love and support you’ve shown me keeps me hopeful. Also, the Cat Island Mission team with Youth 4 Orphans replenished my soul after a traumatic event and reminded me that all pain is relative, and that I have a lot to be thankful for. Thank you also to my Sacred Heart Sisters and friends in Japan.
I thoroughly believe in the power of therapy and will always be grateful for my sessions with Dr. Sloane, who helped me navigate my feelings toward the earthquake in Japan and my ongoing experience with depression, and helped me unpack and come to terms with being sexually assaulted. She helped teach me that things don’t “get better with time,” they just change, and sometimes it’s happy change, and other times it’s tough change. Nothing is ever fully good, and nothing is ever fully bad.
And I would not be who I am today if not for the incredible support and work of PAVE and the PAVE family: founder Angela, Delaney, Julia, Jill, Jean, Sierra, Dom, Ilana, and Ally. Angela Rose is a strong survivor who lives a beautiful, genuine life advocating for others, and she gives me hope for my own future. Delaney Henderson’s selflessness and deep love for others inspires me every day.
Thank you to Mr. Pillsbury for acknowledging my story publicly, and then for sharing your own, helping to shatter the silence around sexual assault. I’d like to thank Together for Girls, Quinnipiac and Yale Law, Georgetown Day School, and Representative Annie Kuster for giving me the opportunities to tell my story and speak out. I’d also like to thank Chief Justice Barajas, executive director of NOVA, for giving me the privilege to speak at the 43rd Annual NOVA Training Conference among superheroes Tina Frundt and Ana Morales on the Victim Tribute panel.
Finally, familial support is so important to helping survivors heal. My mom, dad, sisters Christianna and Lucy, and I have gone through a lot together, but constantly go back to one thing: love.
Last but not least, thank you, thank you, thank you, Jenn. Thank you for listening to me ramble, for helping me make sense of my life, for feeding me yummy goodies because I’m always hungry, and for letting me take puppy breaks intermittently throughout the day. This book would not have been possible without you helping to make this process as painless as it could be even as I reached back into the most painful crevices of my memory. Thank you for your patience and compassion. I am so lucky to be able to call you my cowriter, and my friend.
JENN ABELSON
I am grateful to Boston Globe editor Brian McGrory and my current and former colleagues on the Spotlight Team for their commitment to investigating sexual abuse and holding powerful institutions accountable. Jon Saltzman, Bella English, Todd Wallack, Scott Allen, Mark Morrow, Amanda Katz, Sacha Pfeiffer, Mike Rezendes, Matt Carroll, and Marty Baron: Your work has changed lives—and the world—for the better. Thank you to my guardian angels at the Globe: Walter Robinson, Ellen Clegg, and Tom Farragher.
I’m indebted to the victims, advocates, and lawyers who helped me understand what it means to be a survivor of sexual assault. This crime has been shrouded in shame and silence for far too long.
I’m forever grateful to Meredith Goldstein for her friendship, advice, and confidence in me. When I questioned whether I had what it takes to help Chessy write a book, Meredith told me not only could I do it—I had to do it.
Thank you to my literary agent, Katherine Flynn, and book agent, Carla Glasser, for getting I Have the Right To into the hands of the fantastic team at Simon & Schuster. Ruta Rimas at Margaret K. McElderry Books is an editing wizard.
I am lucky to have amazing friends who took on multiple roles as readers, editors, fact-checkers, and cheerleaders to make sure I did justice to Chessy’s story: Matt Lebovic, Eric Hudson, Gina Favata, Kevin Blinkoff, Jon Gorey, Jenna Russell, Scott Helman, Sarah Grafman, and Scott Leibowitz.
I am so appreciative of Kathleen and Michael Fina for their incredible hospitality in Naples and Joan Fina for her chilly condo in Washington, DC, and her impeccable grammar skills.
Thank you to Ralphie and Paul Faircloth for being the best second set of parents I could ever ask for. Emily Faircloth Barker, Peter Barker, and Kate Faircloth have brought love, humor, and a passion for competitive board games to my life in Boston.
I am honored to be surrounded by strong females in my professional and personal life, including my nieces and their mothers.
Thank you to my sister, Jodie Abelson, for always being a light in my life, and to Alex Sommer for helping her burn brighter.
I am grateful to my mom and dad, Sue and Joe Abelson, for supporting my goals, my choices, my path. I inherited my investigative chops from my mom and listening skills from my dad. I would not have my dream job and a fearless ability to challenge authority without them.
Thank you to my love, Paul Faircloth, for lifting me up at every step of the way.
I feel blessed to have become part of the Prout family. Lucy and Christianna Prout warmly let me into their lives and reminded me of the power of sisterhood.
Thank you to Susan and Alex Prout for providing a sanctuary of truth, bravery, and grace. Thank you for making your home my home and for raising three incredible daughters who are helping to change the world.
Above all, thank you to Chessy Prout, my friend, my cowriter, my rock star. Your kindness and honesty, your humility and courage, and above all, your towering integrity, will inspire me always. You are a fierce warrior who gives me hope for girls everywhere. You are the reason why I do what I do. You are a force of nature and I am so honored to have shared this journey with you.
Cowriters hard at work!
Friends for life.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Chessy Prout is a high school sexual assault survivor. Raised in Japan, Chessy matriculated to St. Paul’s School—a boarding school in New Hampshire that her father and sister had attended. There, as a freshman, Chessy was the victim of a sexual assault. Chessy’s case and the trial garnered national and international media attention, as her assault was part of a ritual competition at the school called “Senior Salute.” Two years later, in Chessy’s pursuit of justice, she decided to step forward publicly. In August 2016 she launched the #IHaveTheRightTo initiative with the organization PAVE, for which she is an ambassador. As a PAVE ambassador, Chessy travels around the country to speak about the importance of consent education in K-12 schools; encourages survivors and others to assert their most important, basic rights; and uses her voice to let other survivors know that they are not alone. Learn more at ihavetherighttobook.com.
Jenn Abelson is a reporter for the Boston Globe Spotlight Team. Her investigations have exposed sexual assault at prep schools in New England, doctors secretly performing two surgeries at the same time, and the widespread mislabeling of fish in the restaurant industry. In 2015, she was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist fo
r her work on “Shadow Campus,” a series about dangerous off-campus college housing. Jenn grew up on Long Island, attended Cornell University, and lives in Boston.
Margaret K.McElderry Books • Simon & Schuster • NewYork
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Certain names have been changed.
Text copyright © 2018 by Francesca Prout and Jennifer Abelson
Jacket photograph copyright © 2018 by Ylva Erevall
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Prout, Chessy, author. | Abelson, Jenn, author.
Title: I have the right to : a high school survivor’s story of sexual assault, justice, and hope / Chessy Prout, with Jenn Abelson.
Description: First edition. | New York : Margaret K. McElderry Books, [2018] Identifiers: LCCN 2017043982 (print) | ISBN 9781534414457 (eBook) | ISBN 9781534414433 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781534425712 (trade pbk. export)
Subjects: LCSH: Prout, Chessy. | St. Paul’s School (Concord, N.H.) | Rape victims—United States—Biography. | Sexual abuse victims—United States—Biography. | High school students—Sexual behavior—United States. | Sex crimes—United States.
Classification: LCC HV6561 (eBook) | LCC HV6561 .P76 2018 (print) | DDC 362.88/3092 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017043982
