After revealing at a City Council meeting Wednesday that she is a survivor of a sexual assault in college, City Councillor At-Large Ayanna Pressley released a further statement.
The full statement is available below.
“I am a survivor of sexual assault while in college. Mine is a truth shared by 17 million women, and like 90% of other rape survivors, I knew my attacker. Although I have been frank about surviving childhood sexual abuse and adult sexual assault throughout my campaign and first term in office, I want to make it clear that speaking about these episodes is never easy. But living with the mental and emotional scars is even harder. Like all survivors, I have been forced to deal with the feelings of shame, the below-the-surface emotional trauma and the memory of the social isolation in the aftermath of my sexual assault. However, I feel it is my responsibility to speak up about this issue and give voice to the millions who suffer in silence.”
“Councilor Arroyo and I filed this hearing order not because we want to demonize our colleges and universities. This is, in no way, an attack on Boston University. I am seeking neither revenge nor retribution. This could have- and does- happen on campuses across America. But if sharing the details of my attack leads to colleges taking more comprehensive measures to further prevent sexual assaults on campus than we are all the better for it. We see this as an opportunity for Boston’s schools to become national models for just such preventative programs.”
