Brad Simpson was groomed and sexually abused by a private sports trainer from age nine to his mid-teens. He didn’t tell anyone about the abuse for the next 35 years. “It was scary; I was afraid of judgement most of all. I had feelings of guilt, and I struggled with self esteem and trying to hide my story.”

Two months after Lisa Gray divorced her ex-husband, she discovered that he had been sexually abusing her daughter Nikki throughout their seven-year marriage. “As it started to settle in, I replayed it in my mind. How could this happen? I had so much shame, so much guilt that I had brought this man into my house to molest my child. What kind of mother am I? The guilt and the shame were deafening—but at the same time I knew I had to do what was necessary for my daughter.”

Eileen was sexually and emotionally abused by her father starting at age two and sexually abused by her uncle starting at age four. “There was always that darkness inside me, but I didn’t know the root cause for all of it. The floodgates of my memory opened. I spent most of my 20s in a lot of pain and trying to find my way out.”

Lea Grover was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance at a party when she was fourteen-years-old. “I was alone. I was fourteen. I didn't have a way home. I didn't know the language to use for what happened to me."

Natalie Kish was drugged and raped by an acquaintance at her off-campus apartment. Though Natalie is glad she quickly sought legal and medical attention, it felt overwhelming to share what happened to her with so many people right away.

Sharon Billings was sexually assaulted and abused by her husband over the course of four years. It started with controlling behavior and emotional abuse and escalated to become increasingly violent. “The biggest thing for me was when I got to the point where I could let go of responsibility for my husband’s actions. I held myself accountable for a long time.”

Kassie Edwards was sexually assaulted by a stranger at her university's library while at her work-study job. “You should tell somebody. It doesn’t matter who; go to a friend, mom, dad. If you can’t report it to the police, tell someone you trust.”

Erin Helfert was a master’s student when she returned to Morocco to research gender-based violence and criminal justice. “I didn’t intend to become the subject of the very thing I was researching in Morocco,” she recalled. “But there I was.”

Jeanette Morelan faced plenty of challenges during her sophomore year of college: being elected student body preseident, managing family stress, and surviving sexual assault. 

Isabella was a freshman in high school when she began dating a girl who controlled and sexually abused her. Now a senior in college, Isabella speaks out about what happened to her and wants others to understand queer sexual violence.