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Laurie Halse Anderson

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https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2017/04/04/-startling-statistics-behind-rape/100017162/

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period 5

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1. 1 in 6 American women will be the victim of an attempted or completed rape.

2. In the US, a rape is reported every five minutes, but only 16 percent of all rapes are ever reported to police.

3. 1 out of every 33 American men will be the victim of an attempted or completed rape.

4. Many people who go through traumatic events may find that it can take some time to re-adjust and cope for a period after the event. The residual mental, physical and spiritual effects of sexual assault and rape can permeate the daily lives of survivors, which make it difficult to heal.

5. It is common for a survivor of sexual violence to experience an array of feelings that may be confusing and can create more anxiety, such as anger, distrust and feeling unsafe.

6. Almost one-third (31%) of all rape victims developed PTSD sometime during their lifetime; and more than one in ten rape victims (11%) still has PTSD today.

7. 30% of rape victims had experienced at least one major depressive episode in their lifetimes, and 21% of all rape victims were experiencing a major depressive episode at the time of assessment.

8. Nearly half of rape and sexual assault victims are girls under the age of 18.

9. Girls between the ages of 16 and 19 are 4 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault.

10. Victims of sexual assault are 3 times more likely to suffer from depression and 6 times more likely to suffer from PTSD.

References
Anderson, L. H. (n.d.). Speak (15th Anniversary ed.).
Effects of sexual assault and rape. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org/learn/sexual-assault-rape/effects-sexual-assault-and-rape
Kilpatrick, D. G. (n.d.). The mental health impact of rape. Retrieved from https://mainweb-v.musc.edu/vawprevention/research/mentalimpact.shtml

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“A step behind me. A senior. And then he was talking to me, flirting with me. This gorgeous cover-model guy. His hair was way better than mine, his every inch a tanned muscle, and he had straight white teeth. Flirting with me! Where was Rachel — she had to see this!
Greek God: "Where did you come from? You're too beautiful to hide in the dark. Come dance with me."
He took my hand and pulled me close to him. I breathed in cologne and beer and something I couldn't identify. I fit in against his body perfectly, my head level with his shoulder. I was a little dizzy — I laid my cheek on his chest. He wrapped one arm around my back. His other hand slid down to my butt. I thought that was a little rude, but my tongue was thick with beer and I couldn't figure out how to tell him to slow down. The music was sweet. This was what high school was supposed to feel like. Where was Rachel? She had to see this! He tilted my face up to his. He kissed me, man kiss, hard sweet and deep. Nearly knocked me off my feet, that kiss. And I thought for just a minute there that I had a boyfriend, I would start high school with a boyfriend, older and stronger and ready to watch out for me. He kissed me again. His teeth ground hard against my lips. It was hard to breathe.
A cloud cloaked the moon. Shadows looked like photo negatives.
"Do you want to?" he asked.
What did he say? I didn't answer. I didn't know. I didn't speak.
We were on the ground. When did that happen? "No." No I did not like this. I was on the ground and he was on top of me. My lips mumble something about leaving, about a friend who needs me, about my parents worrying. I can hear my- self — I'm mumbling like a deranged drunk. His lips lock on mine and I can't say anything. I twist my head away. He is so heavy. There is a boulder on me. I open my mouth to breathe, to scream, and his hand covers it. In my head, my voice is as clear as a bell: "NO I DON'T WANT TO!" But I can't spit it out. I'm trying to remember how we got on the ground and where the moon went and wham! shirt up, shorts down, and the ground smells wet and dark and NO! — I'm not really here, I'm definitely back at Rachel's, crimping my hair and gluing on fake nails, and he smells like beer and mean and he hurts me hurts me hurts me and gets up and zips his jeans and smiles.
The next thing I saw was the telephone. I stood in the middle of a drunken crowd and I called 911 because I needed help. All those visits from Officer Friendly in second grade paid off. A lady answered the phone, "Police, state your emergency," and I saw my face in the window over the kitchen sink and no words came out of my mouth. Who was that girl? I had never seen her before. Tears oozed down my face, over my bruised lips, pooling on the handset. "It's OK," said the nice lady on the phone. "We have your location. Officers are on the way. Are you hurt? Are you being threatened?" Someone grabbed the phone from my hands and listened. A scream — the cops were coming! Blue and cherry lights flashing in the kitchen- sink window. Rachel's face — so angry — in mine. Someone slapped me. I crawled out of the room through a forest of legs. Outside, the moon smiled goodbye and slipped away” (Anderson 134-136).

This passage told the story of what happened the night Melinda was raped and learned the reason behind why no one would talk to her at school. I chose this particular passage because it was like a breakthrough in the story. We were finally able to put the pieces together and the book just made more sense to me.

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The book Speak was an overall good read, it just took me a long time to get into it. I did not particularly like how the book itself was written with no defined chapters and how it was basically a journal/only her thoughts. Other than that, I still enjoyed the overall plot of the book and was cheering on Melinda the entire time. The portrayal of mental illnesses was very evident in this book. The symptoms felt after a traumatic event like rape were depicted extremely well. The entire book is all her thoughts that tell how much she struggles to cope with what happened. I would recommend this book to really anyone because overall it tells an amazing story of overcoming something that can completely tear you down.

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Melinda was heading into her freshman year of high school, when IT happened. No one would talk to her and none of her friends wanted to be seen with her. She was alone. She wanted to tell people what happened, tell someone the truth. But no one wanted to listen to her speak.