Laurie Halse Anderson's New Book 'SHOUT'

I've read a couple of Laurie Halse Anderson's novels in the past and have enjoyed them. I recently discovered an article through Bustle's website titled, Laurie Halse Anderson's New Book 'SHOUT' Is A Powerful Poetic Memoir About Her Own Experiences With Sexual Assault by Cristina Arreola. In the article, Cristina Arreola wrote the following:

Laurie Halse Anderson is done staying silent. She's done whispering. She's done speaking. Now, she's shouting. In her forthcoming poetic memoir, SHOUT, the beloved young adult author of Speak writes with bracing honesty about her own experiences with sexual assault. Bustle has a first look at the cover and one of the poems from the memoir below. 

"I finally have the perspective to talk directly about my experience as a rape survivor," Laurie Halse Anderson tells Bustle. "I grew up in a house where silence was more valued than truth — it took a long time to grow out of those restraints."

The memoir is, in many ways, a love letter to all those who have spoken out — whether online, to a trusted friend, to a therapist, to a reporter, or only in their hearts — about their own experiences with sexual assault. Although the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements didn't affect the writing of the memoir, Halse Anderson says she "suspects they will affect the willingness of readers to listen with their hearts."

It's brave of anyone to come out and discuss their personal experience with sexual assault. Sexual assault happens more commonly than people think. I've read that 1 in 4 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime while other reports claim 1 in 3 women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. Either way, that statistic is way too high. The sad reality is that sexual assault frequently goes unreported. Women are also frequently shamed and made to feel that sexual assault is their fault. No woman should be made to feel that sexual assault is their fault.

Hopefully, with more women writing or speaking out about their experience with sexual assault, attitudes towards sexual assault survivors and how they are treated will change... Especially, how women are treated during court trials when they press charges against the person who sexually assaulted them. I'm tired of hearing that women are blamed for a sexual assault because they wore something too revealing (for example)... Are men in our society so out of control they can't be trusted to be a gentleman and not rape a woman if she wears a little black dress or something else revealing???