News Story of the Day

By James Fell, Chicago Tribune

I recently wrote a Facebook post asking about sexual abuse and the link to obesity. I thought I might get a few messages, but was surprised when more than 150 people — including a few men — shared their stories.

By Angela Baura, Nov. 7, 2017, South China Morning Post International

The campaign encourages sexual abuse victims to share their experiences and has given millions the courage to open up. We talk to social workers and other experts about the need for communication and to teach parents how to empower their children to reduce the likelihood of it happening to them

By David Leonhardt, NOV. 5, 2017, The New York Times

I caught the journalism bug in high school. I was fortunate to be a scholarship student at a rigorous New York private school with a weekly newspaper, and some of the older students I admired taught me the power that the written word could have.

When we complained verbally to teachers or administrators about a problem, they could ignore us. When we put our arguments in writing, they tended to pay attention. So we became teenage crusaders, inveighing against perceived injustices. Sometimes, the subjects were sophomoric (“censorship” of the talent show), but often they were serious (inequality, racism, South African divestment).

By Brenda Martin, Nov 5, 2017, GoErie.com

The social media moment has shown us how many women have experienced sexual harassment, assault or gender bias.

Emily Roll Moore was a young Fairview woman who struggled with life. She had a family, went to school, was a gifted writer and was the fashionista of her family. She was a mother, a daughter, a sister, a wife.

But she also had a past that haunted her, a series of events that she experienced in elementary school in upstate New York, that colored her days and nights.

By Jennifer Mayerle, November 3, 2017, CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The difficult and often secret topic of sexual harassment and assault has been cast into the spotlight following claims against Hollywood heavy hitters.

It’s started a conversation in the Twin Cities.

“What is appropriate? Where are the lines when it comes to a power situation?” Teresa Thomas, director of Women in Networking, said.

Thomas says many members of WIN have experienced some type of sexual harassment or assault in the workplace.

By Hugh Costello, 3 NOVEMBER 2017, The Telegraph UK

At the age of 12, Sarah Thomas found out that the father she had never known was a Roman Catholic priest.

"I’d been told he was a lecturer, but being quite inquisitive I’d always suspected there was information I hadn’t been given," she says. "My mother had been too fearful to tell me the truth."

Her situation may sound unusual, but there is a global community of people who have been confronted with the fact that their 'missing' fathers were in fact priests who had taken a vow to remain celibate, while secretly fathering children they would never acknowledge.

By Kalhan Rosenblatt, NBC News

Kevin Spacey's apology to Broadway veteran Anthony Rapp for alleged unwanted sexual advances earned sharp backlash on social media from critics who said the actor not only chose the wrong time to come out as gay but conflated homosexuality and sexual misconduct of a minor.

By Paul Doyle, Hartford Courant

In 1,663 words, Breanna Stewart revealed the most personal of stories.

Stewart's piece on The Players' Tribune recounted her experience as a childhood sexual abuse survivor. It's a deeply personal essay which Stewart hopes will inspire others to tell their stories.

By Owen Bowcott, The Gaurdian

Fresh guidelines have been issued to ensure that child victims of sexual abuse are not denied compensation on the mistaken grounds that they consented to a relationship.

By Mary Ann Ahern, October 29, 2017, NBC Chicago 5

More than 500 friends, family and those touched by Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests founder Barbara Blaine attended her memorial in Chicago Saturday.

Blaine died suddenly in September after suffering a torn blood vessel in her heart. She was 61 years old.