Sex-Abuse Survivors Urge Each Other to Speak Out

By: Alison Bowen
WeNews correspondent

A Web site gives abuse victims a place to report their experiences anonymously and encourages them to make an official report. Filmmaker Angela Shelton leads the effort and plans to report her own abuse on April 29 in Asheville, N.C.

(WOMENSENEWS)–On April 29, a day that the mayor of Asheville, N.C., has declared “Angela Shelton Day,” the filmmaker and actress will report her father’s abuse of her as a child online and to police.

Shelton, who is also a major voice in convincing victims to open up about their experiences, will do so as part of a nationwide campaign started last month to launch Report IT, a Web site designed to enable victims of abuse to report their stories anonymously and encourage them to report to authorities.

Rallies are also planned at Barnes and Nobles bookstores nationwide on April 1 calling for women to report being sexually assaulted and coinciding with the release of her autobiography, “Finding Angela Shelton,” published by Meredith Books.

Shelton–in partnership with a Chicago group called PAVE: Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment–launched Reportitnow.org at victims’ rights rallies in about 30 cities last month timed to the opening of a retrial for the case of Tory Bowen, who was banned from using the word “rape” in a Nebraska trial.

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