WASHINGTON, D.C. – Independent Women’s Forum (IWF) today broke a story in the Post Millennial about a young girl who was allegedly raped by a biological male in the bathroom at ASK Academy in New Mexico, a school which, according to allegations, fully embraces transgender bathroom policies.
The story was co-reported by Independent Women’s Forum’s Andrea Mew and Kelsey Bolar. Bolar, the director of storytelling at IWF, has spent years investigating and telling stories the media fails to cover — forgotten and silenced women, including female athletes like Cynthia Monteleone and Riley Gaines who have been forced to compete against biological males as featured in IWF’s “Female Athletes Stories” and detransitioners like Prisha Moseley and Soren Aldaco who detail the medical trauma, irreversible damage, and regret they experienced when they embraced gender ideology — as featured in IWF’s “Identity Crisis” series.
Detailing the harrowing New Mexico situation and a parent’s worst nightmare, Mew and Bolar write, in part:
Maggie* [the mother] believes the main reason a male student was alone with her daughter that day, and had the opportunity to rape her, is because the school had fully embraced gender ideology.
The young girl’s mental health suffered during the months following the alleged assault, but she internalized her deep grief, anxiety and depression and told her mother she was just being bullied. Feeling like the school wasn’t doing enough to protect her daughter, the victim’s mother pulled her out of the charter school and booked her into therapy.
Months later, the mother discovered her daughter’s journals, where the phrase, “I was raped” was written countless times. The victim’s mother immediately contacted the police to begin a criminal investigation and secured a forensic exam that confirmed evidence of her daughter’s hymen being ripped as the result of trauma.
The two now feel like “sitting ducks,” after they’ve spent over a year and a half at the mercy of the school and their local police department who have dragged their feet in any effort to identify the alleged perpetrator and hold him accountable. During this time, the mother has discovered additional information that suggests potential deeper administrative scandals, and what’s more, she recently learned there may be additional survivors who fear speaking out.
To their knowledge, ASK Academy leadership never informed parents or fellow students about the existence of a criminal investigation into an alleged rape of a female student that occurred on school grounds.
“This tragic story reflects a larger shift we’re seeing in society where women face risks to safety as women’s single-sex spaces are opened to men, and those speaking out are met with hostility and even violence in efforts to protect their rights to sex-segregated spaces like women’s sports, locker and dorm rooms, shelters, and prisons,” said Andrea Mew. “We cannot sit by idly as women are told to keep our mouths shut about feelings of discomfort or ignore our natural instincts and legal rights.”
To read the full story in the Post Millennial, click HERE.
To learn more about IWF’s storytelling resources and reports, click HERE.
To book Maggie or Ray, Kelsey Bolar, or Andrea Mew, please contact [email protected].
*To protect their identities and the integrity of the ongoing criminal investigation, Maggie* and Ray* spoke under pseudonyms.