The CumQueens conclude their interview with Donna Freitas, author of Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention. We discuss the issues involved with reporting sexual harassment and violence and how we can take our power back despite the mandatory reporting system being designed to protect the institution and not the victim. Part of taking that power back is being able to celebrate your sexuality while protecting yourself from those that have malintent. We walk away with the reassurance that we are not alone in our experiences. The more we talk about this uncomfortable topic the more we are able to break the cycle of abuse and are able to support each other. Thank you again to Donna Freitas for sharing her time and her story.
Donna Freitas is a professor, researcher, and writer of more than twenty books, both fiction and nonfiction, for adults, children, and young adults. Among her books are, most recently, Consent: A Memoir of Unwanted Attention (Little, Brown), as well as her Middle Grade nonfiction, The Big Questions Book of Sex & Consent (forthcoming in September 2020). Her debut novel for adults, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano, will be published in the spring of 2021 in nearly 25 countries and languages. Donna has spoken at over two hundred colleges and universities across the U.S. and beyond about her work around sex on campus, and she is the author of Consent on Campus: A Manifesto, as well as The Happiness Effect: How Social Media is Driving a Generation to Appear Perfect at Any Cost. Donna's essays, op-eds, and articles have been published in major newspapers and magazines over the years, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and many others. She received her Ph.D. in Gender Studies and Religion in 2001. Donna is currently a professor in the English Department and MFA program at Adelphi University on Long Island. She lives in Brooklyn.