Penelope's story:
I was a senior at Hyde during 2020. One night I snuck into the boys' dorm to hang out with my two friends. I was drunk already and wanted something to do other than sit in my room. I walked across campus without being seen and got to Emero Dorm. When I got there, one of the guys started coming on to me, but I didn't give much thought to it. I started blacking out from the alcohol, so we went into one of the guy's rooms so that I could drink some water, eat something, and sit down. I don't remember much, but the guys decided to take turns having sex with me. After both of them were done, I lay alone in the bed in a drunken stupor. A third guy from the dorm came into the room and tried to talk me into having sex with him as well. I said "no" repeatedly and screamed. I slept there that night and woke up to a lot of pain and bruising on and around my vagina. My throat hurt because I had also been choked.
A few days later, I told the school what happened and went to the local emergency room, where I remained for about 6 hours. I was told that it was too late to do a rape kit, but they took extensive photos of the bruising. They suggested talking to a criminal investigator, but I was too scared.
Laura Gauld [President of Hyde School, daughter in law of Hyde School founder Joe Gauld] tried to be as nice as she could in this situation, but made a bigger deal out of my using and drinking than she did about the actual rapes. I told her that I felt driven to use more to disassociate and numb from my trauma, and she reminded me that if I did, I'd get kicked out or sent to addiction treatment. I asked if there was anything I could do to help me process this trauma and she said she would get me treatment for that. She never did. A month later I was sent to a drug rehabilitation center because I had been using again to numb the pain.
The boys who raped me had known I was drunk that night, and they were sober. In response to this event, the school expelled one of them, an 18 year old who had also just been suspended for getting arrested for stealing in Bath. After being expelled, he started more drama about the event from home by making up rumors and insisting I was lying. The other boy who had raped me was closer to me, and he felt bad and apologized, although he said he didn't think it was rape. The school suspended him for the weekend, which meant he was sent home for a couple days to his parents' house nearby. The third guy who tried to have sex with me denied everything and turned all of the guys at the school against me. He was not punished or reprimanded for this, to my knowledge. I even had a boyfriend at the time, and all the guys had known that I would never cheat on him.
For the remainder of my time there, I was victim-shamed by my whole grade and school and everyone repeatedly told me I was lying. I felt very unsafe on campus, and like the violation of my body meant nothing. I felt powerless, ashamed, and like my body was worthless. It seemed like Laura Gauld only cared for the parents and hated dealing with students. She never really tried helping me through my pain, and was more concerned about getting me to stop using substances than helping me address the causes of my using. The school didn't inform the police. They punished the boys, but one got off very lightly, and the other had already been on his way out anyway. The third wasn't punished at all. The faculty and head figures of Hyde did not even acknowledge, let alone address, the toxic social atmosphere that followed the event - the victim blaming, the rumor starting, the active discrediting of the victim (me), the concept of consent which had been horribly violated, or the misogyny and rape-culture that is highly normalized and pervasive at Hyde School. As a response to all of this, I struggled with low self-esteem and hypersexuality. I am still struggling to come to terms with this trauma, grief, and shame.
This is my story. I am breaking code silence.
Original post: Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/p/COb6-MSD118/Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/103975015144847/posts/110396407836041/?d=nName has been changed to protect the survivor.
Key words: rape molestation abuse abused abusive kids teens Troubled cover up complaints sexual assault Hyde School Bath Maine Woodstock joe gauld Malcolm gauld laura gauld Hurd Macmillan neglect character 