April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and at Sierra Community House this month always calls us to pause. It is a time to recognize survivors, reflect on prevention, and think about how we show up for one another as a community.
This year, our internal SAAM Committee is inviting you to read alongside us.
Conversations about sexual violence can be hard to start. Books help. They give us language, perspective, and a deeper understanding of how culture, consent, and power intersect. Reading stories and lived experiences builds empathy and helps us better support survivors in our community.
Here is what we are reading this April — and we would love for you to join us:
Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture edited by Roxane Gay: A collection of personal essays that explores how rape culture shows up in everyday life. The stories are honest, validating, and thought-provoking, challenging us to examine what we normalize and why.
Chosen: A Memoir of Stolen Boyhood by Stephen Mills: A deeply personal and honest memoir about the author's experience of sexual abuse as a child and the long journey toward healing. Mills writes with clarity and courage, breaking through the silence and stigma that often surround male survivors. This book offers insight into the emotional and cultural barriers many men face and encourages readers to expand their understanding of sexual violence and what real support looks like.
The Round House by Louise Erdrich: This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel follows a thirteen-year-old boy on a North Dakota reservation who watches his mother survive a brutal sexual assault and then watches the legal system fail her. Erdrich tells this story with tremendous heart, but doesn't look away from the hard truth that for many survivors, barriers to justice are not just personal but structural. We chose this book because it pushes us to think beyond our own context and ask who our systems are designed to protect, and who they leave behind.
Women Talking by Miriam Toews (also available in Spanish): Based on true events, this novel centers a group of women in an isolated religious colony who have been systematically assaulted by men in their community. Over two days, they gather in secret to decide: stay and forgive, stay and fight, or leave. Toews turns that conversation into something profound — a testament to collective survival and moral courage. We chose this book because it reminds us that healing and justice are not individual journeys. They are communal ones.
We invite you to choose one book and read at your own pace during April. We would love to hear what you are reading — share with us on social media or reach out and let us know.
Some of these books include difficult content. Please take care of yourself as you read. If you or someone you know needs support, our confidential advocacy team at Sierra Community House is here to help. Reach out to us anytime.
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