but there’s one song that I can’t bear to hear: Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U." Hauntingly beautiful, it was a huge hit in 1990, playing on the radio constantly when I was a freshman at Michigan State University. And that’s why I can’t stand hearing it. Because it takes me right back to the traumatic event that happened to me that year, when I was raped by another student. 

At first, I didn’t tell anyone. Not my friends, my siblings, my parents—no one. I felt ashamed, even though I hadn’t done anything wrong. The assault rocked my sense of the world and my place in it. And I was terrified that I might be pregnant with my attacker’s baby. Read Gretchen's inspiring Story...