Sexual Assault Awareness Doesn’t Stop in April: A Reading List for Healing, Learning, and Escapism

Sexual Assault Awareness Month can bring up a lot of emotions: Grief, anger, reflection, or even a quiet realization that something needs to shift. For some, it creates language where there weren’t any before. For others, it can mark the beginning of healing, deeper self-understanding, or a stronger connection to community.

On April 25th, we gathered for Walk In Their Shoes—a day centered on support, visibility, and standing together against sexual violence. Through shared space, conversation, and collective movement, we were reminded that this work is not done alone.

But it also doesn’t end when April does.

If you’re looking for ways to continue that journey, this reading list is here to meet you where you are. Whether you’re unpacking relationship patterns, questioning what you were taught, challenging harmful narratives, or simply needing something softer to hold onto, there is something here for you.

Take what resonates. Leave what doesn’t. Come back when you need it.

IF YOU'RE UNPACKING WHAT HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP LOOKS LIKE

You Can Heal Your Life — Louise Hay

A foundational self-help book centered on the idea that our thoughts shape our reality. It encourages readers to identify and release negative belief patterns, replacing them with self-compassion, affirmation, and a deeper sense of self-worth.

Hold Me Tight — Sue Johnson

Rooted in attachment science, this book explores how emotional responsiveness and vulnerability create secure, lasting bonds. It offers a roadmap for building trust and connection in relationships through honest communication.

All About Love — bell hooks A powerful redefinition of love that shifts it from a feeling to an intentional practice. It emphasizes care, accountability, self-awareness, and challenges many of the harmful ideas we’ve been taught about love.

All About Love — Bell Hooks

A powerful redefinition of love that shifts it from a feeling to an intentional practice. It emphasizes care, accountability, self-awareness, and challenges many of the harmful ideas we’ve been taught about love.

IF YOU'RE UNPACKING WHAT YOU WERE TAUGHT GROWING UP

Pure — Linda Kay Klein

An in-depth look at purity culture and how it shapes identity, shame, and relationships long into adulthood. It creates space for readers to process religious messaging and begin separating belief from harm. (TW: purity culture, religious trauma)

Girls & Sex — Peggy Orenstein

Through research and interviews, this book examines how young women are socialized around sex, desire, and silence. It sheds light on the pressures and contradictions many navigate without guidance or language. (TW: sexual coercion, assault themes)

Sex Object — Jessica Valenti

A collection of personal essays that captures what it means to grow up being viewed through a lens of objectification. It’s direct, validating, and highlights how normalized these experiences can become. (TW: misogyny, harassment)

IF YOU WANT TO CHALLENGE HARMFUL NARRATIVES AND EXPLORE NEW REALITIES

Nobody’s Victim — Carrie Goldberg

A survivor-centered guide that blends legal insight with empowerment. It helps readers recognize abuse, understand their rights, and reclaim a sense of control in situations that often feel disempowered. (TW: abuse, harassment, sexual violence)

Whatever Gets You Through — edited by Jen Sookfong Lee

A collection of essays that explores life after trauma from many different perspectives. It doesn’t offer a single definition of healing—instead, it honors the complexity and individuality of moving forward. (TW: sexual assault, trauma)

Know My Name — Chanel Miller

A memoir that centers identity, voice, and reclaiming self after sexual assault. It moves beyond headlines and into the deep human experience of survival and resilience. (TW: sexual assault, legal trauma)

IF YOU'RE A TEEN TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF YOUR EXPERIENCES

The Perks of Being a Wallflower — Stephen Chbosky

A coming-of-age story that explores friendship, mental health, and the quiet ways trauma can shape how we see ourselves and the world.

Eliza and Her Monsters — Francesca Zappia

A story about identity, anxiety, and finding connection in both online and real-life spaces. It speaks to the experience of feeling unseen—and the process of opening up.

Speak — Laurie Halse Anderson

A powerful novel about silence after trauma and the slow, difficult journey of reclaiming your voice.

IF YOU'RE IN NEED OF A LITTLE HOPE - OR MAGIC

The Midnight Library — Matt Haig

A reflective and imaginative story about second chances and the many lives we could have lived. It gently explores regret, choice, and what it means to keep going.

Pet — Akwaeke Emezi

A unique and thought-provoking novel that blends fantasy with deeper questions about justice, truth, and what it means to be safe in a community.

Circe — Madeline Miller

A myth retold through themes of power, transformation, and autonomy, this novel reimagines the life of the witch Circe as she carves out her own identity apart from gods and men. Through exile, love, and loss, she learns to claim her voice and redefine what it means to belong, challenging the constraints placed on her and embracing the full complexity of her strength.

Healing doesn’t look one way. It doesn’t follow a timeline, and it doesn’t end because a month does.

If anything, this is just a starting point.