TENNESSEE
Tennessean
Andy Humbles, ahumbles@tennessean.com April 16, 2016
Lebanon’s Courtney Greene acknowledges she is still very much a work in progress.
After a period of sexual abuse committed by her youth pastor that stretched over a year when she was a high school teenager, Greene, now 20, is celebrating “little victories” as she continues to put her life back together.
“I didn’t know what had happened because no one talks about it,” Greene said. “I always thought if someone found out I would be the one in trouble. I firmly believed that.”
The Tennessean generally doesn’t identify the victims of sexual abuse, but Greene came forward as a survivor wanting to speak out, hoping her story can help the estimated 68 percent of sexual assault victims who never report the crime to police.
“Sexual assault is a crime of secrecy, which results in a lot of shame and self-blame,” said Cameron Clark, sexual assault training specialist and clinical therapist at the Sexual Assault Center in Nashville. “We also know sexual assault isn’t a crime about sex. It’s about power and control.”
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