She is the Real Deal. All credit to her internal sense of self, and I also give credit to her parents for getting what was seems to have been excellent therapy. She is clearly in charge of herself and her boundaries. Better than I am.

To speak out against anything BYU-related is incredibly bold and courageous for a Mormon, especially a Mormon woman. Good on her for maintaining her faith, yet calling it to task when it's necessary.

I think she still considers herself Mormon and identifies with the church, she just also acknowledges the ways it fucked her up and may have kept her from escaping earlier.

I had to wear swim caps at summer camp and those plastic ones were TERRIBLE. They only somewhat kept your hair dry, but mostly pulled your hair out every time you took it off. We all ended up using the new cloth swim caps. Your hair would still be soaked, but I guess the cap kept any river bugs or leaves out of your…

Nope, sorry, it’s ALL about the BAMF on the far-left smoking a cigarette in the pool. For the fucking win! THAT is how you do swimming, gurl.

Query: is the only point of swim caps to keep your hair unmermaid-like?

i also really respect - as a fellow ex-mormon - that she doesn’t shy away from saying that the church fucked her up. i like that she calls out specific behaviors and dialogues and people who told her the wrong things. i’m impressed she does it with as much gentleness and dignity as she does.

Sign me up for the swim jewelry, too. Cigarette optional.

I think the sic is the author of this article indicating that it was misspelled in the Deseret News article.

idk how she bounced back from the horror she dealt with. its pretty miraculous. she's heroic.

Forgive me if I’ve mentioned this here before, but: I met her once, briefly, and not only is she an amazing human being, but she’s the only person I’ve ever seen in real life with a radiance around her, like she stepped out of a Renaissance painting of a saint or something.

Utah is where old weird British accents, much reduced today thanks to radio and television, went. Older Utahns say “fark” for “fork”; this probably is because a very large portion of 19th-century Mormon converts were from North Yorkshire—pronounced by locals as “Narth Yarkshire.”

Aimee, I’m in the greys, which is okay with me in general. But because people won’t probably read this, would you consider putting a link to both the BYU Code of Conduct for victims reporting rape as well as a link to the petition to your story? I didn’t know what that last paragraph requesting “limited amnesty” for…

I love that she is using her experience to comment and constructively criticize the rape culture we have all around us. She is SO bright and thoughtful, and I really am inspired by the way she took something so terrible in her life and is using it to help other people. I believe she can make a difference in the way…

It seems weird to me to give a sic to “premedidated” rather than just assuming that what was heard as a d was actually a t?

I admire Elizabeth Smart so much for all the advocating she does for women and girls who have been raped. She's a strong woman.

THIS. This makes me feel so proud. I have lived in Utah all my life, and remember vividly when Smart was abducted. I don’t know her, but she was in my sisters grade at school. I am so proud of the woman she has become. I am so glad to see her lending her voice to the situation at BYU. Fuck yeah Elizabeth.

I respect her so much. She has some very biting things to say about purity culture in general and it is wonderful.

Keep fucking rocking, Elizabeth Smart! That’s all I’ve got. I have no snark or cynicism to give. Just keep being an amazing human being.

let the record show that I have never heard of “snickers salad” but my teeth hurt just thinking about it.