WFMY News
6.8.16

DANVILLE, VA- A Danville teenager is taking a stand against the way rape victims are viewed.

"Once it happens to someone you love, it just hits really hard," Mae Gayle Dalton said.

Dalton, 17, said her close friend was sexually assaulted a few years ago.

"It was very tough on her," she said.

So since then, Dalton has made it her mission to change the way people think about rape.

"A lot of times victims are blamed and that's not the way it should be," Dalton said.

Dalton has been a Girl Scout for 12 years. She's working to earn the Gold Award, the highest honor a Girl Scout can achieve.

To do so, she started the "End R A P E Culture and Victim Blaming" campaign, using Facebook, flyers, pins and her voice to spread her message.

"Maybe instead of teaching us how not to be raped, we should teach the perpetrator not to rape," Dalton read from a speech she wrote.

That speech, initially read in a forensics class, has earned Dalton recognition at the district, regional and state levels.

Now, Dalton reads it at local rotary clubs.

"You just gotta change minds," Dalton said. "I'm a very passionate person, you gotta keep going."

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