Author: Ellen Sweet

Ellen Sweet held various executive positions in nonprofit communications for more than 15 years, most recently as Vice President for External Affairs at Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health. She was also Communications Director at the Center for Reproductive Rights, Vice President of Public Affairs at the International Women’s Health Coalition, and Communications Director at the Vera Institute of Justice. Prior to that, she worked for many years on staff and as a freelancer at national magazines including Ms. Magazine, where she served as senior editor and writer from 1980-1988. She has a BA from Smith College and an MAT from Yale University. She is currently volunteering her time for Girls Write Now, a New York nonprofit that pairs aspiring high school writers with professional writers as mentors.

Date Rape: The Story of an Epidemic and Those Who Deny It

Date rape is one of the most underreported crimes on college campuses. So much silence surrounds this kind of crime that many women are not even aware that they have been raped. In 1985, Ms. conducted a three-year study among college-aged women to learn more about their experiences.

(For more ground-breaking stories like this, order 50 YEARS OF Ms.: THE BEST OF THE PATHFINDING MAGAZINE THAT IGNITED A REVOLUTION (Alfred A. Knopf)—a collection of the most audacious, norm-breaking coverage Ms. has published.)