Summary

In essay 14, “The Guardians,” Chee revealed the circumstances of his childhood sexual assault. The memory came back to him after 25 years, in 2004, when he was living in New York and teaching at Wesleyan, his alma mater. Chee was also seeing a young man who had recently graduated from Wesleyan, who had previously been a student of his (Chee insisted on waiting until his graduation to begin a relationship). One night, the young man abruptly ended their courtship. Chee eventually came to understand that this was because “his desire for men brought back memories and sensations he didn’t want,” something that had happened to him at this young man’s own age (225). Chee had previously claimed that his own experience with sexual assault hadn’t been particularly harmful or difficult for him to process, a claim he later came to understand as radically...