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are we brave enough? re: Inexcusable
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From: Tattercoat_at_aol.com <Tattercoat>
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 14:19:18 EDT
Kudos to you, Carolyn G. You've been courageous in speaking out about sexual assault and I'm glad you were able to change the policies at that health center. You've raised an important question about readers who bring a history of trauma to a book like INEXCUSABLE (which I haven't read yet, so it is impossible for me to make a fair statement about the book, only to respond in general to the consideration you raise).
When I speak publicly about sexual abuse and healing--and I speak as a survivor as well as an author--I am always aware that my audience most likely includes survivors as well as people new to the subject, and may well include offenders and people experiencing ongoing abuse. In writing STRONG AT THE HEART, which looks at the ways different people heal from rape and sexual abuse, reader response was of course very much on my mind.
I think the very best we can do as writers is to tell our truth with as much honesty and depth as we can. We give readers our very best, knowing that they will bring to our work their different selves, their different needs, moods, and abilities. They may simply put down our book and say, "This isn't for me" or "I can't cope with this." They may devour our words and come away changed by the experience. Far more survivors of trauma have been helped by reading than harmed by it. We have to trust the reader.
The truth is, teens are being raped by teens. If a book explores the mental and emotional world of a youthful offender and provides insights that might make a potential rapist examine him- or herself more deeply, then I say Halleluiah! It could--if handled well--give the rest of us insight, too, so that we can recognize the thinking of offenders and perhaps understand better that a
"nice guy" really can do "something like that."
Maia once asked on this list serve, "Do we have the courage to look at the world through the eyes of the children of criminals?" (I am paraphrasing here.) I think it takes even greater courage to look through the eyes of a youthful offender. But if we dare to look and dare to think about it, we might come away with a better understanding of why rape happens and how we might better prevent it.
Carolyn Carolyn Lehman STRONG AT THE HEART How It Feels to Heal from Sexual Abuse (FSG, 11/05)
Received on Tue 26 Jul 2005 01:19:18 PM CDT
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 14:19:18 EDT
Kudos to you, Carolyn G. You've been courageous in speaking out about sexual assault and I'm glad you were able to change the policies at that health center. You've raised an important question about readers who bring a history of trauma to a book like INEXCUSABLE (which I haven't read yet, so it is impossible for me to make a fair statement about the book, only to respond in general to the consideration you raise).
When I speak publicly about sexual abuse and healing--and I speak as a survivor as well as an author--I am always aware that my audience most likely includes survivors as well as people new to the subject, and may well include offenders and people experiencing ongoing abuse. In writing STRONG AT THE HEART, which looks at the ways different people heal from rape and sexual abuse, reader response was of course very much on my mind.
I think the very best we can do as writers is to tell our truth with as much honesty and depth as we can. We give readers our very best, knowing that they will bring to our work their different selves, their different needs, moods, and abilities. They may simply put down our book and say, "This isn't for me" or "I can't cope with this." They may devour our words and come away changed by the experience. Far more survivors of trauma have been helped by reading than harmed by it. We have to trust the reader.
The truth is, teens are being raped by teens. If a book explores the mental and emotional world of a youthful offender and provides insights that might make a potential rapist examine him- or herself more deeply, then I say Halleluiah! It could--if handled well--give the rest of us insight, too, so that we can recognize the thinking of offenders and perhaps understand better that a
"nice guy" really can do "something like that."
Maia once asked on this list serve, "Do we have the courage to look at the world through the eyes of the children of criminals?" (I am paraphrasing here.) I think it takes even greater courage to look through the eyes of a youthful offender. But if we dare to look and dare to think about it, we might come away with a better understanding of why rape happens and how we might better prevent it.
Carolyn Carolyn Lehman STRONG AT THE HEART How It Feels to Heal from Sexual Abuse (FSG, 11/05)
Received on Tue 26 Jul 2005 01:19:18 PM CDT
