There was an event in the Brooklyn Bridge anchorage years ago and as I recall there was a tree. People were invited to hang a card acknowledging a person who had been raped or sexually assaulted and what the relationship was between the victim and the person filling out the card. The tree was completely covered. Kind of like the most horrifying Christmas tree ever. So many of those cards said My Sister. There was no hearsay. Every writer was an intimate of every victim, which points to how close you are, in any situation, to a victim, whether you know it or not.
It’s just so common and so willfully unacknowledged despite every voice, yours included, trying to wake up a country, an entire world, that is utterly convinced of its own inherent superiority spurred on by pushback from supporters of various powerful people that it’s all a blackmailing hoax. It’s pathological. I feel like the male instinct is very strong; even defining, but it’s used by sociopaths and psychopaths alike to connect to a broad base of males that doesn’t want to see. Plain and simple, doesn’t want to see.
Thanks for these thoughts. I think your male persective is so important because the damage caused is both to the female victims and also entire families and communities. As we see in the story of Alice Munro, so many people are unable to find healing in their small family and that pain radiates outward.
I wish these stories were the exception, but they aren't. I, too, experienced sexual abuse and all because someone wanted my body for their pleasure. To stay true to myself, I wrote a memoir and have found healing in the writing.
Thank you for sharing your story in addition to Alice Munro's.
brave ♥️ ty for sharing
Thanks for reading and for your support!
There was an event in the Brooklyn Bridge anchorage years ago and as I recall there was a tree. People were invited to hang a card acknowledging a person who had been raped or sexually assaulted and what the relationship was between the victim and the person filling out the card. The tree was completely covered. Kind of like the most horrifying Christmas tree ever. So many of those cards said My Sister. There was no hearsay. Every writer was an intimate of every victim, which points to how close you are, in any situation, to a victim, whether you know it or not.
It’s just so common and so willfully unacknowledged despite every voice, yours included, trying to wake up a country, an entire world, that is utterly convinced of its own inherent superiority spurred on by pushback from supporters of various powerful people that it’s all a blackmailing hoax. It’s pathological. I feel like the male instinct is very strong; even defining, but it’s used by sociopaths and psychopaths alike to connect to a broad base of males that doesn’t want to see. Plain and simple, doesn’t want to see.
Thanks for these thoughts. I think your male persective is so important because the damage caused is both to the female victims and also entire families and communities. As we see in the story of Alice Munro, so many people are unable to find healing in their small family and that pain radiates outward.
Thank you, Julie. For sharing and reflecting on a painful, fathomless revelation.
We may never understand Munro's choice. Thank you for reading!
I wish these stories were the exception, but they aren't. I, too, experienced sexual abuse and all because someone wanted my body for their pleasure. To stay true to myself, I wrote a memoir and have found healing in the writing.
Thank you for sharing your story in addition to Alice Munro's.
And thank you for your support!
Love the last line, a very thoughtful piece.
Thank you so much Alice. I really appreciate your response.