Politics

Resources for survivors

As I did in the comment thread, I thank Mobius for his posting about Gafni and Jewish leaders responses to the issue of sexual violence, assault and abuse in Jewish communities.
What I realized as I crawled into bed late (and I do mean too damn late) last night, is that for many reading these threads, conversations about rape and sexual assault and abuse can be very triggering, and that we have not done our work in entirety if we do not provide at least a few links/resources for people to go.
So I encourage folks to add more resources in the commentary thread, as I post a few before running off to the Personal Democracy Forum early this am:
I have to first give a shout out to one of my favorite organizations, Generation Five whose mission is “to end sexual abuse within five generations. Through survivor leadership, community organizing and public action, Gen 5 works to interrupt and mend the intergenerational impact of child abuse on individuals, families and communities.
If you google, you’ll find a number of organizations that provide services, including San Francisco Women Against Rape, National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs which has a great list of orgs throughout the country that work specifically with LGBT communities, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network , the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and the National Organization on Male Sexual Victimization. This issue crosses all genders and sexualities, and we need to speak out on the impact of rape, sexual assault and abuse on women, men and transgender people.
Finally, I’d be remiss in not adding a few resources including: Beginning to Heal: A First Book for Survivors of Sexual Abuse, by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis (HarperCollins, 1993); Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis (Harper and Row, 1988, 1994); The Survivor’s Guide to Sex: How to Have an Empowered Sex Life after Child Sexual Abuse, by Staci Haines (Cleis Press, 1999); and Healing Sex: The Complete Guide to Sexual Wholeness.
For more resources, start here

7 thoughts on “Resources for survivors

  1. I appreciated Cole Krawitz’ commitment and concern for the trigger factor that may be effected by all the discussion on the current sexual abuse scandal.
    I found it interesting, however, that in our generally numbed out world, there seemed to be no association to the overt sexual innuendo posed by the DailyJews.com ad, running right along side Cole’s sensitivity, with two sweeties – blonde and brunette, to ensure a sense of Jewish variety – saying: “We know what you want ” and “Get it on with us”.
    I realize that man (and I mean man) has a responsibility to tame his inner beast. But if we’re honest, we should take some responsibility for the messages we’re putting out there, in general.
    Point: I found it ironic. Perhaps we should take note of our own meshugas when it comes to this realm.

  2. Thank you for posting these resources.
    I just wanted to point out that “The Courage to Heal” is a highly controversial book that has often been thought to do more harm to survivors than good. It is also the book that started the outburst of people recovering repressed memories of being abused, often by insinuating that if you dont know why you are depressed or have had failed relationships it must be because you have experienced abuse so terrible you have repressed it.
    The hotlines are usually excellent, and can provide good instant counselling as well as referals to a permanent counselor.

  3. For important Jewish resources see the links at http://jsafe.org/links.htm and http://jsafe.org/resources.htm. There are important article on such issues as lashon hara, reporting to the ciivl authorities, sexual ause and forgiveness (all from halachic perspectives. See the FaithTrust Institute resources at http://faithtrustinstitute.org/index.php?p=Jewish_Resources&s=40 and JWI material at jwi.org for information about books , videos and curricula geared to the Jewish community.

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