We are worthy of love and belonging right now, exactly as we are this minute. We are so beautiful, our efforts magnificent, our survival a celebration.
Category: Survivors speak
Narrative Erasure is Violence: Dave Boshart Appointed President of AMBS
We want to know what happened in the course of AMBS’s work with FaithTrust Institute. We want to know why the press release says nothing about this work.
Brought Into the Sun: Speaking Truth to Mennonite Colleges
Dear readers who care about Mennonite colleges, what happens next is largely up to you.
On Whose Backs?: Why We Oppose the Selection of David Boshart as President of Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary
Hilary's successful process with AMBS must not be co-opted into an institutional narrative that erases the trauma of other survivors, that asserts a false peace while silent suffering continues, and that elevates Hilary as a chosen survivor on the backs of people who do not fall within Dave's narrow-minded understanding of the body of Christ.
Victim or Survivor: Respecting Our Choices
Labeling a victim as "powerless" and a survivor as someone who has more “power from within” is a way to pit victims and survivors against each other so that the church can control the narrative about sexual violence.
Sexual abuse in Plain Anabaptist Churches: An Interview with Rosemarie Miller
Rosemarie Miller talks to Stephanie Krehbiel about the prevalence child sexual abuse in Plain Mennonite, Amish, and other conservative Anabaptist communities.
Surviving R. Kelly and My Moment of Realization: When naming your assault takes time
It's taken me seventeen years to identity this as an abusive encounter and I'm going to have to sit with that reality because it's all so fresh.
You are where you need to be
If we truly wish to help someone who has experienced sexual violence, then we need to come into their circle, not expect them to come into ours.
Institutionalized voyeurism, Kavanaugh, and linear narratives
When we shift from understanding rape and sexual violence as scandal to what it actually is, violence, we also shift our attention from linear narratives to cyclical narratives of impact.
Jay’s Story (Education is Power, Part III)
When I sketched out the shape of our Education is Power series, I envisioned a three-part release of informative articles that could help people understand what is at stake for sexual violence survivors in an attack on Title IX. That was back in July. I had it planned out so neatly. And then the news … Continue reading Jay’s Story (Education is Power, Part III)