Free eBooks Dear Sister: Letters From Survivors Of Sexual Violence Available To Downloads
Dear Sister,It wasn't your fault; it was never your fault. You did nothing wrong. Hold this tight to your heart: it wasn't your fault.At night when you lay there and your mind fills with images and you wonder if only, if you had . . . if you hadn't . . . . Remember: it wasn't your fault.In Oakland, California on March 24, 2015 a fire destroyed the AK Press warehouse along with several other businesses. Please consider visiting the AK Press website to learn more about the fundraiser to help them and their neighbors.Dear Sister shares the lessons, memories, and vision of over fifty artists, activists, mothers, writers, and students who share their stories of survival or what it means to be an advocate and ally to survivors. Written in an epistolary format, this multi-generational, multi-ethnic collection of letters and essays is a moving journey into the hearts and minds of the survivors of rape, incest, and other forms of sexual violence, written directly to and for other survivors.Dear Sister goes far beyond traditional books about healing, which often use "experts" to explain the experience of survivors for the rest of the world. Where other books about rape weave the voices of feminists and activists together and imagine what a world without violence might look like, Dear Sister describes the reality of what the world looks like through the eyes of a survivor. From a professor in the Midwest to a poet in Belgium, an escapee from a child prostitution ring, a survivor advocate in the Congo, and a sex worker in San Francisco, Dear Sister touches on issues of feminism, love, disability, gender, justice, identity, and spirituality.Praise for Dear Sister:"This chilling, heartbreaking, and necessary collection consists of letters from 40 artists, activists, writers, and students, who are survivors of sexual assault and here offer counsel to 'sister' survivors. Every story is shadowed by the teller’s sense of shame, brokenness, depression, and pain, but at the same time, in anticipation of the addressees’ experience of sexual assault, the letters also offer comfort, solidarity, reassurance, the possibility of healing, and testimony of survival."—Publishers Weekly"There is nothing on earth more changeful than telling our stories honestly, and listening to the stories of others with an open heart. That's especially true for survivors of sexualized violence who've been silenced by shame. These 50 brave Letters from Survivors of Sexual Violence will open floodgates of memory, expose body-invasion as the most traumatic of crimes, and show victimizers the roots and damage of their acts. I'm very grateful to Lisa Factora-Borchers for editing this book, to Aishah Shahida Simmons whose foreword sets a high bar of honesty, and to all the voices in it. I think you will be, too."—Gloria SteinemLisa Factora-Borchers is a Filipina writer and editor whose work has been published in make/shift, Bitch, Left Turn, and Critical Moment.Contributors: Aaminah Shakur, Adrienne Maree Brown, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Allison McCarthy, Amita Y. Swadhin, Amy Ernst, Ana Heaton, Andrea Harris, Angel Propps, anna Saini, Anne Averyt, annu Saini, Ashley Burczak, brownfemipower, Brooke Benoit, Denise Santomauro, Desire Vincent, Dorla Harris, "Harriet J.", Indira Allegra, Isabella Gitana-Woolf, Joan Chen, Judith Stevenson, Juliet November, Kathleen Ahern, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Marianne Kirby, Maroula Blades, Mary Zelinka, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Melissa Dey Hasbrook, Melissa G., Mia Mingus, Michelle Ovalle, Premala Matthen, Rebecca Echeverria, Renee Martin, River Willow Fagan, Sara Durnan, Sarah M. Cash, Shala Bennett, Shanna Katz, Sofia Rose Smith, Sumayyah Talibah, Sydette Harry, Birdy, Viannah E. Duncan, and Zöe Flowers.
Paperback: 178 pages
Publisher: AK Press (February 25, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1849351724
ISBN-13: 978-1849351720
Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 4.8 x 7.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #918,186 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #242 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Sociology > Abuse #922 in Books > Self-Help > Abuse #1337 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Anthologies
Though this book was written by and for women who have survived heteropatriarchal rape culture, I nevertheless found this book to be extremely beneficial to my own healing process as a gay male survivor of domestic violence and sexual assault. As somebody who reads a lot of feminist anthologies, I can honestly say that this is the one of the best I've read in a while and one of the most important. The essays in this book are powerful, heartfelt, and wise and I encourage anyone who has survived male sexual violence to read this book. With International Women's Day (March 8th) just around the corner, I would also recommend buying a copy of this book as a gift to your closest female friends and family members. In conclusion, let me just say thank you to all of the brave women who contributed essays in this life-changing anthology for sharing your difficult experiences of sexual trauma, healing, and resistance and thank you to AK Press for making sure that these voices get heard.
I don't normally write reviews but for anyone struggling with being a survivor of sexual abuse I Highly recommend this book. It is written in a way that lets us all know we are not only not alone but we are connected and supported. It has been a wonderful help and one that I re'read when ever I am feeling down or overwhelmed by my thought's.
This book is a collection of letters, essays, and poems, written by survivors of sexual violence, to help encourage and support other survivors.Obviously, this was a difficult book to read. Often the most difficult works are the most important ones, and I think this is clearly the case with this book. I admire the love, strength, and support that these authors have given to their sister survivors. It was not a book I could sit down and read cover to cover in one sitting. The subject matter is heavy, and intense. However, as soon as I was finished, I was so thankful to have read it.
Not for everyone, but for WHO IT IS FOR ...... this is a wonderful book! Some of the stories are very intense, but they are meant to help someone who has survived sexual abuse or violence. And that is intense ..... but reader please be aware that this is not a "fluffy I hope you get well" book. It is a compilation of letters from actual survivors and their unique and individual stories. Some of the stories are strong and intense, and the authors themselves are healing their own abuse and are also healing from having shared their stories with you.The stories are arranged into five separate sections. This to me is the brilliance of this book. I believe that this was done specifically in this way to help a person through the unique psychological steps they will actually need to go through to create deeper and more progressive healing on their path to recover from the trauma. And each of the personal stories is uniquely about that section ...... even if it wasn't written FOR that section, it works. It is nicely done.These are the sections:1 - What Every Survivor Need to Know2 - A Child Re-members3 - From Trauma to Strength4 - Radical Companionship5 - Choose Your Own AdventureI found this book wonderfully empowering and beautifully done. If you know of someone who has survived abuse, this would be a great companion for them to have. It is a project done with love and awareness. And it will help that individual with the process it takes to heal from abuse and neglect to faith and forgiveness.
How do you write a review for something like this? As someone who has gone through sexual violence within her life, I tend to pay attention to new books that come out focusing on that subject. I have read ones that hurt, ones that helped, and ones that made me more angry than anything else. Some I've felt needed to be in my classroom library because I know that there are more teens within my classroom that could learn from it than would ever be admitted to me.Dear sister is slightly different than a lot of what is out there. This contains letters, as well as art, and poetry that tell tales of others abuse and also give some comfort that people are healing from those traumas. I really liked that it was not an advice type book. There was no "one solution" type thing given. This is a book to offer knowledge, comfort, and hope for survival and healing.
powerful stories. I work at a university-based women's center and have shared some stories with collages I work with to help them understand the experience of survivors of sexual assault... other stories will be really helpful to share with survivors themselves. It has helped shape and inform the work I do.
This is a must read for any professional who works with survivors of sexual violence, including non-mental health professionals who care for adults and children and are regularly frustrated by their "challenging" patients who have multiple medical problems, have difficulty following medical advice, or continue to engage in activities that often place their health in greater risk. The voices of the survivors presented in this anthology give raw and accessible insight to many of the unique experiences and ongoing realities of those impacted.
Dear Sister: Letters From Survivors of Sexual Violence The Sexual Healing Journey: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse, 3rd Edition Counselling Skills for Working with Trauma: Healing From Child Sexual Abuse, Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse (Essential Skills for Counselling) Oh Sister, My Sister Big Sister, Little Sister Big Sister and Little Sister To My Sister: A Gift of Love and Inspiration to Thank You for Being My Sister Dear Asshole: 101 Tear-Out Letters to the Morons Who Muck Up Your Life Querida Dra. Polo: Las cartas secretas de 'Caso Cerrado' (Dear Dr. Polo: The Secret Letters of 'Caso Cerrado') The Power to Break Free Workbook: For Victims & Survivors of Domestic Violence Recovering from Sexual Abuse, Addictions, and Compulsive Behaviors: “Numb” Survivors The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, 20th Anniversary Edition The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse The Courage to Heal Workbook: A Guide for Women and Men Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse Everyday Revolutionaries: Gender, Violence, and Disillusionment in Postwar El Salvador (Genocide, Political Violence, Human Rights) The Batterer as Parent: Addressing the Impact of Domestic Violence on Family Dynamics (SAGE Series on Violence against Women) Meditations on Violence: A Comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence Crimes against Children: Sexual Violence and Legal Culture in New York City, 1880-1960 (Studies in Legal History) The Comfort Women: Sexual Violence and Postcolonial Memory in Korea and Japan (Worlds of Desire: The Chicago Series on Sexuality, Gender, and Culture) The Beginning and End of Rape: Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America
