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CREATING JUSTICE THROUGH SPEAKING

10/4/2018

 
CREATING JUSTICE THROUGH SPEAKING
 
Kathleen Hoy Foley
 
Played out on the world stage, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford detailed graphic facts of the sexual violence she was subjected to as a teenager by a drunken Brett Kavanaugh.  Dr. Ford’s testimony was riveting and painful to hear as listeners absorbed the profound level of her silenced agony.  Her anguished story generated inescapable flashbacks of personal horror for countless victims of sexual violence, myself included.
 
Retaliation did not take long.  The power mongers–the most powerful men in this country, perhaps the world–descended upon this one lone woman with all the artillery in their war chest and annihilated her like a wounded bird under their jackboots.  Powerful men wield powerful weapons: explosive fury.  Ridicule and mockery.   Brutal accusations of a corrupted memory.  Allegations of conspiracy aimed to strip a powerful man of his privilege to ascend to the throne of power.
 
Sexual assault is committed in the shadows by the powerful against the vulnerable, the powerless, and the subjugated.  It is tremendously difficult for a victim to produce corroborating evidence.  Social, religious and familial justice is simply not available to the vulnerable, the powerless, or the subjugated.  The shielded crime of sexual assault will always come to rest at the feet of the willfully blind.  The trump card carried by all aggressors is the comforting knowledge that most victims of sexual violence will never be believed.
 
Social, religious and familial justice may not be available to victims of sexual violence, but speaking is.  Through speaking we can create our own justice.  Speaking is educating.  Education empowers. 
 
We can teach following our intuition over blindly following the commands of the powerful.  We can show how to develop courage and how to utilize anger and frustration as tools for truth, evolution, and empowerment instead of allowing our frustration to immobilize us into helplessness. 
 
Speaking truth–no matter the consequences–empowers us with courage to live fully in the light of our integrity and move with confidence toward clarity.  Speaking empowers our children with the might of their own truth and to speak without shame no matter the details.  Speaking is the path to creating justice.
 
Thank you, Dr. Ford.
 
(Excerpt)
Woman In Hiding: A True Tale of Backdoor Abuse, Dark Secrets & Other Evil Deeds
By Kathleen Hoy Foley
 
To every victim of sexual abuse–past and present:
 
Your story is vitally important.
 
Your voice of truth is beautiful.
 
Each time you speak you grow stronger.
 
Each time you speak you chase away more of the darkness
where broken girls, dispirited women, and terrified children hide.
 
Each time you speak you ease the burden and illuminate the way for another victim.
 
Each time you speak, the shame of sexual violation is lessened.
 
Each time you speak you help another abuse victim fine her voice.
​

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    About the Author

    In the provocative spirit of Matilda Joslyn Gage, Gloria Anzaldua, and Mary Daly, Kathleen Hoy Foley expands and deepens the voice of female experience.

    Raw. Uncompromising. Compassionate. Deliberately antagonistic. Kathleen writes to awaken the courage within the reader.


    TO THE SURVIVOR
    If you are a person who was victimized as a child or as an adult, I am so very sorry you ever had to suffer at the hands of a predator. 

    I am sorry you were abused, sorry no one protected you, sorry you have felt so alone, sorry you have been so afraid then and in the now. I am so sorry for the loss of your innocence. 

    You were and are entitled to you life. And you had a right to inherit your own body. And no matter what you did or what you think you failed to do you are not to blame. Sexual abuse is never a victim's choice. Sexual abuse is something that was done to your body not something you wanted. 

    This is an excerpt from: 

    http://web.archive.org/web/20130101063123/http://true-perspective.org 

    Kathleen and I encourage you to visit this site for perspective on your ordeal. Live happy and whole. Claim you power! 

    You are your own authority.

    Question Everything.  Including social, religious & political authorities

    Learn to listen and respond to your intuition.  It is never wrong.

    Learn to be impolite.  It must be part of your defense system.

    Nothing is unspeakable.

    Stare truth in the eye and speak it.

    You name abuse.  Listen to your body.  It will tell you.  It is never wrong. 

    Stare abuse in the eye and speak it.

    Stare abusers in the eye and name them.

    Use your voice.  Use your words. 

    BE LOUD.  Violence against girls, boys, women and men hides in the silent shadows.

    Know that you are powerful.

    KNOW THAT YOUR VOICE IS POWERFUL.   USE IT.



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