Note: This is a blog post I wrote for The Upper Room. The staff wanted to provide support for people who have been affected by recent media stories about sexual assault. I’m grateful for their compassion and desire to others.
As the survivor of childhood trauma, I’ve come a long way in my healing process. This is thanks in part to years of therapy, a lot of hard work, and an incredible support network of family and friends. More so, it’s the result of learning to be still with God, to offer up my pain for God to transform, and to realize I am God’s beloved. I’m now in a place of peace, one that has stayed with me for several years now.
And yet.
When sexual assault is in the news and the hot topic on social media, I struggle. Sexual assault survivors like me know what it feels like to be victimized. Even though we didn’t do anything wrong — nothing to deserve violence —we know what it’s like to feel shame and humiliation. We know what it’s like to keep the assault secret, knowing that if we say something we may not be believed. Thus, each mention in the media tugs on our wounds. As one of my friends on Facebook wrote, “Know that the women you know who are tearful or jaggedy or taking this all too ‘seriously’ may be unwillingly reliving some of the worst days of their lives, on repeat, in a social media world.” (Read more.)
