El shares a searing, powerful personal essay with us.
All in Stories
Blood Orange
Lucy Hall shares with us a short story on falling in love after abuse, and the deep feelings that emerge in the face of disappointment.
In the Shadow of Trauma
The piece explores the parallels between silencing and disbelieving victims of sexual violence and sick women through Charlie’s own experiences. By jumping back through time to some of her most vivid trauma’s, she reflects on how she was discredited and seen as an unreliable witness to her own illness and assault, contemplating the effect this had and still has on how she interacts with others, particularly within a medical setting.
Survivor No. 000727
Ollie takes us through the story of the aftermath of her abuse, explaining how she “had to adapt and learn how to survive with the vicious ghost of his actions.”
What I Want to Tell Them When they Ask “What Do You Want us to Do?”
Aim talks us through their internal thoughts in response to those who judge how they’ve dealt with their trauma
Keep Out
An anonymous contributor shares with us their powerful words.
Art by Rhea Hanlon.
Job Insecurity
‘Anonymous Cat Mom’ shares with us their personal story of violence and survival.
Remembering Trauma
This anonymous contributor shares with us a powerful, insightful prose on the concept of recovered traumatic memories that can never be completely confirmed or denied. They ultimately bring us to a fluid, open and comforting conclusion of validation and peace.
Art by Marianne Claire Bailon - @deadandrad
One Night a Bad Thing Happened
Steph Holloway’s touching poem shines light on the strength we should feel in our survival through the bad nights.
Art by Rhea Hanlon.
Janet's Letter
I am here for me. I have a voice now. I don’t need anyone to rescue me. I have people that accept me and care for me and love me, and who I accept and care for and love. I sometimes forget all of that, but I have tools to help me remember. You aren’t the last word in my life. You aren’t even any words in my life anymore. You are just a ghost and you can’t hurt me anymore.
Do You Remember Me?
Tara-Renee shares with us an honest and upfront account about her daily struggle after sexual assault.
Time's Up
Emma talks us through her life of sexual violence, from sexual comments as a child to being assaulted in young adulthood.
Access to Records
Emma Lewis, a member of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel, reveals how harrowing it was to finally access her childhood care records
Speak out and seek support
Sophie shares with us what happened to her three years ago. She reminds us “ just because you went home with someone it does not mean that is consent and I cannot stress enough how important it is to reach out if you need help and have experienced something similar.”
Letter to my Rapist
Taylor shares with us an open letter to her rapist about how their life was affected after the rape.
Victims and Survivors Forum
Emma Lewis shares her views on the need to change the culture around child sexual abuse for The Truth Project
It Happened Again
Cat shares with us something she survived: “I wake up with Lady Gaga’s ‘Til It Happens to You’ song in my head. And I’m ashamed. Ashamed because what happened to me (this time) was nothing compared to the stories she is telling in that song; the story she is telling about herself. It wasn’t even on the same level. But I still feel dirty and weak and tearful.”
Child on child sexual trauma
An anonymous contributor shares with us their story of childhood sexual trauma at the hands of another child. “I still, 30 years later can't fit the word abuse to this experience. Because it doesn't seem justified. Yet I know I experience the same symptoms of many people who were sexually abused as children by an adult.”
To my former self: Heidi's Story
Heidi writes a letter which says all the things she would have said to her younger self.
The Reality of Mundane Nightmares
In mundane nightmares my body recognises such dreamscapes as ‘normal’ - because they are normal in our world. But, these dreams should not be normal, no matter my body may try convince me so. They are ugly and they are violent; they feel normal only in this nightmarish reality of being a survivor surrounded in an ongoing rape culture.