New York Times Bestseller
This is a devastating book, heartbreaking in how familiar and relatable each story is--yet there's power and solidarity in it, too. -- Shondaland
Edited and with an introduction by Roxane Gay, the New York Times bestselling and deeply beloved author of Bad Feminist and Hunger, this anthology of first-person essays from writers including Gabrielle Union, Brandon Taylor, and Lyz Lenz tackles rape, assault, and harassment head-on. Searing and heartbreakingly candid, this collection both reflects the world we live in and offers a call to arms insisting that not that bad must no longer be good enough.
In this valuable and revealing anthology, cultural critic and bestselling author Roxane Gay collects original and previously published pieces that address what it means to live in a world where women have to measure the harassment, violence, and aggression they face, and where they are routinely second-guessed, blown off, discredited, denigrated, besmirched, belittled, patronized, mocked, shamed, gaslit, insulted, bullied for speaking out. Contributions include essays from established and up-and-coming writers, performers, and critics, including actors Ally Sheedy and Gabrielle Union and writers Amy Jo Burns, Booker Prize-nominated Brandon Taylor, and Lyz Lenz.
Covering a wide range of topics and experiences, from an exploration of the rape epidemic embedded in the refugee crisis to first-person accounts of child molestation, this collection is often deeply personal and is always unflinchingly honest. Like Rebecca Solnit's Men Explain Things to Me, Not That Bad will resonate with every reader, saying something in totality that we cannot say alone.
This volume provides a concise but authoritative overview of the #MeToo Movement and its enormous impact on American society, from the studios of Hollywood to factories, campuses, and offices across the country.
The 21st Century Turning Points series is a one-stop resource for understanding the people and events changing America today. The #MeToo Movement is devoted to the issue that brought sexual harassment out of the shadows of American culture and into the spotlight. Sparked by revelations of decades of sexual harassment by powerful Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein, the movement quickly uncovered similar abusive behavior by numerous other famous public figures. It also revealed the extent to which sexual harassment has been a persistent problem in many workplace settings across America and the ways in which girls and women are subjected to degrading and discriminatory treatment because of their gender. The book provides a broad perspective on these issues. It discusses late twentieth-century efforts to identify sexual harassment as a longstanding societal problem; explains how the 2016 presidential election brought new attention to this issue; introduces activists who helped to launch the #MeToo Movement; and surveys the impact of the movement on American politics, business, and entertainment.It's time for a nuanced discussion about forgiveness.
From religious communities to therapeutic spaces, the importance of forgiving those who've wronged us is often enshrined as an unqualified good. But what about horrifying cases of abuse, predatory behavior, or systemic wrong? Too often, when predators or abusers are exposed, the chorus comes immediately: What about forgiveness? In these cases, forgiveness places the onus on victims, diminishes real hurt and anger, lets perpetrators off the hook, and prevents justice from being done.
In Not So Sorry, journalist and culture critic Kaya Oakes tackles these questions with intelligence, nuance, and a bit of righteous anger. Ranging effortlessly from Christian theology and world history to psychology and pop culture, Oakes takes us on a whirlwind tour of the many abuses of the concept of forgiveness, including the abuse scandals of the Catholic church, the outing of high-profile abusers like Larry Nassar, and white America's obsession with false narratives of marginalized peoples granting forgiveness to oppressors. Ultimately, Oakes dares us to ask the necessary question: Is it ever better not to forgive?
When Jimmy Hinton's sister confided in him that their own father had sexually abused her, Jimmy was both dismayed and spurred into action. His father, a respected minister in the community, was a predator who used his role behind the pulpit to secretly molest and abuse countless victims. Turning his father over to the police, Jimmy became a tireless advocate and voice for the victims. His pursuit of justice would eventually result in his father's confession and subsequent conviction.
Haunted by the discovery of his father's grotesque acts against children, Jimmy, also a pastor, worked to restore the very church where his dad had perpetrated such sickening acts. He was determined to protect others and nurture an environment of healing in the aftermath of abuse. Today he relentlessly studies and exposes the deception techniques that predators like his father used to molest, harm, abuse, and terrorize children.
The Devil Inside is, hands down, the absolute must-read for every seminarian, seminary instructor, and church leader and volunteer out there...Hinton addresses head-on theological problems of redemption and forgiveness and care for others exactly as Jesus would have him do. He cares deeply for the abused and wounded, makes space for the truly repentant, and offers a chilling description of the wolf in sheep's clothing.
--Christine Fox Paker, MA, MACM, President/Executive Director, PorchSwing Ministries, Inc.
In his book, The Devil Inside, Jimmy pulls no punches. He lays bare his soul and puts in black & white precisely why we should and how we can better defend children from sexual predators.
--Dave Pittman, Executive Director, Together We Heal
Child Safeguarding Trainer, GRACE
I recommend this compelling story of a minister's family forced to make a painful choice - protect their father or protect children from their father?
--Abbie Fitzgerald Schaub, storyteller in The Keepers documentary
The Devil Inside serves as a wake-up call for the church and seminaries - understanding abuse, how it happens, and prevention must be an integral thread in the church's fabric...This book is a must for every pastor, ministry leader, and seminary student.
--Joe Harvey-Hall, KeepSAfe Director, The Salvation Army
Jimmy writes about what he knows. And what he writes, you need to know for it may save those you love. Had I had this information years ago, my own family might have been spared the horror that destroyed us. This is a book that needs to be read by church leaders and church members alike!
--Les Ferguson Jr., Minister and author of Still Wrestling: Faith Renewed Through Brokenness
Featuring a new preface by feminist icon Gloria Steinem, and a new foreword by Salamishah Tillet, PhD, Rutgers University Professor of African American Studies and Creative Writing
Essential. . . . It is nonpolemical, lucid, and speaks eloquently not only to the victims of acquaintance rape but to all those caught in its net.-- Philadelphia Inquirer
With the advent of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements, and almost daily new reports about rape, both on and off campuses, Robin Warshaw's I Never Called It Rape is even more relevant today than when it was first published in 1988. The sad truth is that statistics on date rape have not changed in more than thirty years. That our culture enables rape is not just shown by the numbers: the outbreak of complaints against alleged rapists from Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein to Matt Lauer and President Donald Trump has further amplified this horrifying reality.
With more than 80,000 copies sold to date, I Never Called It Rape serves as a guide to understanding rape as a cultural phenomenon--providing women and men with strategies to address our rape endemic. It gives survivors the context and resources to help them heal from their experiences, and pulls the wool from all our eyes regarding the pervasiveness of rape and sexual assault in our society.
Tara Reade shares the aftermath of the re-victimization of speaking out about her sexual assault, with then-Senator Joe Biden in 1993, where the shaming, attacks, and threats instigated by the media sent her into a personal tailspin. Tara-rized viciously by cyber bullies, receiving death threats and fearing for her life and those of her family, Tara tells how living with no regret and coming forward was right for her conscience.
The moment that defines Tara will not confine her, but instead move her forward by reclaiming her identity. Tara pulls together the pieces of her life experiences to forge a path of hope so that other survivors may have dignity coming forward. This memoir reflects that Tara knew the value of speaking truth to power even in the most difficult of circumstances.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape is brilliant, frank, empowering, and urgently necessary. Sohaila Abdulali has created a powerful tool for examining rape culture and language on the individual, societal, and global level that everyone can benefit from reading.
--Jill Soloway
In the tradition of Rebecca Solnit, a beautifully written, deeply intelligent, searingly honest--and ultimately hopeful--examination of sexual assault and the global discourse on rape told through the perspective of a survivor, writer, counselor, and activist
After surviving gang-rape at seventeen in Mumbai, Sohaila Abdulali was indignant about the deafening silence that followed and wrote a fiery piece about the perception of rape--and rape victims--for a women's magazine. Thirty years later, with no notice, her article reappeared and went viral in the wake of the 2012 fatal gang-rape in New Delhi, prompting her to write a New York Times op-ed about healing from rape that was widely circulated. Now, Abdulali has written What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape--a thoughtful, generous, unflinching look at rape and rape culture.
Drawing on her own experience, her work with hundreds of survivors as the head of a rape crisis center in Boston, and three decades of grappling with rape as a feminist intellectual and writer, Abdulali tackles some of our thorniest questions about rape, articulating the confounding way we account for who gets raped and why--and asking how we want to raise the next generation. In interviews with survivors from around the world we hear moving personal accounts of hard-earned strength, humor, and wisdom that collectively tell the larger story of what rape means and how healing can occur. Abdulali also points to the questions we don't talk about: Is rape always a life-definining event? Is one rape worse than another? Is a world without rape possible?
What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape is a book for this #MeToo and #TimesUp age that will stay with readers--men and women alike--for a long, long time.
Longlisted for the 2020 National Book Award for Nonfiction
TIME's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020
Publishers Weekly, Best Books of 2020
New York Times New & Noteworthy Audiobooks
Lit Hubs Most Anticipated Books of 2020
Starred Review Publishers Weekly
Starred Review Shelf Awareness
Is Rape a Crime? is beautifully written and compellingly told. In 2020, we were all looking for solutions and this book was right on time. It is one we should all be reading.
--Anita Hill
Shawna Potter has been a touring musician for over twenty years--and has been sexually harassed for just as long. Here's her DIY guide to fighting back.
Shawna Potter, singer for the band War On Women, has tackled sexism and harassment in lyrics and on stage for years. Taking the battle to music venues themselves, she has trained night clubs and community spaces in how to create safer environments for marginalized people. Now she's turned decades of experience into a clear and concise guide for public spaces of all sorts, from art galleries to bagel shops to concert halls, that want to shut down harassers wherever they show up. The steps she outlines are realistic, practical, and actionable. With the addition of personal stories, case studies, sample policies, and no-nonsense advice like How to Flirt without Being a Creep, she shows why safer spaces are important, while making it easier to achieve them. Eschewing theory, she assumes the reader is already an ethical creature and jumps right in with candor, punk passion, and righteous anger to get the job done!Lopez Alvarado, better known as Jose or Landi of Barranquitas, Puerto Rico who now lives in the Appalachian foothills of southern Perry County, amate of God, has a passion for his family, writing since he was a child, reading, history, writing letters, poems and passion for photography from an early age, in his lyrics capturing the breath in time and his photographs the tropical beauty of the homeland and every place where he is born. He has lived or visited, Here he tells his life, from being born on the island of enchantment, suffering harassment at a very young age, rape and sexual orientation, leaving his home and homeland at a very young age to settle in another town and then in the United States. To love, to suffer, to bear illness quietly, to free oneself from one's bondage and to live an intense life, here are his writings that have taken more than a decade to be put on paper. Here he tells his experiences
Because life is lived only once and you have to enjoy it to the fullest, no matter what you need.