| An
Opportunity to Tell Your Story! |
|
Call for Stories
The AdvocateWeb Book Project
Contact:
bookproject@advocateweb.org
| An Update on this
Project: "Due to the number of the submissions, and
sometimes, resubmissions, the editors have not quite read all
of them. Thus a definitive final decision has not yet been
made. Also, the editors have had some unexpected intrusions
into their lives which have also resulted in a disruption in
the book schedule. Nevertheless, all is very much in progress,
and further notifications will be made as appropriate. Thanks
for everyone’s contributions and patience." |
A group at AdvocateWeb has been working for a while on
the idea of a book of contributions by members and users of this
web-site. The book's purpose is to inform and change the
understanding of victims and the public about the issues involved
under the umbrella of abuse, about the nature of exploitation by
those we trust as professionals. Financial profits will help support
the expenses of running AdvocateWeb. We
are now at the point of making a call for personal stories. These
stories will be at the heart of the book.
We envision as most helpful to victim/survivors and those
concerned with them stories by survivors discussing the
circumstances of their abuse and its aftermath. We need personal
stories by victim/survivors of all kinds of abuse (sexual,
sexualized, emotional, physical, etc.) There are many
myths/alibis/age old biases that need to be overcome, such as -
children (and women) enjoy the sexual attention, even seek it; it is
the women who lead the poor, innocent but very human male pastors,
therapists and other professionals astray; it is an "affair" not
abuse when there is sex between "consenting" adults; that is is an
age-old problem, "always happened," so why be upset?, etc. We would
like many people to contribute to this effort.
As a general guideline, stories could include as many details as
the writer is comfortable with providing, including the type of
abuser (priest, therapist, physician, coach, etc.); how, when and
where it happened; the grooming process; how it affected them and
those close to them; what was done about it; what was the turning
point of understanding what happened; if the problem was taken to
authorities of various sorts, what happened, i.e. what sort of
response came from the church, licensing boards, subsequent
therapists, attorneys, legal system, friends and family, etc.; what
was/is your healing process, things/persons helpful along the way,
legal action? How have you been able to make lemonade (or whiskey
sours!!) out of the lemons?? What role did creativity play in the
healing process; what has been learned from this? It can be from the
point of view of the initial victim, or those close to the victim,
such as a spouse or partner or friend, also harmed. It also could be
a full accounting of the event (remembering that this has to fit in
terms of size within a book, not BE the book), or have as the focus
some particular aspect. Although we hope to have people use their
names, stories also can be published by authors anonymously, with
full rights to that decision by the person submitting the personal
story.
It is important that the public and victims understand that
breach of trust & abuse of power exists in all professions. The
media focus the past months has been on sexual abuse of young boys
by RC priests. It has been only by the persistent efforts of several
members of Confer that some of the media (including the conservative
evangelical World) have addressed abuse of adults and that it
happens in all churches and all professions. This book will continue
this effort to change and enlarge public awareness and
understanding. What we need - and we make this appeal to ALL who log
onto the AdvocateWeb site - are personal stories from those abused
in all sorts of venues, including those less publicized (male nurse,
female clergy/nuns, coaches, supervisors [of grad students, interns,
new therapists, etc}, teachers, adult predators [scout leader,
volunteer coaches, etc], camp counselors, policemen, divorce
attorneys, etc.
We plan to intersperse thoughts throughout the book by those who
have worked as advocates to further the understanding of
psychological, legal, historical and other issues -- boundaries,
emotional/societal defenses such as denial, experience with the
courts and licensing boards/professional associations/church
hierarchies, the nature of fiduciary relationships -- whatever is
needed to present the fullest and most focused picture possible of
this problem and its solutions.
The editors will make the decisions about which papers to accept
with an eye to avoiding redundancy, etc. and papers will be selected
on the basis of clarity, message, and so forth. The editors reserve
the right to edit papers for style and content. Please understand
that papers may be returned for additional work by authors, etc. and
that doing the additional work will not necessarily guarantee
acceptance. Contributors will not be paid, as all profits will go to
support AdvocateWeb but contributors will
of course have recognition, a free copy of the book, and anything
else we can think of! If the book is published online, contributors
will have free access to the book, rather than a copy of the book.
Notice:
Deadline has been extended to
February 15, 2003...
|
Disclaimer
Exploitation
