KIERSTEN HATHCOCK
  • Home
  • About
    • My Story
    • Press Kit
    • Writer
    • TEDx Talk
    • Professional Speaker
  • Book
    • Endorsements
    • Little Voices: A Memoir >
      • Foreword by Detective Mark Pucci
      • Book Trailer
    • Audiobook Freebie
    • Book Club Visits
  • Blog
  • News
  • Events
  • Resources
    • NILJ
    • Nate's Story
    • Trusted Specialists
    • Links
    • Resources by Topic >
      • Surviving + Healing From Abuse
      • Intuition + Spirit
      • Help for Highly Intuitive Kids
      • Help for those filing restraining orders
      • Marriage + Parenting
Contact


​Blog Posts

February 08th, 2017

2/8/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
While champagne toasts were being made in half the homes in America this past week, many sexual abuse survivors were experiencing  bubbles in a very different way.

Let me be clear.  This post is not about one candidate versus the other.  It's about what I've experienced—as well as others in my circle—as a survivor this week. 

I was truly surprised by how much I was triggered by the outcome.  I didn't expect it but it came in as one very large, thick, heavy bubble of grief, rising to the surface.  I know, as a highly sensitive person, I was feeling my own sadness as well as the sadness of the collective.  With that said, as a woman who's been through bankruptcy, job loss, and the inability to afford health insurance, I completely understand wanting change.  Revolution.  Fix what hasn't been working.  I get all of that and I respect Americans wanting a better future. 

As a survivor, I felt violated....again.  Maybe it was the never ending loop of election ads on TV, but I kept hearing a mash-up of the Access Hollywood audio over and over again in my head.  "Grab her by the pussy" looped in my mind.  Typewriter text from the stories about women who experienced our new President-elect as a sexual predator scrolled behind my eyes like the opening scene of Star Wars.  Mainly, I thought about how, for the next four years, I will have to see my president in an equivalent form to my abuser.  

A friend of mine who is a therapist told me her clients who are sexual abuse survivors are booking appointments with her left and right in order to help cope with the feelings bubbling up.  I've heard multiple survivors say they felt like they were raped again, not just by the results but the knowledge that some of their strong, smart, compassionate female friends voted for Trump, a known sexual predator.  As women, we naturally think that our sisters couldn't possibly condone that kind of behavior and i'm sure the women who voted for Trump do not; however, they still said "yes" to putting a man at the helm of the free world who has shown his true colors regarding women.  To many survivors, it just felt like a big fat slap in the face. 
 
I'm finding it's a process and by owning and honoring the pain, healing is happening.  Feelings coming from deep within are surfacing for many who haven't fully looked their abuse in the eye.  Women from all over the country are reaching out to one another for support, providing life jackets for bobbing in this first wave of post-election pain.  For that, I am so grateful.  We're coming together in ways we haven't in the past.  Sexual abuse is such a taboo topic but a HUGE light is shining on it right now and we all know only light can defeat dark. 

I certainly don't have all the answers and I'm coming to grips with my feelings one bubble at time, but I will say overall, I am even more determined to use my voice to help stop the perpetuation of our country's rape culture.  If we don't do it, who will?  

--------

If you are a survivor and want to share your feelings with me privately, please feel free to write to me at modmomfurniture@gmail.com, or you can always post an anonymous comment.  ​
​
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Abortion
    Abuse Recovery
    Abusive Relationship
    Book
    Childhood Sexual Abuse
    Highly Sensitive Kids
    LIfe Lessons
    Marriage
    Mediumship
    Mod Mom And Mod Life
    Parenting
    Police Work
    Q&A
    Restraining Order
    Spiritual Journey
    Suicide
    Ted Talk
    TEDx Talk
    Transgender
    Woo Woo Wednesday
    Writing
    Written By My Husband

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    June 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Picture
Sign-Up for
​UPdates
order
​LIttle Voices
Picture
All rights reserved. 2022.
  • Home
  • About
    • My Story
    • Press Kit
    • Writer
    • TEDx Talk
    • Professional Speaker
  • Book
    • Endorsements
    • Little Voices: A Memoir >
      • Foreword by Detective Mark Pucci
      • Book Trailer
    • Audiobook Freebie
    • Book Club Visits
  • Blog
  • News
  • Events
  • Resources
    • NILJ
    • Nate's Story
    • Trusted Specialists
    • Links
    • Resources by Topic >
      • Surviving + Healing From Abuse
      • Intuition + Spirit
      • Help for Highly Intuitive Kids
      • Help for those filing restraining orders
      • Marriage + Parenting
Contact