WOMEN WHO WERE SEXUALLY ABUSED AS CHILDREN

Name: WOMEN WHO WERE SEXUALLY ABUSED AS CHILDREN
Author: Teresa Gil
ISBN: 978-1-5381-0177-3

MOTHERING, RESILIENCE, AND PROTECTING THE NEXT GENERATION

by Teresa Gil ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 26, 2018

A moving and immensely informative study on how the long road to abuse recovery can directly affect motherhood.

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A psychotherapist offers intensive reflections from and about female survivors of childhood sexual abuse.

Through interviews, profiles, qualitative studies, and her own professional experiences, debut author Gil channels her veteran career in abuse recovery into this poignant and illuminating volume on survivorship. She focuses primarily on women who have become mothers despite the harrowing ordeals clouding their youths and how they raise their own children amid lingering emotional challenges. The book’s opening chapters provide plainspoken declarations of what childhood sexual abuse encompasses, the long-term deleterious mental health ramifications, and how self-medication provides only temporary relief. Other sections examine the specific qualities found in nurturing and protective mothers and how a professional therapeutic relationship can cultivate those attributes, foster recovery, and counsel parents in their critical roles at home. Her text also mines the dynamics of revictimization and the intergenerational transmission of abuse possible throughout a survivor’s life. The themes Gil explores are intensified and greatly personalized with quotes, stories, and passages from scores of interviews she’s conducted with women who are rearing kids in contemporary society as well as those who have already parented adult offspring. This material shows how time and healing have changed their views over the course of their motherhoods. “By sharing common experiences, women can begin to transform shame into pride, and silence into strength,” the author writes. Her probing yet respectful scrutiny exposes the atrocities of childhood sexual abuse while beautifully revealing the brave struggles of mothers who have persevered, given birth, and lovingly supported their kids. Gil’s affecting narrative celebrates the emotional and physical strength of female survivors, and she admits to being in a constant state of awe at her subjects’ tenacity and their ability to “maintain a sense of humor and to be compassionate and caring toward others while they courageously grapple with the difficult and painful issues that arise in the therapeutic process.” The book’s analytical approach and academic tone and format make it an ideal resource for childhood abuse clinicians and educators as well as for survivors who are open to discovering aspects of other women’s experiences and coping mechanisms. For lay readers, Gil closes each chapter with useful summary sections clarifying and underscoring key points and perspectives.

A moving and immensely informative study on how the long road to abuse recovery can directly affect motherhood.

Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-5381-0177-3

Page Count: 224

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Review Posted Online: Dec. 10, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

FAMILY & RELATIONSHIPS | SELF-HELP

DON'T PEE ON MY LEG AND TELL ME IT'S RAINING

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DON'T PEE ON MY LEG AND TELL ME IT'S RAINING

AMERICA'S TOUGHEST FAMILY COURT JUDGE SPEAKS OUT

by Judy Sheindlin & Todd Getlin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1996

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Here comes the judge—and perpetrators in family court with their attorneys must pray that it isn't Judge Judy Sheindlin. She makes advocates of Tough Love look like marshmallow liberals. As a family court judge, Sheindlin deals with juvenile criminals, custody disputes, and so-called deadbeat dads, among other cases. After 23 years in the New York City court system, here are some of the ideas she advocates: To send teenage births plummeting, parents should be required to financially support their teenage children's children—sans welfare; foster care parents should be trained and licensed; parents on welfare should lose their benefits if a child drops out of school; and women who have more than one crack-addicted baby should be incarcerated. Here's another recommendation: Book a juvenile criminal as an adult—fingerprints, photographs and records that can be shared. (One chapter subheading reads, ``If Your Killer is Only Fifteen, Are You Any Less Dead?'') In essence, she says that America celebrates victims, but not the victims of crime. Instead, it is those perceived as victims of the social safety net, who have neither money or love enough to steer them from wrongdoing. Nonsense!, says Sheindlin. Every person is responsible for his or her acts, whether it is having babies or doing drugs. On the other hand, she is a strong advocate of birth control and of joint custody for parents. Mom is not always the best nurturer, says the judge, departing from conventional wisdom. (The book's title, which is of questionable taste, is a comment borrowed from her father.) Pithy and opinionated, with many real-life case histories, this book is an eye-opener for the politically left and an ``All Right!'' cheer for the right. ($50,000 ad/promo; author tour)

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1996

ISBN: 0-06-017321-1

Page Count: 256

Publisher: HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | SELF-HELP

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FULL EXPOSURE

OPENING UP TO SEXUAL CREATIVITY AND EROTIC EXPRESSION

by Susie Bright ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1999

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An unfocused, blistering rant about sexual issues near and dear to the author’s heart. Bright, a regular columnist for Salon magazine and a popular writer and lecturer on sex (Susie Bright’s Sexual State of the Union, 1997), wants to argue here that “sexuality is the soul of the creative process, and that erotic expression of any kind is a personal revolution.” Readers unfamiliar with Bright will find it difficult to glean a clear message here except that it’s essential to be public about all aspects of one’s sexuality. Her “erotic manifesto” demands that we talk about sex, that we understand “the personal meaning of erotic expression: the creativity it demands, the challenges of sexual candor, and the rewards of coming clean about desire.” Those who would rather keep certain aspects of their lives to themselves are liable to feel under attack here (“Was the issue privacy, or was it sterotyping, having your identity defined by others?”, she asks an elderly lesbian aunt who refused to discuss her sexuality with Bright). Bright’s abrasive and forthright, if not confrontational, style (“a woman dieting is a woman not having orgasms”) may turn off readers who don—t see sexuality as the foundation of all creativity in their lives. Only for those who are already Bright fans. (Author tour)