We’ve probably all heard it before: A woman expresses rage or grief and gets called hysterical. Another discloses sexual harassment or assault, and she gets labeled hysterical. The tendency to write off women’s emotions and experiences as hysterical isn’t an accident of history, as I explored in Every 90 Seconds: Our Common Cause Ending Violence against Women. Since it’s Women’s HistoryContinue reading “The History of Hysteria in Women’s Lives”
Tag Archives: violence against women
As Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month Comes to a Close, What Next?
As February gives way to March, Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month comes to a close. Building on themes related to translating awareness into action from Every 90 Seconds: Our Common Cause Ending Violence against Women, I’ve been thinking about how we can leverage February’s awareness-building to take action all year long to prevent and respondContinue reading “As Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month Comes to a Close, What Next?”
Talking about Violence against Women this Holiday Season
A conversation about intimate violence. A giftwrapped book on violence against women. These may not seem like the best holiday ideas, but just hear me out before you decide. For generations, talking about intimate violence has been taboo. That pattern started to shift with the Women’s Movement of the 1960s and 70s, and kept changingContinue reading “Talking about Violence against Women this Holiday Season”
Sharing Trauma Research for Action @PsychToday
Translating awareness to action is a central theme of Every 90 Seconds as well as a passion. This year, I took that theme (and passion) to the (virtual) pages of Psychology Today. Under the banner, “From Awareness to Action: Addressing Intimate Violence and Trauma Together,” here are the topics I’ve covered so far: If youContinue reading “Sharing Trauma Research for Action @PsychToday”
An Unwavering Belief in a Future We’ve Never Known
I sat down in the aging office chair and regarded the towering shelf of books. A good shake and we’d surely be buried in decades of psychology texts. From the other side of a large desk, the world-renowned professor I’d just met asked, “How do you stay so optimistic?” This wasn’t the question I wasContinue reading “An Unwavering Belief in a Future We’ve Never Known”
Hope and the Radical Acknowledgment of the World As It Is
I woke up on that last Friday of June with to-do lists and half-memorized remarks running through my head. I was facing down a morning packed with meetings ahead of attending the Rose Andom Center‘s Summer Connections Gala where I was to receive their Building Hope Award. I’d been working on my remarks all week.Continue reading “Hope and the Radical Acknowledgment of the World As It Is”
Taking Action with the TSS Group
We know more than ever about violence against women — and yet violence against women remains dreadfully common. A central theme of Every 90 Seconds — which launched this month — is how to transform that awareness to widespread, collaborative action. In the book, I argue that collaborative action will require recognizing that each ofContinue reading “Taking Action with the TSS Group”
Every 90 Seconds: A Book Launch and A Path Forward
Every 90 Seconds has (finally) arrived! The book’s launch this month is a culmination of a journey that has involved so many of you: The survivors who shared their stories and perspectives with the TSS Group. The victim service providers who work in our communities day in and day out. The colleagues who collaborated withContinue reading “Every 90 Seconds: A Book Launch and A Path Forward”
3 Ways to Respond to a Sexual Assault Disclosure
Sexual assault is dreadfully common – so common that many of us are likely to hear disclosures from people we know. Indeed, when survivors do disclose, it’s often to friends, family, or other informal support people. How we respond to sexual assault disclosure matters – sometimes for the worse. Unfortunately, there are many unhelpful and even hurtful ways toContinue reading “3 Ways to Respond to a Sexual Assault Disclosure”
A Rideshare on the Road to Change
The four of us left the restaurant together, having celebrated a friend’s birthday. Laughing and carrying on, we made our way to the Lyft that idled across the street. A woman smiled warmly at us from the driver’s seat. As she drove us through Portland’s nighttime streets, our banter turned to the kinds of conversationsContinue reading “A Rideshare on the Road to Change”
Trauma Research Notes 