They say a bullet has no name. Well, neither does abuse. It pierces through the soul of any and all with no regard, leaving a wound in the abused, and the one pulling the trigger. Since hurt people can hurt people, I wonder what happened to the abusers that would make them commit these acts of violence against the women/young girls in their lives.
The statistics regarding abuse against women are alarming enough. But, when coupled with the fact that abuse usually goes unreported, ignored, or undetected, those numbers go from alarming to unacceptable. Women face abuse in many different ways. It can be from a loved one, a stranger, an associate, self-inflicted, systematic or situational.
Yes, abuse against women, unfortunately, isn’t anything new and the vision for compiling A Letter To My Abuser: Once a Victim, Forever Victorious was to take a unique approach to addressing abuse because women needed to be provided a platform to release.
They are expected to get over it, to not feel, damn sure not be scared, angry or have an attitude, but yet carry the shame and blame of the abuse while embodying this warped definition of being strong women, mothers, wives, etc.
Where can abused women go to freely talk about abuse?
Who can they talk to?
Where are their support systems?
To be abused is to be improperly handled and thankfully these women don’t look like what they have been through but make no mistake, lives are definitely altered when women are mistreated.
Lives are altered when women are not allowed to be vulnerable. Lives are altered when women have to carry the weight of being abused. It becomes not just something that happened to you but a part of you and every decision you make.
Abuse is a noun and a verb, an act, and an action. Abuse is a behavior that is manifested through people, systems, and situations and is a construct within itself making up a larger system of abuse. It is the misuse of someone or something, to be cruel or violent, especially regularly or repeatedly. It is a false sense of control over someone. It is intentional and unintentional harm to another.
Whether verbal, emotional, mental, physical, sexual, financial, social, psychological, economic, spiritual, parental, familial, workplace, bullying, harassment or neglect, abuse takes on all these forms. Although all of these are not addressed in this book, it is important to point out that abuse is not limited in its ways.
This book embodies the voice, the resilience, and the raw truth about abuse by getting deep into the wounds of those who have experienced it firsthand. The hearts of women cannot be contained. Neither can their rage or their words as they heal.
Writing is therapeutic. It is awareness. It is painful. It is freedom. Writing for the purposes of healing allows those who have risen from the ashes to find their beauty in something so ugly.
The first part of the journey is surviving the abuse while it is happening, the next is leaving the abuse whether it be a mental, an emotional, a spiritual decision, or a physical departure, and the final part is learning how to live after the abuse.
The voices of the abused need to be heard and stories told. And it is even more necessary that their scars (inside and out) be healed in order to end the destructive cycle of abuse of any kind. And women caught the vision and took a stand against abuse by sharing their stories in order to continue the healing process not just for themselves but for others.
Get your copy of A Letter To My Abuser: Once a Victim, Forever Victorious today!
