Sex/uality Artifacts

Hi, my name is Heather Andrews and I did my second artifact presentation on childhood sexual abuse. I am actually doing my resource manual project over childhood sexual abuse. So, if anyone is looking for more information, tools, resources, etc., I encourage them to come talk to me and I will help assist them in any way that I professionally can. Before getting too deep into this, I want to define what sexual abuse is. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual abuse is “unwanted sexual activity, with perpetrators using force, making threats or taking advantage of victims not able to give consent.” Many research has shown that when child sexual abuse takes place, it is actually by someone that they know and are very close to. Our guest speaker really highlighted this in her presentation on Thursday. Research has also shown that there are many harmful effects of childhood sexual abuse, both short-term and long-term. The article that we read for Tuesday, November 3^rd, was from the American Counseling Association from VISTAS. The article spent the majority of the time focusing on the long-term effects of childhood sexual abuse. Their research shows that childhood sexual abuse has been correlated with higher levels of depression, guilt, shame, self-blame, eating disorders, somatic concerns anxiety, dissociative patterns, repression, denial, sexual problems, and relationship problems. To highlight these effects, I wanted to share a video with the class. For my presentation, I did not highlight the entire 5-minute video. Instead, I showed a specific clip from about 1:10-2:10. In this short minute, Hannah (a sexual abuse survivor) explains the aftermath and effects of her childhood sexual abuse. She says that felt guilty and shameful. She also used a lot of self-harm as she cut her legs, arms, and sometimes even her face. She states that she even attempted suicide. This correlates exactly with what we have been discussing in class and exactly what the article stated. She experienced the same feelings, the same self-harm, and suffered so much from depression that she even attempted suicide. This is just one short video that relates to what we have been discussing in class.  At the end of my presentation, the question was asked, “How does she talk about surviving the abuse?” To answer this question, at the end of the video, Hannah states what she knows now and I think this has helped her deal with the abuse. For example, she has kind of redirected her thinking into something more positive and seeing herself as valuable and important. She also constantly reminds herself that she is forgiven and that she is not guilty for the things that took place. She says that love is the most important and most powerful thing. Therefore, with the help from a counselor and her loved ones, she has been able to cope with/survive the abuse and she now has a new outlook on herself and her worth.