Madeleine Black shares her story of inhumane sexual violence, toxic sexualization, and emotional and spiritual re-growth. Her story is one of the most powerful ones I’ve ever heard. She expresses herself so eloquently and articulates how she has learned more about herself and the human condition after experiencing the agony and shock of her assault as a young girl.

She shared, “I was traumatized and became promiscuous,” echoing the majority of survivors in their journey of healing and recovery. Madeleine shares this to explain how she had to forgive herself for her normal reaction of becoming sexually promiscuous after her sexual trauma. This is a delicate topic in recovery therapy, one that we must not judge nor fear. So many women have experienced something similar: they reach a point after a series of exploitative sexual experiences when they feel the gravity of shame from perpetuating a pattern of internalized victimization.

Let’s take her individual experience and expand this to the macro-level. We can connect this experience with the broader social parallel. We, as a global population —after so many decades of sexual exploitation of women and children—have become sexually reactive due to the trauma of our victimization. This self-sexualization has been proliferated as a byproduct of a collective trauma of the female gender itself. We have internalized our trauma so much so that we’ve been doing it to ourselves.

We need to realize that the time for traumatic sexualization is over! It’s time to say #nothanks and not feel guilt, shame, or doubt anymore. Let’s take a collective stand for ourselves, by creating clear and healthy boundaries and internalizing them instead.

Video: Kathleen Little of Thirteen Squared. The full 16 minute video is also hosted on the creator’s YouTube channel.

#metoo #pressforprogress #lovelife #sexualtrauma #growth #visionary #couragetoheal #herstory #exploitation #collectivesexualization #timetoheal #selfresponsibility