In the Light

I’ve neglected everything about this project. It’s not that I don’t think about it every single day, it’s just that I’ve been too busy focusing on other things. However, I know I can’t neglect it any longer. I’ve really enjoyed the meeting amazing people through this project and it’s time to get their voices out. I’m often confronted with the negative effects of child sex abuse in my life and others and I really believe that this project is a much needed positive.

So, after a hiatus (it was needed, because I’ve really grown), I’m abandoning my fears and really moving forward with this. There are still some questions that are unanswered and that’s been part of the delay. Here are the things that have come up so far…

1. The reality is, it would take a really long time to publish this into a book. How do we keep the momentum going within the participants as well as ourselves? How about putting it online?!?! That’s what we’ve decided to do. We’re going to create an online gallery with snippets from the interviews and then when it’s feasible, turn it all into a coffee table book.

2. Traveling is a wee bit expensive. The expenses for something like this can really add up when you take traveling into consideration. It was really the goal to be able to go everywhere in the US. That will come in time, but for now, we’re really going to focus on the cities that I find myself in the most. They are DC, Atlanta and New York. Eventually we will add more cities, even if that means adding more photographers.

3. Should the name of this project stick? Originally, the idea was to call this project about CSA the “In the Light Project.” However, I realized there were many different issues that we could bring attention to. It only makes sense then to find something to call this specific thing. That’s the tricky part. It’s been really hard coming up with a name that sticks. Anyone have any ideas?

4. This website terribly needs to be updated and made to be more interactive. This is one of the things that I desperately want to work on. The only problem is that I need to figure out what to name the others before I go tinkering with this one! (See #3)

So there you have it.  Hopefully, everything will be figure out within the next week. If you have any ideas or questions, we would love to hear them.

When speaking to survivors of Child Sex Abuse,whether speaking to close friends or people recently met, one topic that always comes up is “Forgiveness.” Forgiveness is hard enough to grant within our everyday lives, however when an act of violation such as sexual abuse is committed it heightens the possibility of un-forgiveness. Though it may sound a bit cliched the truth is not forgiving causes more harm to the person harboring the anger and pain than their viloator. The real question is HOW do you forgive after such an act has been committed, we know that it is beneficial to the healing process but HOW? the article below speaks of  techniques you can use to move towards forgiveness, namely writing a letter to your abuser. Now, I will be honest, I have yet to do this in my case, though I have used this technique in other situations. It proved to be helpful in my past situations and I don’t doubt it’s helpfullness here. Once I write my letter, I will update you all on how helpful I think it was for my healing progress. Keep in mind that every technique is just a suggestion, but can be very helpful to those who follow through and try these different techniques. If you all have any suggestions regarding techniques and helpful tips please feel free to comment!

http://www.allaboutlifechallenges.org/adult-survivors-of-childhood-sexual-abuse-faq.htm

Amanda sent this link to helpful Child Sex Abuse books. Some speak more of the politics and legal aspect of child sex abuse cases. Others speak of how to deal with Child sex abuse within your family etc. All of these are helpful resources. Check it out:

http://books.google.com/books?q=child+sex+abuse&source=in&ei=gy1rSoGuIciltgfI-8THBQ&sa=X&oi=book_group&ct=title&cad=bottom-3results&resnum=16

So, we are sitting in a normal meeting on Monday night discussing the happenings of the In the light project as usual. Amanda mentions that she has a link we have to see. She sends us this link.

In essence, “RapeLay” is a video game that allows the player to stalk , prey on, and rape victims. Once the player has the opportunity to rape a victim, they then have the option to rape the victim’s two virgin daughters, one of daughters is about 10 years of age. Obviously after looking at the content of this article describing the mission of this game I was truly taken aback. How could something so vulgar and distasteful be allowed.

Should the government step in here and regulate the types of items being put on the market? Should there be some sort of censorship? If not, what actions should be taken? What are your thoughts?