Photographs by Patricia Evans
In these pages
you’ll meet a community of rape and sexual violence survivors who
have been shaped, but refuse to be defined, by their histories of
violence. They are brave, and they are outspoken—but, mostly, they
are hopeful.
From its insistently
resolute opening essay to its final, deeply moving story, Lived
Through This is a book that defies conventional wisdom about life
in the wake of sexual violence, while putting names and faces on an
issue that too often leaves its victims silent and invisible.
Part personal
history of Anne Ream’s own experience rebuilding her life after
violence, part memoir of a multi-country, multi-year journey spent
listening to survivors, Lived Through This is at once deeply
personal and resolutely political. In these pages we are introduced
to, among others, the women of Atenco, Mexico, victims of rape and
political torture who are speaking out about gender-based violence in
Latin America; Beth Adubato, a woman who was raped by a popular
athlete and then denied justice when her college failed to fully
investigate the attack; and Jenny and Steve Bush, a rape survivor and
her father who are working together to share Jenny’s testimony of
surviving rape at the hands of a veteran in order to alter the US
military’s response to sexual violence committed by those in its
ranks.
Writing with
compassion, candor, and, at times, even much-needed humor, Ream
brings us a series of stories and essays that are as insistent as
they are incisive. Considered individually, her profiles are
profoundly moving, and even inspiring. Considered collectively, they
are a window into a world where sexual violence is more commonplace
than most of us imagine.
The accomplished and
courageous women and men profiled in Lived Through This are,
in the words of the author, “living reminders of all that remains
possible in the wake of the terrible.”