Reunion Online

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the phrase "the personal is political" became the mantra of the women’s movement.

On tonight's episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, you'll hear the SVU squad talking about a topic few people do, something called tonic immobility. It sounds complicated, but it's one of the body's most basic responses?the "freeze response"?that happens when an individual is in danger. In today's post, Dr. Rebecca Campbell, professor of community psychology at Michigan State University, discusses tonic immobility in the context of sexual assault.

After The LA Times reported that between 1965 and 1985 The Boys Scouts of America took very little or no action about suspected child sexual abuse, it announced it would review 5,000 cases spanning the past fifty years. The Times investigation found that Scouts’ officials did not report to police hundreds of cases of alleged sexual abuse and that as many as 1,662 male child victims were impacted. This scandal will continue to make headlines as hundreds of files are released from the BSA’s own collection of cases known as "perversion files."

Throughout history, we have watched visionaries change the world. Eli Whitney. Henry Ford. Steve Jobs. Not only did these people isolate a need, but they also found the right way to communicate how their innovation would benefit the world.

 Hope is essential to life, especially for those who are forced (or choose) to deal with painful experiences from our past. By biblical (and practical) definition, hope is only possibly when we have not yet obtained that which we are hoping for. "Hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance" (Romans 8:24-25). To endure painful circumstances we must develop a vision of a brighter future, one that is free of our current pain and hardship.

We’ve all been reminded this week of the solace we found eleven years ago in the communal sense of shock and the shared resolve to heal from the horrible losses we experienced on September 11. No doubt, scars still remain. But together, we faced down our fear, we shored one another up against our new-found sense of vulnerability and shook off the stunning betrayal of our belief that we were safe from attack.

I remember the interview like it was yesterday. The year was 1984, and I was a oh-so-young, oh-so-green social work student conducting an interview with a veteran gay activist at our local GLBTQ center. (Mind you, many of those letters weren’t spoken of back then). I was 24 years-old, straight-define, and I literally quivered with nervousness at being, for the first time in my life, in queer-defined space. My purpose of the meeting—to research the history and advocacy of the centre for my studies in community development—belied my internal emotional state.

One of the challenges organizations working with men who have been sexually abused in childhood face, is to find helpful ways to enhance public awareness, discussion and support around this issue. 1in6 and Living Well hope that the "Let’s Talk..." Poster/Visual Media Competition will help broaden the public conversation on this issue in new and interesting ways.

Growing up in East Austin, there was little refuge for me from the gangs, drugs, and violence in my barrio, so when an opportunity arose for me to join the Boy Scouts as a teen, I jumped at the chance. I went from feeling trapped by the violence I was witnessing in my own home to the freedom of exploring the outdoors. Through the guidance of my Scoutmaster, I acquired camping and survival skills, but I also learned how to navigate through my adolescence using the Boy Scout Oath and Law as a compass.

Peace Over Violence is in the midst of holding our third annual Summer Youth Leadership Institute on Violence Prevention. Twenty-five youth are participating in a month-long training learning about the dynamics of relationship and sexual violence and about healthy relationships. These youth are prioritizing violence prevention and learning skills and tools to take with them as they become leaders in their own lives and in their communities.