RAPED: HOW TO RECLAIM THE POWER YOU LOST THROUGH RAPE TRAUMA

These days the bookshelves are filled with instructional/educational manuscripts about rape whose authors impart the wisdom they have acquired through research. These professionals claim expertise via the information they have received from other texts. They convey their knowledge to the sufferer in hopes that they [victims] will use it to piece their shattered lives back together. Then there are the books written by the victims of rape. The writers take the reader on a journey of disillusionment, but fail to bring them back. They talk about the devastation, but hardly ever give the reader workable solutions

What hasn't been written is a book whose author claims expertise on recovery from not one, but many of these reprehensible transgressions--rape. What hasn't been written is a book whose author's research is made up entirely of the manifestation of years of undergoing a meaningless deluge of insults to her person and spirit--raped. What hasn't been written is a book whose author refused to give up on life, so devised her own methods of coping with the horrendous barrage of seemingly inescapable culprits she encountered--rapists. What hasn't been written is an author's account of recovery from the devastation caused by these acts in such a way that it has the capability of leading many others down the same path-recovery from rape trauma. Well, that is, until now. RAPED, How to Reclaim The Power You Lost Through Rape Trauma, by Norma-Mintlow Brinkley is and does exactly that. It is a must read if you've been raped.

Organized into ten short chapters, this book deals with stigma, guilt, shame, but also writes of spiritual matters and goal setting and achieving. Norma takes the reader on her journey of recovery. She begins by sharing with us the lows to which the horrendous crime of rape had taken her. The rest of the book is devoted entirely to the recovery process. In the first chapter she discusses prosecution of rapist in such a manner that one feels compelled to understand that it is the only way of rape prevention. The second chapter deals with some ways to educate ourselves about rape, and she gives some statistics:

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, somewhere in America, a
woman is sexually assaulted every two minutes. In 1996, 307,000 women were the victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault. [National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 1997.] According to the 1999 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) the total number of attempted rapes and sexual assaults increased to 383,000 last year, up 50,000 from 1998's 333,000 total attacks. Rape is the most underreported violent crime. 28.3% of rapes were reported to police in 1999, down from 31.6% in 1998. Among all violent crimes [only] 44% of victims reported their attack to police. About 89% of victims were female, 11% male. Of every 1000 women twelve and over, 3.0 were sexually assaulted or raped last year. For men, the rate was 0.4 per 1000.

Chapters three through ten are examples from her experience of what the survivor of rape needs to do in order to reclaim their power. From advice on how one should look for the proper rape trauma specialists to becoming comfortable with spirituality, Norma shares her insight with the reader. She writes of what has worked for her and what she has seen work in the lives of others who have shared similar experiences. She then writes of how, with practice, the survivor can begin to like and love herself/himself as she/he reclaims the power taken from her/him when raped. Replete with useful affirmations, meditations and practical exercises, this book brings information that is imperative for the rape trauma survivor.

RAPED, How To Reclaim The Power You Lost Through Rape Trauma is what the person who has been raped and walks into the bookstore desperately searching for answers needs. The very title takes away some of the guilt and shame, but Norma takes us a step further. While once she was filled with self-loathing, she loves herself enough today to include a nude picture of her in the chapter that she discusses ways to celebrate ourselves just the way we are.

Often survivors of rape wonder around with the guilt and shame caused by rape. To many times victim's heads are held down because their self-esteem was snatched along with their power. The very word rape makes us want to cringe. Norma helps us to get used to saying the word without associating guilt and shame with the victim, but putting it where it belongs, on the rapist. Victims find they devise coping skills and many times don't know where they came from or what they are causing us to do. RAPED, How To Reclaim The Power You Lost Through Rape Trauma helps us to understand the why of what their doing, and the how of changing those behaviors.

Norma sheds light on why we survivors feel, think, talk and act the way we do, usually in a derogatory fashion in regards to ourselves. She discusses the manifestations of the spirit of the perpetrator. She believes this was left with every survivor when the rapist went on with his/her life. Once she allows us to see that we are not the originators of our self-abasement, she gives us new ways of thinking, talking and acting. By providing us with a broader spectrum of tools to use if one has an open mind and willingness to try, Norma helps us devise our own methods of dealing with feelings and thoughts we all have as a result of rape trauma.

To counter at long last the never-ending supply of educational guesswork Norma has endeavored to share with the reader exactly what has worked and what she is sure will work for any survivor of rape.