Tough Topics

Brock Turner had been sentenced to just six months in county jail after he was found sexually assaulting "Emily Doe" on Stanford's campus. Her victim impact statement was posted on BuzzFeed, where it instantly went viral, was translated globally, and read on the floor of Congress. It inspired changes in California law and the recall of the judge in the case. Now Miller reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words.

"Kiran leaves her home in Punjab for a new start in Canada after a sexual assualt leaves her pregnant. But overstaying her visa and living undocumented brings its own perils for both her and her daughter, Sahaara. Sahaara would do anything to protect her mother. When she learns the truth about Kiran's past, she feels compelled to seek justice--even if it means challenging a powerful and dangerous man.

The author describes the circumstances of her rape as an eighteen-year-old college freshman, the arrest and trial of her attacker, and her struggle to reclaim her shattered life.

This extraordinary graphic novel is a powerful denunciation of sexual violence against women. As seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old girl named Una, it takes place in northern England in 1977, as the Yorkshire Ripper, a serial killer of prostitutes, is on the loose and creating panic among the townspeople. As the police struggle in their clumsy attempts to find the killer, and the headlines in the local paper become more urgent, a once self-confident Una teaches herself to "lower her gaze" in order to deflect attention from boys. After she is "slut-shamed" at school for having birth control pills, Una herself is the subject of violent acts for which she comes to blame herself. But as the police finally catch up and identify the killer, Una grapples with the patterns of behavior that led her to believe she was to blame. Becoming Unbecoming combines various styles, press clippings, photo-based illustrations, and splashes of color to convey Una's sense of confusion and rage, as well as sobering statistics on sexual violence against women. The book is a no-holds-barred indictment of sexual violence against women and the shame and blame of its victims that also celebrates the empowerment of those able to gain control over their selves and their bodies.

From the founder and activist behind one of the largest movements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the 'Me too' movement, Tarana Burke debuts a powerful memoir about her own journey to saying those two simple yet infinitely powerful words--me too--and how she brought empathy back to an entire generation in one of the largest cultural events in American history.

A neuroscientist explores how trauma impacts the brain, especially for women-and how we can learn to heal ourselves Everyone experiences trauma. Whether a specific harrowing event or a series of stressful moments that culminate over time, trauma can echoand etch itself into our brain as we remember it again and again throughout our lives. In Everyday Trauma, neuroscientist Dr. Tracey Shors examines trauma with a focus on its pervasive nature-how it can happen at any time, through big or small events, and how it often reappears in the form of encoded memory. Her research reveals that when we are reminded of our trauma, reliving that tragic moment copies yet another memory of it in our brain, making it that much more difficult to forget. Dr. Shors also explores the neuroscience behind why women in particular are more vulnerable to stress and traumatic events, setting them up to be three times more likely than men to suffer PTSD. With potential long-term consequences such as addiction, anxiety, depression,and PTSD, trauma can have a lasting impact on both the brain and body. Dr. Shors illuminates the effective tools that can reduce the repetitive thoughts that reinforce our traumas, including cognitive-based therapies and trauma-informed care such as herown groundbreaking program, a combination of mental and physical training called MAP Training. By understanding how our brain responds to trauma and practicing proven techniques that can train our brains and help us let go of our tragic memories-whateverthey may be-we are better equipped to leave our traumatic pasts behind and live in a brighter present.

More and more women and men are speaking up about harassment and sexual assualt. Why now? What's changed? And why is there a backlash against it? Students will learn about the issue, with practical tips given on how they can get involved and become part of the solution.

Revealing the strange nature of trauma and exploring how trauma resolution involves changing the body's physiology, this comic explains the science of trauma in easy-to-understand terms.

The author describes her time as a soldier in the United States Army where she was raped by a fellow soldier and had to cope with PTSD, isolation, and commanders who did not believe her story.

If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you may be suffering from symptoms of depression, substance abuse, an eating disorder, panic and anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The Rape Recovery Handbook provides an effective framework in which you can heal. Healing begins by establishing a safety plan that includes how to use this book and what to expect from recovery. In this new book, which is the only step-by-step program that helps victims acknowledge and learn to manage the emotional pain caused by the trauma of sexual assault, trauma expert Aphrodite Matsakis gives you help for coping with the reality of this experience and dealing with the aftermath of conflicting and debilitating feelings.

Silence has the rusty taste of shame. The words shut up are the most terrible words I know. . . . The man who raped me spat these words out over and over during the hours of my attack--when I screamed, when I tried to talk him out of what he was doing, when I protested. It seemed to me that for seven years--until at last I spoke--these words had sunk into my soul and become prophecy. And it seems to me now that these words, the brutish message of tyrants, preserve the darkness that still covers this pervasive crime. The real shame, as I have learned, is to consent to them.

Jeannie Vanasco has had the same nightmare since she was a teenager. She startles awake, saying his name. It is always about him: one of her closest high school friends, a boy named Mark. A boy who raped her. When her nightmares worsen, Jeannie decides-after fourteen years of silence-to reach out to Mark. He agrees to talk on the record and meet in person. "It's the least I can do," he says. Jeannie details her friendship with Mark before and after the assault, asking the brave and urgent question: Is it possible for a good person to commit a terrible act? Jeannie interviews Mark, exploring how rape has impacted his life as well as her own. She examines the language surrounding sexual assault and pushes against its confines, contributing to and deepening the #MeToo discussion. Exacting and courageous, Things We Didn't Talk About When I Was a Girl is part memoir, part true crime record, and part testament to the strength of female friendships-a recounting and reckoning that will inspire us to ask harder questions and interrogate our biases. Jeannie Vanasco examines and dismantles long-held myths of victimhood, discovering grace and power in this genre-bending investigation into the trauma of sexual violence.