Research & Literature

The ‘me too.’ Movement presents this collection of resources as one of the many places you can start your healing journey. Whether you find a memoir that lets you go inside the mind of an actual survivor through their first-person account of harm and healing, or you want to read up on statistics and research that can propel your own healing or activism, this ever-expanding library is for you.

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Power Sex and Shame: Overcoming Sexual Exploitation

Peter Mosgofian, Self-Help

For the very sensitive and delicate nature of this book, Mosgofian writes with extreme compassion and an abundant covering of grace for survivors of sexual exploitation. He also equally aims his words as a rod of responsibility and justice to the perpetrators. He shares personal stories of folks from all walks of life and in the heart and soul of these stories, helps the reader feel a profound empathetic connectivity. He discusses the multiple women who worked through several stages of grief and eventually pushed past fears and expressed anger in constructive ways to bring about justice, such as in the Harvey Weinstein case. He speaks on the #metoo and #timesup movements at length. Furthermore, the author delves into the psychology of the dangerous triangles of love, sex, and power for any influential person who could potentially become a sexual predator/violator.

Also, this book explores the psychology of the survivor of exploitation, and the subsequent healing required, in a way that does not shame the survivor. Mosgofian discusses at length the different profiles and pathologies of violators and goes a step further to discuss the “miracle of true apology and restoration” for the violator. He says, “I humbly ask my brothers and sisters throughout the world to join me in this battle against the ‘new slavery:’ sexual exploitation in all its forms.” This book is highly recommended, as the writer not only declares practical and spiritual war on the evils of sexual exploitation, but calls us all to it.

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Pressure Makes Diamonds: Becoming The Woman I Pretended To Be

Valerie Graves, Akashic Books, 2016, Memoir/Biography/Autobiography

Pressure Makes Diamonds: Becoming The Woman I Pretended To Be, by Valerie Graves, is a memoir about Valerie “pretending” to be smart and talented, only to learn she wasn’t pretending: she was leveraging. It is the story of lingering insecurities coupled with shrewd maneuvers, using history and music as a backdrop.

A witty and earnest remembering of angels who dotted her path, Valerie dishes the wisdom learned on the murky shores surrounding “Mud Lake” Michigan. Her experiences within this context enrich her creativity and, eventually, her bank account, thanks to people like former coworker Laverne, who was married to a “junkie” but grateful that he wasn’t a “cheater.”

Readers are also treated to a behind-the-scene look at the world of advertising and her relentless commitment to “put some respect” on ads that carry black narratives.

Her most compelling chapters detail her earlier struggles with black culture. Growing up on Motown, Valerie felt liberated by The Rolling Stones, a by-product of being caught between “two white worlds” – an ad agency during the day and club scene at night.

Other notable moments of vulnerability include the time she fought back “ugly thoughts about dealing with a black business” when an ad agency rescinded its job offer, not to mention the frustration of black agencies being given smaller budgets, yet still being expected to deliver high-quality work.

I highly recommend this book as proof that a strong work ethic will create a seat at the table that no “ism” can deny.

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Re-visioning the Sexual Violence Continuum

Lydia Guy | 2006

The continuum was designed as a visual aid to illustrate the concept of rape culture. The objective was to provide a simple way to describe a complex phenomenon. The interesting thing about portraying something as a picture is that even though we draw the picture to represent how we see the issue, how we see the issue is affected by our experience of looking at the picture. In most visual conceptualizations the image not only reflects our belief system but also shapes our belief system. This is one of the things that make them so profound, and the main reason I choose to re-envision the sexual violence continuum.

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