Fearless Journalism: How Violent Sex Helped Ease My PTSD

http://www.good.is/post/how-violent-sex-helped-ease-my-ptsd/Journalist Mac McClelland covers the human rights beat for Mother Jones magazine, and the experiences of her profession led to her developing PTSD. Here's her account, for Good magazine, about how it affected her. It's fearless journalism, and not easy to read, but well worth your time:

How Violent Sex Helped Ease My PTSD

Sexual Harassment and PTSD

A new study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence examines why (and how) sexual harassment can cause PTSD.

The paper is behind a subscription firewall, but here's the abstract:

Researchers have compiled significant evidence demonstrating that sexual harassment leads to psychological harm, including the full symptom picture of PTSD, but few have examined the psychological processes involved. Research on attributions among trauma victims would suggest that causal attributions and perceptions of control may be important predictors of outcomes. The authors discuss a study involving a path model that used data from 189 women involved in sexual harassment litigation. Results indicate that both self-blame and harasser blame were positively related to PTSD symptoms. Control over recovery and the perception that future harassment is unlikely were both related to fewer PTSD symptoms. Unexpectedly, perceived control over future harassment is related to higher levels of PTSD symptoms. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Here's the link:

PTSD Symptoms and Sexual Harassment: The Role of Attributions and Perceived Control — J Interpers Violence

67% of prostitutes meet criteria for PTSD

Tim Bates, columnist for the Rome Observer, digs up some surprising statistics about prostitution:

"the Council for Prostitution Alternatives, in Portland, Oregon... found that 85 percent of surveyed prostitutes reported a history of sexual abuse in childhood, while 70 percent reported incest. Compare that to estimates of childhood sexual abuse in the general population at anywhere from 15- 38 percent of women and 12-16 percent of men...

"Other statistics ... over half have been raped or beaten by a client, more than three quarters have been physically assaulted while in prostitution and/or have attempted suicide, and that 67 percent meet diagnostic criteria for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."

Bates is arguing that prostitution is hardly a "victimless crime," as many often see it, but tends to involve people who have already been traumatized victimized and makes it likely for the women to be further traumatized at every step.

Crimes against prostitutes are far too often ignored by the police. This is a segment of the population whose trauma almost makes them invisible.

Let's not forget that soldiers aren't the only people with PTSD, and that war takes on many forms.

Rape, PTSD & Breastfeeding

A traumatic event can affect a person's entire life, but what happens when another life is brought into the equation?

According to Dr. Wendy Walsh, writing on the site Mom Logic, victims of rape or other forms of sexual assault can find themselves triggered by something otherwise very natural: breastfeeding.

But as Walsh writes, women can also use breastfeeding as a way to empower themselves and take back their bodies from the memory of trauma.

Read more here:

Breastfeeding and Rape Trauma