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Jun. 8th, 2004 02:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pantryslutI [heart] Staci Haines.
"Waiting for our external environment to be safe again, or safe enough, leaves us waiting for years. Really, we can't ever guarantee a safe world. What we can do is develop our capacity to protect ourselves."
Everybody should seek out a copy of Healing Sex, which is, I quote, "a revolutionary project mixing documentary style drama with education and mind/body exercises. The film follows a diverse cast of women and men healing from past sexual abuse. We witness their path to a more pleasurable and healthy sex life as they struggle to find peace, healing, and real intimacy." I like it because it doesn't coddle and it doesn't encourage survivors to avoid their strong emotional reactions. It expects you to work through it and come out the other side. (I have strong opinions on this subject; for further information I recommend the essay "The Collapsible Woman," which was originally published in a back issue of Bitch* and really profoundly shaped my thinking on the topic.)
Really, I have never been this impressed by a how-to movie. I've admired Staci Haines for a long time for her compassionate plain-spokenness, but now I am in love.
If you're in the SF area, you can go to her release party on June 13.
You might want to read her book, too. It's my impression/opinion that The Survivor's Guide To Sex was more focused on childhood sexual abuse per se than the movie is, though there's still a clear lean to the material. Still, I think it's valuable for all sorts of people -- survivors of sexual abuse and assault, their partners, and lots of other people as well -- heck, the boy was deriving some good just from the embodiment exercises last night.
This is a pre-review rave. I never do this. Take note.
*Volume 3, Number 3. Sold out. Sorry.
"Waiting for our external environment to be safe again, or safe enough, leaves us waiting for years. Really, we can't ever guarantee a safe world. What we can do is develop our capacity to protect ourselves."
Everybody should seek out a copy of Healing Sex, which is, I quote, "a revolutionary project mixing documentary style drama with education and mind/body exercises. The film follows a diverse cast of women and men healing from past sexual abuse. We witness their path to a more pleasurable and healthy sex life as they struggle to find peace, healing, and real intimacy." I like it because it doesn't coddle and it doesn't encourage survivors to avoid their strong emotional reactions. It expects you to work through it and come out the other side. (I have strong opinions on this subject; for further information I recommend the essay "The Collapsible Woman," which was originally published in a back issue of Bitch* and really profoundly shaped my thinking on the topic.)
Really, I have never been this impressed by a how-to movie. I've admired Staci Haines for a long time for her compassionate plain-spokenness, but now I am in love.
If you're in the SF area, you can go to her release party on June 13.
You might want to read her book, too. It's my impression/opinion that The Survivor's Guide To Sex was more focused on childhood sexual abuse per se than the movie is, though there's still a clear lean to the material. Still, I think it's valuable for all sorts of people -- survivors of sexual abuse and assault, their partners, and lots of other people as well -- heck, the boy was deriving some good just from the embodiment exercises last night.
This is a pre-review rave. I never do this. Take note.
*Volume 3, Number 3. Sold out. Sorry.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Wow!
Date: 2004-06-08 09:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-09 09:20 am (UTC)