Sexual Trauma Healing

[Cecilia1]

Hey everyone! I'm working on a story that focuses on sexual trauma and how to deal with it. I really don't wanna half-ass it or be disrespectful for those who've actually gone through that. I did some research, but would like some feedback if the story outline seems safe enough. If anyone is interested, PM me and I'll share you my story outline.

Thanks!

 

[NuclearFairy]

Well, the problem with seeking advice on how to deal with something like this, is that it's quiet a wide spectrum on how traumatized any one person can feel about it. On the one end you have people who even after the SA view it as no worse than a punch in the gut. While on the other end you have people who view it as this big life ending event that they'll never recover from. And it's all valid, totally completely valid, as are the myriad of ways that exist to heal from such trauma, it's all valid.

So anyways, I'm not telling you not to seek out help, but warning you that they might unknowingly contradict each other, but their experiences are valid and true to themselves.

 

[LegendInMyOwnMind]

What a coincidence. I'm putting the finishing touches on a story where recovery from SA on the FMC is a key theme. I don't describe in detail, just the bare fact that a man perpetrated a specific type of SA. She thought that he loved her until then. She was a not-quite-20-year-old virgin, and as a consequence, she feared and mistrusted men.

MMC, her just-past-20 stepbrother (parents married when they were 12), is the major player in helping her heal, even mostly putting his own life on hold to have more time to help her. Eventual erotic and romantic consequences occur between the main characters.

 

[big_cane_sugar]

IMO the key thing is to put trigger warnings up at the beginning of the story and then tell a story that you believe in. That'll select for readers who are willing to read such a topic, probably grab the interest of some thoughtful ones, some with strong feelings about it. If you're doing your research and really making an effort to sympathize with the characters and figure out how they might feel, you're probably doing well for at least a draft. Then, thank goodness it's the internet, see if you get any really valuable feedback.

Right now I'm writing a story (not for lit) about a woman who's been through some really nasty abuse (enough that she has chosen violence). The story is from the MMC's POV (a guy who isn't a good guy but is not one of the people who abused her), so I really only need to think through the story from her POV so that I can figure out what she will do and say, but I don't have to explain her to the readers except to the extent that she chooses to explain herself to the MMC, which is not very much. Also I'm not aiming to present a "healed" HEA situation, so my goals are less lofty than yours; I only want to show two broken people learning to solve some problems together (for a while) with empathy and respect. They're not going to wind up having fantasy sex.

I also want to confirm NuclearFairy's point, that not all people respond to the same situation the same way. I know a pair of identical twins who grew up in the same household, subject to basically the same BS, and they reacted to it in completely different ways, became such different people that it's hard to believe they're even related, let alone have exactly the same genes. So it doesn't matter if most people would act a certain way, only that your character would act that way. As long as the character is coherent and you're not being too glib, you're probably doing fine.