Power From Above to Heal

Today's B.L.A.S.T. of power, healing, and self-discovery is about how we as Christians are powerful earthen vessels with treasures from the Lord above (2 Cor 4:7)!! This power and treasures afford us innumerable opportunities to heal our psychological domains.  

Within our psychological domains lie our mental processes, conscious mind, unconscious mind, perception, social judgments, memory, and belief systems.  Everything that we have experienced from conception is stored in the unconscious, including the subliminal messages we receive daily.  

Carl Jung, a Swiss psychotherapist and psychiatrist stated, "subliminal aspects of everything that happens to us may seem to play very little part in our daily lives, but they are almost invisible roots of our conscious thoughts."

To hear more, join me, today and every Monday, on the Kingdom Impact Prayer Line at 12 noon as I reveal pearls from within my earthen vessel about the 6 Domains of the Authentic Self!!  

Dial 1-603-488-0700; Code 0462 #1 

On Being & Living my Authentic Self, Today!!

Can Anything End Rape Culture?

This is the last Thursday in April 2013 for us to spread awareness for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  Another blogger by the name of Anupreet Sandhu Bhamra gave an interesting perspective about ending rape culture.  Ms. Bhamra posted an article titled, Why These 5 "Solutions" Won't End Rape Culture.  In her article, she raged against, for example, teaching self-defense classes and wearing anti-rape underwear as tips of ending rape culture.  If you are like me, then you are wondering what is anti-rape underwear and how does it end rape culture, let alone prevent sexual assault. 

Three engineering students in New Delhi, India created a GPS equipped device titled, Society Harnessing Equipment, S.H.E. 

This device possesses the capability of sending an electric current of 3,800 kilovolts that will knock down sexual perpetrators and also notify police when activated. 

I rage with Ms. Bhamra; although, the S.H.E. is a thoughtful invention that was created as an outcry from the recent gang rape and murder of a girl on a New Delhi public bus, it will never end rape culture.  Again, as we have postulated in earlier blogs, rape culture is a societal issue, not a women's issue.  The S.H.E. device 'may' prevent sexual assault, but I have a few other questions?   

• How much does this device cost and when will it be on the international market?  
• What about the women and girls who are being raped at home, which statistics reveal that most sexual assaults are committed by individuals who the victims know? What device will they have to prevent from being sexually assaulted?
• How can police officials guarantee to arrive at the scene in time to prevent the assault?  
• Will women have enough time to get away from the perp once the individual is shocked?

I rage, not because the S.H.E. device lacks the potential to prevent some sexual assaults.  I am truly impressed at the students' thoughtfulness and invention.  I rage out of anger and disappointment because I know that every woman will not be afforded the opportunity to own a S.H.E. device. I fear the reality of knowing that around this globe women and girls may still be sexually assaulted.  Why?  Because the only thing that can end rape culture is for people to stop assaulting others.  Rape dates further back than biblical times.  No device or self-defense class will prevent the sole individual decision to honor self and others by following the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  

Wielding, raging, and re-framing,

Dr. Latisha Webb

Go viral!!

As we rage against our rape culture and spread awareness of sexual assault during the entire month of April, another way to refuse to remain silent is to go viral...

Check out this news clip from a YouTube upload of one of Nevada's Democratic Congresswoman Dina Titus:

Since our culture lusts after cell phone uploads on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, for example, of intoxicated young girls being assaulted by high school football stars, as in the Steubenville case, seen below in the Fox news clip uploaded on YouTube

or as when I search 'girl fight' in YouTube that there are over 707,000 options  to choose from, which I refuse to upload and perpetuate the exploitation of women, I believe that we can use that same time, energy, and technology to make everyone aware that sexual assault, especially among girls and women needs to cease.

My suggestion, like Congresswoman Titus, is to go viral!! Go viral and rage against the rape culture in our society.  You can begin by sharing this blog post via Facebook, email, or Goggle+.  How many dare to rage with me?

Wielding, raging, and re-framing...

Dr. Latisha Webb

I swear...

Throughout this month, I, Dr. Latisha Webb, swear never to be silent again about injury, 

victimization, or trauma against women, 

especially sexual trauma.  

As I continue to rage against our rape culture, Terri, the Founder of Operation Butterfly: Wings of Hope, also rages and swears never to be silent again. 

"The first time I swore never to be silent about my sexual trauma was in 2006 when I began therapy."--Terri, Founder of Operation Butterfly: Wings of Hope

Terri first swore never to be silent about her sexual trauma during the orientation and planning session for her doctoral program at Fielding Graduate University. She used her educational experiences to find her voice about her own trauma. Terri stated, "I used to write about my trauma through what I call the Power of the Pen (POP). I built my first website for Operation Butterfly: Wings of Hope as one of my class assignments.  I remember telling one of my female professors at Fielding, 'I just got my voice back.' I stated it with excitement, yet in a whisper."

Terri no longer whispers; she vocalizes about her sexual trauma through her outreach efforts in the prison system, in group settings, and in her writings. Not only does she share about her sexual trauma, but she discloses about her PTSD and bouts with depression. She swears to never stop taking her anti-depressants to avoid "crashing and burning," which led to her seeking therapy in the first place.  

When I asked Terri to share her swear statement in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, she declared the following four statements:

I swear never to be silent again.

I swear never to be a PSK (Professional Secret Keeper).

I swear never to blame the victim.

I swear never to be controlled by my sexual trauma.

After talking with Terri, we decided to join forces against our rape culture by wearing a white ribbon for the remainder of the month for Sexual Assault Awareness. We agreed that wearing a white ribbon may spark interest and inquiry, in hopes, to bring attention and awareness to injury, victimization, and trauma for women. We swear to speak out today, this month, and forevermore about the injury, victimization, and trauma against women.

Wielding, raging, re-framing

Dr. Latisha Webb

Raging Against Prevention: Remembering Ms. Megan Williams

During this April, the campaign for Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) focuses on healthy sexuality and child sexual abuse prevention.  SAAM encourages people to join the conversation.  Ok, let’s start conversing.  

My recent Google search of rape culture opened my eyes to the apparent rage against prevention of victimization, trauma, and injury.  Numerous news articles, commentaries, and even YouTube videos rage against our culture’s emphasis on prevention that causes victims to be occupied with guilt and self-blame.  Remember Ms. Megan Williams, the black woman who was victimized by six white people in West Virginia in 2007? Let’s look at the YouTube video to jog our memory. 

In spite of Ms. Williams recanting her story two years after the incident made national news, I want us to ponder the idea of prevention in relation to her case.  Could Ms. Williams have prevented this horrendous act from happening to her?  What types of questions did the investigators ask her about her whereabouts and the events that led up to the kidnapping?  Was guilt and self-blame the cause of such a bizarre decision to recant her allegations in spite of the evidence, not her testimony, that proved the guilty verdicts?

Six years later, Ms. Williams' victimization, trauma, and injury, among so many others, lost its affect on us due to our society being desensitized to victimization.  Acts like the ones in Ms. Williams case seem to be a part of our culture.  Oftentimes, after the initial shock wears off we return to the regularly scheduled programming, such as Law & Order, SVU, which highlights fictitious cases of sexual victimization, mostly towards women. 

In commemoration of SAAM, the conversation continues.  Stop by the Commentator's Column next week to converse on rape culture within the context of healthy sexuality.

Wielding, raging, and re-framing,

                                                                                                                                       

Dr. Latisha Webb