Please be aware that this post deals with sexual assault and rape. Please take care of yourself and if you find this subject triggering, please scroll on. Against my instincts, I attended your session at the Margaret River Readers and Writers Festival On Rape. I was going to ask a question and during the session …
Tag Archives: Sexual Assault – effects
Imagine a sector…
This is the speech I gave at the Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC), which was celebrating its 40th anniversary and had accepted my offer to speak briefly at the event. Most of you know me as Pip Brennan, Executive Director of the Health Consumers’ Council. I am also a survivor of a sexual assault during …
What it everything was perfect just the way it is?
I have been asking myself this question quite a few times this week. It is a question to calm my spirit as I try and feel am consistently failing at making a positive difference in the world through the endless committees that I sit on. This morning for example I am attending a forum about …
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How to Make Gravy
I am old enough to recall going to the Herdsman Hotel in Perth in 1990, to catch the last set of a Paul Kelly gig before leaving for Europe. No queue, no charge. All the time I lived in Europe, which was pretty much all of the 90’s, I never stopped playing his music. It …
Some Resources…
Some women (and men) may be triggered by reading posts in the Not My Story Blog. I have put together a simple list for Western Australian women of support services they can access. For those in Western Australia, the main referral agency is the Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC): SARC 24-Hour Crisis Line: 9340 1828 …
What Happens to Inquiry Recommendations? Is this a dumb question?
I have been doing a lot of thinking this week about accountability and what happens to Inquiries when their voluminous reports are released. Specificically I have been thinking about the Recommendations from the West Australian Inquiry into the Prosecution of Assaults and Sexual Offences undertaken several years ago now; the above link is to the 2008 …
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Speaking out – again
Many many moons after my early brush with The West, I once again was contacted, through channels that are hard to be clear about (probably old online references to Reclaiming Voices) to contribute to a GP magazine. Hold on a minute, GPs. I run a not for profit that supports women’s choices, including homebirth. Not …
The Press – Whose Story?
One of the defining experiences for me in wanting to write my book, was my early brush with the media. I had always had it in my mind that I would speak up about my experiences, once all the legal processes had been completed and there were no possible repercussions on that front. Hell my …
Editing to reach the end…
Ah what it is to have a day off every week. I don’t achieve this feat every week but I do my best, and today the stars aligned. So down to the very last bit of editing before the next print round and edits. It always seems so difficult to know when to end, to …