Sexual Assault

by Kay Scott

Will I Ever Feel Okay Again?"Kay Scott helps us to feel the pain, fear, shame, self-loathing and doubt, but also the courage, faith, friendship, support, and growth of her pathway through a personal hell. This is a helpful book for all parents, pastors, youth workers, and teachers to read.... All who are victimized by these violations of self bear scars that cannot be truly healed unless they gain insights contained in these pages...."Jay Kesler, President, Taylor University"...writes passionately of the aftermath of agony that haunts the victims of rape. Yet with equal passion she offers a message of hope and healing...an invaluable resource for those who have been victimized and the people who love them."Lynne Hybels, Willow Creek Community Church"Kay's confidence in the mysterious and wonderful work of God invites the reader to experience life-changing hope in the face of the darkest deed perpetrated against the soul...must reading for any who personally face the heartache of rape or struggle to love one who has been violated...a must read for any who want to face the reality of living in a fallen world with piercing honesty and winsome hope."Dan Allender, Ph.D. Biblical Counseling DepartmentColorado Christian University"Compelling and invaluable...skillfully combines Kay's own intensely personal experience as a recovered rape victim with her years of advocacy for other survivors. This book offers emotiona

Genres: Psychology

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1993

Reviews

[Ruth Everhart · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished re-reading this book a while ago but put off the review because I felt rather stuck. I was a victim of sexual violence in 1978, and am working on a book about the experience, from a perspective of more than 30 years. How did that experience shape my faith? I have begun to read the literature in the field of faith-based responses to sexual violence -- which is unfortunately a small field. (if you have any titles to suggest, please do so!)

On the one hand, this is a fine book. The author writes about her own experience of sexual assault in a straightforward way. Her story has probably been helpful to many people. As I read it, I realized I had indeed read it when it was first published in 1981. I even reviewed it at that time for a Christian feminist magazine out of Chicago called "Daughters of Sarah." I distinctly remembered why the book upset me -- it suggests that rape takes something away from a woman. She is "mutilated" or less than whole, a fact which can be resolved by having a baby. In 1981 I was not yet a mother, and the thought that I would have to wait for some magical bodily event of birth to become "whole" again was infuriating. And it didn't sound like a faith-based response. Can you imagine Jesus saying such a thing?

In addition, there is a new section on "Abortion in the case of Rape." (possibly it was there before and I just didn't get that far). This section was truly troubling. Here is a sentence: "In a rape, the woman is the victim; but in an abortion, she is the aggressor." (p. 187) I hate to think that a Christian woman who had become pregnant from being raped might read this section of the book and take it to heart.

[Jaachim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I had a copy of this book to keep. There's a lot of good insight about coping and it definitely helped me normalize a lot of the things I'm feeling right now about myself and about God. Ultimately it's a message of hope, which is something I need now more than ever.

[Minhee Song · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book at the start of this year because I found myself asking this question to myself: will I be okay again? My PTSD was debilitating. I didn’t know if there was ever going to be a light at the end of this tunnel. As I read Scott’s honest experiences of what happened to her and how she has been affected by what happened to her, my heart truly broke for her. What she went through was different from what I went through but a lot of the pain that came from her experience resembled mine. I cried as I read her book and I was also so encouraged. Reading about how she is choosing to forgive her perpetrators and trying to move on has been inspiring. A lot of the Bible references she has came from the New Testament so I started reading the New Testament after her reading her book, which has been healing with my healing and my faith.

[Doug Dale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful for understanding some of the issues that victims of sexual assault face.