Armies of Enablers: Survivor Stories of Complicity and Betrayal in Sexual Assaults

by Amos N Guiora

What do sexual assault survivors expect of the enabler-bystander?

Focusing on cases of sexual assault from USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University, Penn State University, The Ohio State University, and the Catholic Church, interview after interview sheds compelling light on two powerful responses: that this question had not been previously asked and that survivor expectation of protection and support from the enabler-bystander was rarely, if ever, met.

Clearly the perpetrator benefitted from the complicity of the enabler. From the survivor's perspective, both bear responsibility for their plight and must be held accountable. This book emphasizes individual and institutional enablers alike; in fact, armies of enablers.

Guiora proposes legal, cultural, and social measures aimed at the enabler from the survivor's perspective. The proposed changes will address, and impact, both broader society and specific communities including higher education, elite athletics, sports organizations, religious institutions, law enforcement, the entertainment industry, and elected officials.

With this book, Guiora is committed to sharing survivor stories and to propel change, which is essential to protect future survivors.

258 pages, Paperback

Published September 25, 2020

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part polemic, part manifesto, this book is the tour de force on establishing where we have gone wrong as a culture and the path to a viable, just solution. By interlacing his incisive legal analysis and chronicling legal compliance (he provides statutes, or the lack thereof, for each state) with heartbreaking accounts from survivors, Professor Guiora compels every reader to move beyond contemplation and understanding to the point of immediate action. This book should be read by absolutely every single person who works with children. It should be utilized as the true playbook for individuals that have any oversight of sports, whether youth club activities or College Division I Athletics. This is a work of love, and it is a strong message to survivors that they must persist. Guiora's family would be proud of the legacy that he has brought forward on their behalf: to speak out, stand up, and to protect those who are innocent and vulnerable. This is what the law should be about, and the evil industry of insurance lawyers who are allowed to defend child abuse, and therefore, further engage in abuse, must be stopped.

[Joe Pereles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Survivors of sexual assault must be treated with dignity and respect and we must do all that we can to bring to light and hold accountable those who enable sexual assault. Guiora’s book, “Armies of Enablers – Survivor Stories of Complicity and Betrayal in Sexual Assaults” challenges us to take steps to advocate for institutional changes and help enact legislation to punish the enabler and to educate the public why just punishing the perpetrator is not enough. Those who allow sexual assault to take place, that is, the enabler, without taking action to stop it must pay the price. This is a book you must read but more importantly you must not just put it down when you complete it but take steps to encourage legislative action against the evil enabler. An excellent book and highly recommended.

[Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The decision to do nothing is as much an act as the decision to do something."

Armies of Enablers by Amos N. Guiora proposes a legal obligation of a Duty to Act by a bystander or an enabler on behalf of a survivor.

For the survivors in this book, they suggest suffering from dual abuse. They were abused by the predator and then, as one survivor puts it, the enablers "held me by the fucking throat." It was important for Amos to not sugar-coat anything the survivors wanted to say about the enablers because the purpose of this book is to highlight what the survivors expected of the enablers. They wanted help from the people they trusted, the people who were in a position to help them the most and those people failed them.

"Until enabling is recognized as a criminal act, we - intentionally or otherwise - enable the enabler to continue enabling. As a result of our continued unwillingness to demand enablers be penalized for their actions, we fail the survivors. That is something that must no longer be tolerated."

Legislating a duty to act on bystanders and enablers will not stop abuse from occurring, but it will create a society that will hold all relevant parties to abuse  accountable. This will hopefully shift us from a society of individualism, and more into a society that values every member and wants no member to suffer on the account of another.

[Antechinus · Rating 3 out of 5]

started of well then became the normal academic fodder of quote your previous work and self promotion