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Last Words
| Jenny: |
Mary's and my relationship began five years
ago with her first comment about her childhood in the women's group. Since that
time we have often struggled with all the issues we have discussed in this
section. We still meet regularly (once every two weeks) and do the sort of work
described in "Literacy Work with Memories." The tensions described here are
only one side of the story. It is hard to find words which do not sound trite
to describe the enormous amount of learning I have done in this relationship.
Working with Mary has demanded an intense honesty, and to get there I have had
to reflect and become more honest with myself. Through this work I have been
challenged to develop my own analysis of literacy work and this unequal
society. Through all the ups and downs, we have built an enormous amount of
trust as we have learned to challenge each other and to laugh at ourselves a
little. |
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| Mary: |
When working with Jenny I have been able to
trust - not everyone - but Jenny. It was hard for me at first, but Jenny kept
telling me it was not my fault. I said it was, and she asked me why I thought
it was my fault when these people were the ones who did this to me. It was
still hard for me to believe that it was not my fault. Jenny and I worked on
this and we read things together. I found this really helped me. Since I have
worked with Jenny I can put my anger on the ones who deserve it. I got very
angry a lot and it was at the wrong ones. When Jenny and I read things out of
books she has, I could see it happened to other people. I thought I was the
only one this had ever happened to. We read about a lot of people who were
sexually abused like me. I would like people like me, that are in literacy
because they cannot read and write and have been abused, to get help. Jenny has
helped me a lot and I could not ask for someone more understanding than her.
Jenny is always there to help me with these things. |
Resources
(See the
Bibliography for complete listings.)
* Shows those books which are at a
beginning or intermediate reading level
Materials on the issue of violence and learning in the
context of memories of violence
Brookes, Anne-Louise. Feminist Pedagogy: An Autobiographical
Approach
Butler, Sandra. Conspiracy of Silence: The Trauma of Incest
Canadian Congress for Learning Opportunities for Women. Isolating
the Barriers and Strategies for Prevention: A Kit about Violence and Women's
Education for Adult Educators and Adult Learners
Fraser, Sylvia.
"Freud's Final Seduction" in Saturday Night (March 1994)
Fraser,
Sylvia. My Father's House
Gowen, S.G., L. Belcher and C. Barlett.
"Friends in the kitchen": Lessons from survivors of domestic violence in a
workplace literacy program. Working draft.
Guberman, Connie and Margie
Wolfe, eds. No Safe Place: Violence Against Women and
Children
Hudson, L.P. "Why aren't there more creative women?" In Bass,
Ellen and Louise Thornton, eds. I Never Told Anyone: Writings by
Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
McBeth, Sally and Vivienne
Stollmeyer. "East End Literacy: A Women's Discussion Group" in Canadian
Woman Studies, 9 (3 & 4)
Miller, Alice. Breaking Down the Wall
of Silence |