Perhaps a crucial factor which can be addressed through literacy programming is the legacy of abuse that leaves many women feeling that learning is not for them, that they are only good for sex. Many counselors told me that childhood sexual abuse seems to lead to either a “bad girl” or “good girl” scenario. “Good girls” try to be super good, they work to be perfect in school and escape into the “safety” of school and the mind rather than the body. Some who have experienced severe trauma do extremely well in academic work. “Bad girls,” seem to “believe” that they are only good for sex, as they were often told. They seem to give up on using the mind. This suggests that perhaps a key aspect of the mind that can be addressed in literacy programming is helping learners to shift their own sense that they don't have a mind that works, or that counts. Several students talked about the messages they received about their stupidity. For example, one learner spoke of the way her husband put her down:

Other learners have suggested that what they need is a program to help them: “learn what a mind is” and learn that they “have a mind.” I wondered what such a program would look like and whether it could help learners who have come to believe they do not have a mind.

A layered, integrated curriculum might help learners see that they have a mind and help them to “play” with learning. Play could make learners feel childlike, which might feel like a put-down, or it could make learners feel vulnerable, but it might free learners from the terror of being judged and judging themselves for making mistakes. Learners in every group I talked to told me about the value of learning about how they learn, of understanding that feeling stupid is a product of abuse, of learning that anxiety and “trauma stress” stopped them concentrating. So learning more about different ways of learning and blocks to learning might also be valuable.

One group of learners argued vehemently about whether a course about “learning to learn” should precede literacy learning or take place at the same time. They all worried that a course had to be carefully framed; otherwise it could easily seem like a put-down, a suggestion that they were not doing their lives right, or were not even ready for literacy class. I wondered about possibilities that combined both “before” and “during,” such as an intensive first few weeks and then an . . ongoing support group while learners were taking part in literacy courses. A focus on building a strong sense of self as a learner might avoid some of the sense of put-down and be seen as useful by all learners.