Philadelphia Weekly is partnering with sexual-abuse survivors, their loved ones and counselors for an upcoming publishing project that will raise awareness about the effects of abuse and the challenges associated with healing.

Sexual abuse comes in many forms, and can happen in the situations you’d least expect.
And too often, survivors are paralyzed by a culture that silences, shames and blames
them. Philadelphia Weekly is dedicated to combat this phenomenon through first-person
storytelling, bringing to light the one thing that’s missing from the national conversation:
the reality of what it’s like to heal from the devastating effects of abuse.

PW has invited those whose lives have been impacted by sexual abuse to share their own
stories, in their own words. And not just survivors themselves, but also their spouses,
family members, friends and advocates—because healing from abuse does not occur in a
vacuum. It requires the support of loved ones.

Since announcing the project in June, Philadelphia Weekly has collected dozens of first-
person essays from survivors, their loved ones and both local and non-local therapists. In
some cases, entire families have submitted essays, each writing from their individual
perspective about how the abuse of one person in their family affected everyone.
Contributors are all ages, genders, sexual orientations, races and economic backgrounds.
Many are from the Philadelphia region, but some are out-of-state residents, having heard
of the project through social media.

Philadelphia Weekly is seeking to collect as many essays as possible. Selected essays will
be published in the Nov. 14 issue of PW, and a larger selection will subsequently be
published in book form.

The deadline to submit an essay is Friday, Sept. 28. Email senior editor Nina
Hoffmann at nhoffmann@philadelphiaweekly.com for more details.

For additional information about the project, please visit this page.