HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018569.jpg
2.59 MB
Extraction Summary
12
People
1
Organizations
0
Locations
2
Events
2
Relationships
4
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Blog post / article printout
File Size:
2.59 MB
Summary
This document is a printout of a blog post (likely by Clarisse Thorn, dated around Jan 30, 2012) titled 'Social Responsibility Within Activism.' It discusses 'transformative justice' as an alternative to the prison system and includes personal anecdotes about navigating relationships with people who have caused harm. Specifically, the author details a Thanksgiving dinner with a closeted lesbian friend and her homophobic mother, and reflects on receiving an email about a respected friend being accused of sexual assault, drawing parallels to a past high school incident involving rape. The document is part of a House Oversight production (018569).
People (12)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Clarisse Thorn | Author |
Inferred from the URL in the text; writing about social responsibility and sexual violence.
|
| Ching-In Chen | Editor |
Editor of 'The Revolution Starts At Home'
|
| Jai Dulani | Editor |
Editor of 'The Revolution Starts At Home'
|
| Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha | Editor |
Editor of 'The Revolution Starts At Home'
|
| Kay | Friend of Author's Mother |
A lesbian guest at Thanksgiving dinner whose mother does not know her orientation.
|
| Kay's Mom | Guest |
Guest at Thanksgiving dinner; described as 'really nice' but holds homophobic views.
|
| Author's Mother | Host |
Hosted the Thanksgiving dinner.
|
| Author's Mother's Boyfriend | Guest |
Attended the Thanksgiving dinner.
|
| Unnamed Friend (Accused) | Friend of Author |
Someone the author likes/admires who was credibly accused of sexual assault.
|
| Unnamed Friend (Emailer) | Informer |
Emailed the author to inform them of the assault accusation.
|
| High School Male Friend | Perpetrator |
Raped a female acquaintance of the author in high school.
|
| High School Female Acquaintance | Victim |
Victim of rape by the author's male friend.
|
Organizations (1)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| House Oversight Committee |
Document source/footer (HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018569)
|
Timeline (2 events)
High School era
Sexual assault incident involving a close male friend and a female acquaintance.
High School context
High School Male Friend
Female Acquaintance
Key Quotes (4)
"But there's a lot of other work out there on how to deal with a perpetrator of violence without resorting to our corrupt and violent established prison system."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018569.jpg
Quote #1
"One very intense, very important issue I grappled with this week was having a friend email me to inform me that another friend -- someone I like and admire a lot -- has been credibly accused of sexual assault by a person who will never press charges."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018569.jpg
Quote #2
"When I was in high school, one of my closest male friends raped a female acquaintance of mine."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018569.jpg
Quote #3
"I mean... she's really nice. I mean, she clearly tries to be a good person... I've been thinking a lot lately about how to engage with people who have done bad things, or who are currently doing things I think are bad..."Source
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018569.jpg
Quote #4
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (3,367 characters)
biggest recurring questions in my life. Later events have taught me a lot about work that has already been done on accountability within communities. In particular, I want to highlight the book The Revolution Starts At Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities (edited by Ching-In Chen, Jai Dulani, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha), which was published in 2011.
But there's a lot of other work out there on how to deal with a perpetrator of violence without resorting to our corrupt and violent established prison system. People of color should be credited for much of this work, because communities of color are rarely well-served by the criminal justice system, and thus have particular incentives to seek alternatives. Sometimes, this field is called "transformative justice" or "restorative justice." Here is a post that links to a number of resources on transformative justice:
http://clarissethorn.com/blog/2012/01/30/some-transformative-justice-links/
http://clarissethorn.com/blog/2012/01/30/some-transformative-justice-links/
* * *
Social Responsibility Within Activism
Tonight I had Thanksgiving dinner with my mother and her boyfriend. Some friends of my mother attended, one of whom is a lesbian who I'll call Kay. Kay attended dinner with her mother, who is unaware of Kay's sexual orientation. One of the reasons Kay's mom doesn't know about Kay's sexual orientation is that Kay's mom has already behaved quite badly towards Kay's elder sister, who is an out-of-the-closet lesbian.
I knew this whole situation going in, and one thing that struck me was how much of a nice person Kay's mom is. I mean... she's really nice. I mean, she clearly tries to be a good person. She also tried really hard to help me do the dishes. (I didn't let her because I wanted them all to myself.)
I've been thinking a lot lately about how to engage with people who have done bad things, or who are currently doing things I think are bad (like shaming their lesbian daughters). It wouldn't have been right to throw my sex-positive ideas on the table while talking to Kay's mom -- mostly because Kay specifically asked me not to, ahead of time. But. The most powerful tool for getting people to reconsider their stigma against alternative sexuality is personal engagement. Don't I have some responsibility here? Is there something I can do?
Other examples of this are rife. One very intense, very important issue I grappled with this week was having a friend email me to inform me that another friend -- someone I like and admire a lot -- has been credibly accused of sexual assault by a person who will never press charges. This has come up before in my life... every time it's a little different, and yet so many things are the same: a person is assaulted, the news gets out among friends, the survivor doesn't press charges, there is confusion among the friends about how to act, eventually things die down, and I feel as though I should have done more.
When I was in high school, one of my closest male friends raped a female acquaintance of mine. She didn't press charges and they later had a romance that was, to all appearances, consensual. I pieced events together slowly -- he did acknowledge what he'd done, though never directly to me. I didn't know what to do, at the time, and I still feel as though I should have done so much more. He and I were so close. I never had the nerve
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_018569
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