Conspiracy Activists Accused Of Framing Mueller For Rape

The special counsel investigation headed by Robert Mueller referred new allegations to the FBI for investigation yesterday. These new allegations don’t involve Russian meddling in American elections, however. Instead, they relate to an attempt by conservative activists to frame Mr. Mueller for sexual assault.

The story began when the Gateway Pundit reported that “Robert Mueller was accused by a very credible witness of rape.” The story, which has since been removed, alleged that Mueller raped a woman in the St. Regis Hotel in New York in 2010.

The story quickly collapsed when two women claimed that they had been offered money in exchange for accusing Mueller of sexual misconduct. Lorraine Parsons, in an email obtained by The Atlantic, described how a man with a British accent from a company called Surefire Intelligence had contacted her because she worked as a paralegal for Mueller in 1974. Parsons said that the man told her he had been hired by “some sort of politics guy in Washington named Jack Burkman.” Burkman is a talk show host and lobbyist best known for pushing conspiracy theories about the murder of Seth Rich.

Burkman tweeted at noon on Tuesday, “On Thursday, November 1, at the Rosslyn Holiday Inn at noon, we will reveal the first of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's sex assault victims. I applaud the courage and dignity and grace and strength of my client.”

Parson’s email describing the plot to defame Mueller was sent to numerous journalists. In it, she described how the man who contacted her “said (and I will never forget exactly what it was) ‘I want you to make accusations of sexual misconduct and workplace harassment against Robert Mueller, and I want you to sign a sworn affidavit to that effect.’”

In exchange for her testimony, she wrote, the man “offered to pay off all of my credit card debt, plus bring me a check for $20,000 if I would do” it.  She added, “He knew exactly how much credit card debt I had, right down to the dollar, which sort of freaked me out.”

The trail to Surefire Intelligence showed that the company was incorporated in Delaware only a few weeks ago per The Atlantic. The records for the company’s website domain registry led to another activist, Jacob Wohl. Wohl’s email was listed as a contact and a telephone number on the Surefire website belonged to Wohl’s mother.

Wohl is an avid Trump supporter and former hedge fund manager. He was accused of cheating clients of his fund as well as using pictures of women without permission on his website. More recently, Wohl has operated a conspiracy website, The Washington Reporter.

At midday on Oct. 30, Wohl teased the upcoming release of the Mueller story, tweeting, “Several media sources tell me that a scandalous story about Mueller is breaking tomorrow. Should be interesting. Stay tuned!”

Interestingly, Jane Mayer of the New Yorker pointed out on Twitter that Wohl and Matthew Cohen, the founder of Surefire Intelligence, bear a striking resemblance to one another. In fact, the two appear to be the same person.

If that weren’t enough, a second woman has also come forward to claim that Surefire approached her about her “encounters with Robert Mueller.” Jennifer Taub, a Vermont Law School professor, says that the company offered to pay her for information about Mueller. Taub, who says that she has never met or had contact with Mueller but has acted as a legal expert about the Mueller investigation for news organizations, promptly forwarded the email from Surefire to the special counsel office. Taub discussed the solicitation in a phone call with MSNBC.

To its credit, the Gateway Pundit has removed the allegations about Mueller from its website. A message at the link where the story was posted says, “We took the documents down and we are currently investigating these accusations. There are also very serious allegations against Jacob Wohl. We are also looking into this.” The site also notes, “There is still a press conference scheduled for Thursday at noon in Washington DC.”

Both Burkman and Wohl deny the allegations against them. Burkman tweeted,“The allegations of paying a woman are false.  The left is trying to defend Mueller against sex assault allegations so they attack me in desperation.” Burkman also tweeted, “The woman to whom we allegedly offered payment--Lorraine Parsons--does not exist.”

In a series of tweets, Wohl said the media was “accusing me of offering to pay accusers with ZERO PROOF and ZERO EVIDENCE!” He also claimed that “this ‘woman’ who claims she was offered payment is actually just an invention of the MSM aimed at discrediting the actual accuser (who is VERY credible).”

Wohl and Burkman both claim that their press conference will go ahead as scheduled on Thursday. It should be interesting to see if they follow through with their plans and who, if anyone, shows up to accuse Mueller with them.

Originally published on The Resurgent

Why This Rape Victim Is Pro-Kavanaugh

Much has been written about the #MeToo opposition to Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court. The accusations of sexual misconduct against Judge Kavanaugh have stirred many to protest his impending confirmation to the Supreme Court. However, scant attention has been paid to the victims of sexual violence who support Kavanaugh.

One of the survivors of sexual assault who strongly supports Brett Kavanaugh is Debi Thornton of Columbus, Georgia. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll state here for the record that Mrs. Thornton is my beautiful wife of 18 years.

When she was 15-years-old, Debi was raped by three men as she walked through a wooded area between the high school she attended and the middle school where her mother was a teacher. The men threatened her life if she told anyone what happened. Debi didn’t tell for several days, but her family noticed a change in her personality after the attack. She eventually told her parents what had happened and they notified the local authorities.

What happened after that still makes Debi feel angry. She eventually identified one of the men who was a local star athlete who had graduated years before the attack after she saw him in walking around at a high school football game. The sheriff’s department took her to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation where she passed a polygraph exam. Despite the polygraph results, the local law enforcement never pursued the case and Debi never got justice. The man who raped her went on to attack two other young girls, was kicked out of two colleges and today is a registered sex offender in her hometown.

When it comes to Brett Kavanaugh, Debi says, “I think he’s a good guy and I don’t think he did it.” She adds, “I think he was defending himself and his family during the testimony when he got angry. “I think anyone who’s accused of anything like this would fight tooth and nail,” she says, “I mean, who wouldn’t get angry?”

When Debi really starts talking is when she discusses Christine Ford, a woman she says is “a liar.” She says that victims “remember everything about their attack.” Debi says that “my story has not changed over the years” as Ford’s story has. “You don’t forget the details.”

“When something like this happens, others around you see something has changed within you and they keep pushing you until you tell somebody,” she added, “you don’t wait that long. Even if you don’t go to the police, you tell somebody.” She also says that “Ford’s friends and family would have noticed a change in her behavior following the attack.” So far, no one has come forward to testify that they noticed a change in Ford’s personality after the alleged attack by Kavanaugh and there is no evidence that Ford discussed the attack with anyone prior to 2012.

Debi also did not find Ford’s testimony before the Senate believable. “I feel like there were no real tears,” she said. “I feel like it was an act. She didn’t get angry. You don’t just smile and giggle and look cute. You don’t high-five your lawyers when it’s over.”

“I would be angry if I was giving the testimony,” Debi said. “I wouldn’t say ‘I don’t remember,’ because you remember everything.”

“My case and hers were different because I didn’t know the men until I saw one at the game,” she said. “But everything about her, her facial expressions, everything, it just didn’t match up with how a true sexual abuse victim would act. The body language just wasn’t there. She was trying to be and look cute and sidestep questions. She had to think about what she was going to say and she had to look at her attorneys. You don’t have to get an answer from someone else because they weren’t there.”

“You can remember who did it, but you can’t remember what happened before or after?” Debi asked sarcastically. “That’s wishy-washy. She only got two questions on her polygraph and she can’t remember whether it was before or after her grandmother’s funeral. You don’t forget these things.”

In Debi’s case, even though she remembered everything, it took years to come to terms with her attack. Several years ago, seeking closure, she went back to her hometown in Georgia in hopes of examining her case file. She found that the sheriff’s department had destroyed the entire file. Even her permanent record from the school system had disappeared. She spoke with the city police chief who criticized how the sheriff’s department had handled the case but said that the statute of limitations had run out on the crime.  

In late September, as the allegations mounted against Kavanaugh, Debi went on Facebook Live to give her own testimony about her attack. She notes that she was very emotional in her recording, unlike Ford in her Senate testimony. She notes that she has spoken with other victims of sexual abuse who are also skeptical of Ford’s testimony on the “Confirm Kavanaugh” Facebook page.

“I don’t want to make this political,” said Debi. “Because sexual abuse shouldn’t be political, but if Ford really cares about sexual abuse she should donate the money from her Go Fund Me accounts to a sexual abuse victims foundation.”

“I do think she should be charged [for perjury],” said Debi, choking back emotion, “And everyone that helped her concoct her little skit.”

Debi has mixed emotions on the #MeToo movement in general. “I think it would have been really good to highlight it,” she said, “but many jumped on the bandwagon because they wanted personal attention and were falsely accusing people. Some probably were telling the truth, but a lot of them fabricated things just to get attention or because they were mad at somebody.”

“You have to look at the evidence,” Debi said. “Women don’t always tell the truth. You have to look at body language and the evidence. People need to think for themselves and not just go by the political party. This shouldn’t be about politics.”

Originally published on The Resurgent

Hillary: People Are 'Misremembering' How I Attacked Bill's Accusers

According to Hillary Clinton, people are “misremembering” her role in attacking the women who accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct. The comments came in an interview last week with radio personality Rita Cosby that was part of Mrs. Clinton’s promotional tour for her book, “What Happened.”

Cosby asked the former First Lady if she had any regrets about not being supportive of the women who accused President Clinton and her role in “sort of attacking the victims.”

Clinton responded with a long, meandering answer that never directly addressed the question posed by Cosby, but implied that Bill Clinton’s accusers were all liars. Clinton began by saying that “every situation has to be judged on its own merits,” but that “people are either misremembering or misinterpreting history.”

“Of course, you should give people who make such allegations the benefit of the doubt, that's what our system does,” Clinton said, “but then you have to investigate them.”

“There were allegations that were disproved,” Clinton claimed. “There were allegations that were absolutely contradicted under sworn testimony.”

In reality, the accusations against Bill Clinton are very similar to the accusations against Donald Trump and Roy Moore.  In many cases, sexual harassment and assault accusations are based largely on the testimony of the parties involved with little or no physical evidence.

In the cases of “he said/she said” in which women accused Bill Clinton, Hillary clearly took her husband’s side. Hillary called the women “bimbos” and “trailer trash” and allegedly threatened to destroy their reputations, notes the Daily Wire.

Despite Hillary’s claim that the allegations against Bill Clinton were disproved, the former president did admit to affairs with Monica Lewinsky and Gennifer Flowers, two of the women that Hillary Clinton had attacked. In other cases, the truth is still elusive. Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick and Paula Jones still stand by their stories of sexual assault at that hands of Bill Clinton.

Hillary Clinton’s defense of her husband is one more case of sexual hypocrisy. Partisans of both sides are more interested in using abused women as a weapon against their opponents than in helping them find justice. Hillary Clinton is no different. 

Originally published on The Resurgent

Assange reportedly ready to surrender

There are reports that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is willing to face extradition to the United States. WikiLeaks has published classified information stolen from the US government on numerous occasions, but there is currently no indictment against the group’s Australian founder.

On Jan. 12, WikiLeaks tweeted that “If Obama grants Manning clemency Assange will agree to US extradition despite clear unconstitutionality of DoJ case.” Yesterday, President Obama announced that he would commute the sentence of Bradley “Chelsea” Manning, the US Army soldier convicted of stealing 750,000 pages of army documents and videos and giving them to WikiLeaks.

Among the documents that PFC Manning gave to WikiLeaks were incident reports from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that mentioned the names of civilians working with coalition military forces. WikiLeaks published these documents without redacting the names. The Taliban subsequently announced that it was using the WikiLeaks documents to track down Afghans aiding the US military. “If they are US spies, then we know how to punish them,” said Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman quoted in The Telegraph.

A second tweet on Jan. 17 said, “Assange lawyer @themtchair on Assange-Manning extradition 'deal': ‘Everything that he has said he's standing by.’” It is not clear if Assange considers Obama’s commutation of Manning’s sentence, which fell short of a full pardon, to be sufficient to trigger his promise to surrender to authorities.

Assange has been protected from extradition by his residence in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since 2012, but it isn’t the US that has been trying to bring him to justice. Sweden has been seeking Assange’s extradition so that he can stand trial on charges of the rape and sexual assault of two women in 2010. Assange could also face charges in Britain for violating bail.

Even though there is no formal indictment of Assange in the US, the WikiLeaks founder has maintained that he was fearful of extradition to the US if he left the Ecuadorean embassy. WikiLeaks tweeted a link that purports to show documents indicating that there are current “pending proceedings” against Assange by the US Department of Justice.

An additional tweet on Jan. 17 said, “Assange is confident of winning any fair trial in the US. Obama's DoJ prevented public interest defense & fair jury.”

Originally published on The Resurgent

Trump's election drives left beyond bounds of decency and civility

Twitter post of the "Rape Melania" sign (screenshot by David Thornton)

The election of the Donald Trump seems to have pushed many in the liberal left over the brink of sanity and common decency. First came the protests and violence. Ironically, this was the same sort of violence that some had expected of Trump supporters in the then-likely event that Hillary Clinton won the election. Even as the protests continue, the leftist response among many non-rioting leftists ranges from the irrational to loathsome.

In one bizarre case, Rachel Zarrell of MTV News tweeted a threat to mail Mike Pence a “monthly bag of period blood” if he “tries to regulate my uterus.” The tweet, posted on Daily Wire, was an apparent reference to Pence’s pro-life views, although another Twitter user answered Zarrell and pointed out her confusion. “Clearly you're ignorant of biology,” DC MCallister wrote. “A uterus and a fetus are two different entities. Saving the latter isn't ‘regulating’ the former.”

Zarrell may also be confused about Mike Pence’s role in the federal government. Laws are passed by Congress and Mike Pence, as the incoming vice president, will have a primarily ceremonial role in Congress. The vice president has very little control over anything. John Nance Garner, vice president to Franklin Roosevelt, famously observed that “the vice presidency is not worth a bucket of warm spit.”

Speaking of containers of bodily fluids, Zarrell might also want check into the Post Office regulations on shipping organic matter. Blood can be considered a biohazard and subject to hazardous materials regulations.

If Zarrell’s tweet was bizarre and disgusting, another anti-Trump protester’s message was, well, deplorable. The message on a protest sign spotted at a Washington, DC rally read, “Rape Melania.” This sign was all the more ironic and reprehensible in light of the campaign issue of Donald Trump and Bill Clinton’s treatment of women.

As the husband of a victim of sexual assault, let me just say that any call to rape or sexually assault anyone has no place in civilized discourse. Even in jest, the suggestion that someone would think that raping a candidate’s wife is an appropriate response to the democratic will of the people is morally bankrupt and indefensible.

Thankfully, as Heat Street pointed out, an associated #RapeMelania hashtag on Twitter was primarily used to condemn the sign.

If rape weren’t bad enough, some online leftists have openly called for and speculated about the assassination of Trump. The New York Post reported that the CEO of a California cybersecurity firm was forced to resign after tweeting a “flawed joke” about killing Trump with a sniper rifle. WCSH News reported that an Ohio man had actually been arrested for tweeting his intention to kill Donald Trump.

Opponents of Donald Trump have the freedom to criticize and protest his election, but should remember that words have meaning. Some words go beyond the bounds of civility and decency and cross the line to criminal behavior.

Voice your opposition, but watch what you say. The Secret Service will.      

Originally published on The Resurgent

Could Trump be prosecuted for sexual assault?

Most of the focus on the sexual assault charges against Donald Trump has been on how they would affect his campaign. Will the accusations hurt Trump’s chances with women? Will they cause Christians to desert him? Few have considered the implications of the charges on Donald Trump’s personal life and business. The accusations against Trump are that he engaged in behavior that was not only unethical and immoral, but also illegal. Is there a possibility that Donald Trump could be prosecuted? Could Trump go to jail?

The charges against Trump fall under the broad category of sexual assault. Such crimes are typically prosecuted at the state and local level, rather than by the federal government. Each jurisdiction will have its own definition in its criminal code, but the US Department of Justice website contains a definition that should be similar to most statutes around the country. According to the DOJ, “Sexual assault is any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient. Falling under the definition of sexual assault are sexual activities as forced sexual intercourse, forcible sodomy, child molestation, incest, fondling, and attempted rape.”

There are two major hurdles to prosecuting Trump for sexual assault. The first is evidence. Some types of sexual assault leave physical evidence. For example, in the case of rape, bodily fluids and injuries to the victim can support the accuser’s story. There is unlikely to be physical evidence to support the accusations against Trump because he is accused of improper touching, kissing and fondling, not intercourse.

Testimony by witnesses is another type of evidence. Because Trump’s actions allegedly occurred in private, there would be few, if any, witnesses to corroborate the stories of his accusers. This does not exonerate Trump either since it is plausible that he would only become aggressive in private when there were no witnesses.

Since many of the women who have come forward to accuse Trump allege that their stories were from several years ago, there is also the statute of limitations to consider. The statute of limitations establishes a time limit to bring charges against a defendant. In Florida, where some of the assaults are alleged to have occurred, the statute of limitations was doubled to eight years in 2015 according to WFTV. The measure is not retroactive, however, so the alleged assault on “People” magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff in 2005 would be considered stale.

Findlaw.com does note a provision in Florida law that places a hold on the statute of limitations when the defendant is not in the state. Since Trump does not live continuously in Florida, he might be culpable on some incidents beyond the normal four or eight years. This provision can be used to extend the statute of limitations for “not more than three years.”

In New York, where several incidents are alleged to have taken place, the statute of limitations is even more restrictive. According to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, the statute of limitations in New York ranges from two years for a misdemeanor to five years for a felony. For some sexual crimes, such as rape or aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree or sexual conduct against a child, there is no statute of limitations. So far, the accusations against Trump do not fall into the latter category.

There is also a civil lawsuit pending against Trump that alleges that he raped a 13-year-old girl in 1994. The suit alleges that Trump attended sex parties at the New York home of Jeffrey Epstein where he raped the plaintiff, known by the pseudonym “Katie Johnson,” on numerous occasions.  The suit was previously filed in California where it was dismissed on a technicality.

Jeffrey Epstein is a billionaire who is a convicted sex offender and who has associated with both Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. In 2008, Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from girls as young as 14. He is widely believed to have run a private sex slave island in the US Virgin Islands where his rich friends could have sex with underage girls.

“I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,'' Trump told “New York” magazine in a 2002 profile of Epstein. “He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it -- Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

The rape accusations are outside the statute of limitations, but the suit asks that the five-year limit be waived due to the plaintiff’s age. She also claims that Trump and Epstein threatened the girl and her family if she reported the abuse. The Real Deal quotes the lawsuit complaint, “Both defendants let plaintiff know that each was a very wealthy, powerful man and indicated that they had the power, ability and means to carry out their threat.”

Because the lawsuit against Trump is a civil case, it won’t result in jail time for Trump, even if he loses. There is the possibility that he will have to pay a civil penalty. Epstein has settled several similar suits outside of court. The case won’t go to trial until December 16, long after the election is over.

So far, Donald Trump has denied all accusations of sexual assault. He claims that his comments on the now-infamous “Access Hollywood” tape were “locker room talk” that he never acted on. Trump told a crowd in Charlotte, N.C on CNN, “As you have seen, I am a victim of one of the great political smear campaigns in the history of our country.”

Whether the accusations are true or not, the lack of evidence and statute of limitations mean that Trump probably doesn't have to worry about going to jail or being forced to register as a sex offender. That could change if an accuser comes forward with a more recent incident.

Originally published on The Resurgent

Overcoming sexual abuse: The Wounded Heart by Dan Allender

Most prostitutes are victims of sexual abuse.

If you know more than a few people, odds are that you know someone who has been sexually abused. One study indicated that as many as 38% of women had been sexually abused by age 18 (Allender, rear flap). Sexual abuse victims are male as well as female, but girls are at a higher risk than boys.

Most abuse is committed by a family member or someone known by the victim. National statistics show that 29% of abuse is committed by family members and 60% is by acquaintances (Allender, p.92). Stop It Now! Georgia reports that in Georgia 82% of cases involve members of the immediate or extended family of the victim. Often the abuser was a birth parent (37% of cases) or a sibling (22%). Abusers can be men or women, but more often the abuser is male (95% in cases of girls and 80% in cases of boys) (p. 272).

If you are being abused, you can get help through stopitnowga.org or by calling 1-800-CHILDREN. The telephone call is free in Georgia and is confidential.

The effects of sexual abuse can be overcome. Dr. Dan Allender, himself a victim of sexual abuse, has written a fascinating book on the subject of overcoming sexual abuse. The Wounded Heart: Hope for Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse provides guidance and hope for victims of abuse as well as those who love them. Recent studies have shown that there is hope for abusers as well. They often respond to treatment and can rejoin society.

Allender begins with a discussion of the long term psychological effects of abuse. Often the victim feels dead inside, as if they are a zombie (Allender, p. 44). Often the victims feel shame for what happened to them. They fear both being exposed before the world (p. 66) and possible rejection as a consequence (p. 71). As a coping mechanism, they often place their trust in what Allender calls “false gods” (p. 74), which can include people, objects, or beliefs.

Abuse victims also frequently experience self-contempt. Self-contempt may range from physically destructive actions such as suicide or binging on food or alcohol or sex. The majority (66%) of prostitutes were sexually abused as children. The majority of these (again 66%) were abused by their father or a father figure such as foster father or stepfather. At the other extreme, self-contempt may take the form of something seemingly innocuous, such as not being able to accept a compliment (p. 80-82). Contempt serves to deaden both shame and longing for the victim, and makes them feel that they are in control. In effect, Allender calls contempt the “Great Masquerade” (p. 88) because it takes the place of sorrow and conviction over sin, replacing it with self-directed anger. Often anger masks the victim’s own pain and shame.

Allender also points out the stages of abuse. In some cases, such as a rape by a stranger, abuse is a single incident. In most cases, however, it is part of a pattern (p. 97-102). The abuser first gains the trust of the victim and draws them into secrecy. Next, physical contact is established in a manner that is not inappropriate. The abuser then takes the final step into full scale sexual abuse. In many cases, there are long periods of time between each step. Finally, in cases of ongoing abuse, the abuser may threaten or use special privileges to keep the abuse secret.

After the abuse, there are several common reactions that victims experience. First is a feeling of powerlessness. Not only was the victim powerless to stop the abuse, they were often threatened to maintain secrecy. Many victims respond by becoming numb or dead to escape the pain (p.117-122). This can translate into a dislike of their body, lying and deceit, or poor judgment in relationships.

Second is a sense of betrayal. This is especially prevalent if the abuser was a family member or if other family members were complicit in the abuse (p. 133-138). The fear of betrayal leads the victim to hyper vigilance, suspiciousness, and lack of objectivity. The victim focuses on each detail and overanalyzes them. This is because the victim questions the motives of people who extend kindness and warmth.

The third major symptom of sexual abuse is ambivalence. This is caused by the conflicting emotions due to stimulation of the senses in the abuse that is normally pleasurable and the shame of the abuse itself. This leads to more shame and possibly a fear of pleasure (p. 149-151). Many abuse victims view themselves as a whore, whether they live that sort of lifestyle or keep the image private in their fantasies (p. 155-156).

There are other symptoms as well. It is common for abuse victims to struggle with depression (p. 161), lack of self-esteem, and problems relating with others (p. 168-69). Sexual dysfunctions from lack of interest to addiction to perversions are also common in abuse victims (p. 164). A long list of dysfunctions such as “exhibitionism, voyeurism, pedophilia, homosexuality, transvestitism, and fetishism” is “often highly correlated to abuse” (p. 164). Abuse victims may suffer from a variety of compulsive disorders, such as bulimia, or the stress may manifest itself as a physical illness (p. 166-167).

Dr. Allender goes on to describe three basic types of personalities for abuse victims. Speaking female terms, the first is the Good Girl (p. 175). The Good Girl keeps her self-contempt hidden and often struggles with sexual fantasies. She limits and controls her emotions and is often viewed as unfeeling. She is a hard worker, often sacrificially, but does not ask for help. She doesn’t want conflict.

The Tough Girl (p. 178) is a hard woman who is suspicious and critical of others and often becomes angry at her perception of others. She views emotion and longing as a sign of weakness. People tend to keep their distance from a Tough Girl to avoid rousing her anger. The Tough Girl erects walls and thrives on conflict.

The Party Girl (p. 181) can be “intense or mellow.” Her moods are constantly changing. The Party Girl personality is a response to fear and ambivalence. She avoids commitment and flits from one relationship to another. The Party Girl has been described as “an emotional tapeworm” (p. 184) who is never satisfied.

The same victim can exhibit characteristics of each style of relating, depending on the situation. The common thread is that all are based on aspects of self-contempt. Each is also a coping mechanism that causes its own problems.

Mark 9:37

Thankfully, Allender does not merely dwell on the symptoms of abuse, but also prescribes a course of healing. Allender’s plan is a three-step process that is based on Biblical principles. The first step is for the victim to be honest with herself. Allender lists eight truths that abuse victims must be willing to acknowledge in order to move forward (p. 200). These truths include admitting to oneself that abuse has occurred, it has damaged her soul, and that healing requires change from the artificial coping mechanisms. Honesty may also require that the victim stop attempting to suppress memories that are being repressed.

Second is repentance. The victim does not need to repent of being abused, but for choosing to be dead, choosing to mistrust, and choosing to despise passion (p. 223). Allender notes the difference between repentance, admitting helplessness, and penance, which “presumes the ability to make amends on one’s own” (p. 221). Repentance softens the heart, while penance hardens it.

The final step towards recovery is forgiveness and bold love. Being able to love and forgive the abuser frees the victim from hatred and anger. In this context, love refers to the “commitment to do whatever it takes (apart from sin) to bring health (salvation) to the abuser” (p. 241). To heal herself, the victim should work to forgive the abuser. The victim should not seek revenge (but this does not preclude seeking justice) (p. 243-44).

These steps can (and should) be applied not only to the sexual abuser, but surrogates that often bear the brunt of the victim’s anger and even those who merely get on our nerves in a normal day-to-day manner. In many cases, the victim’s spouse becomes a surrogate for the abuser.

Whether the victim is you or someone you love, The Wounded Heart is valuable resource to help understand the emotions and actions involved. The one weakness is the book is the lack of an index. This article provides only a brief overview of the material presented. If you are or if you know a victim who struggles with the personality disorders that this book describes, I urge you to read the whole book, which actually comes with a money-back guarantee from the publisher. You have nothing to lose but your pain.

Source:
Allender, Dr. Dan B., The Wounded Heart: Hope for Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse. Navpress, PO Box 35001, Colorado Springs, CO, 1995.

Photo credits:
Prostitute by Tomas Castelazo
Scared toddler by NeonZero