May 9, 2023
31. A Perspective Inspired by her Sister’s Courage: Donnell Cameron Tells of Her Own Experience of Sexual, Physical, and Emotional Assault.
WARNING: This episode is explicit and detailed in the descriptions of rape, sexual assault, and interpersonal violence. It is not appropriate for children, and extreme discretion is advised in keeping the listening audience restricted to only appropriately aged and emotionally capable persons.
I won’t pretend that I wasn’t shocked when, after last week’s episode of Leanne Cameron sharing her devastating experience of being raped for several years by her mother’s boyfriend when Leanne was young, I was contacted just a day after that episode aired by Leanne’s sister, Donnell. When I saw Donnell’s last name in the heading of the email she sent to me, my stomach dropped at the prospect that maybe Donnell was writing to tell me that she was not happy about her sister being on my podcast. But that wasn’t the purpose of her email at all…Donnell was reaching out to me to express her desire to also be on the show, and to tell her version of being sexually assaulted by the same person who had raped her sister. And not only sexually assaulted, but physically and emotionally assaulted as well.
This week’s episode is a multi-leveled listening experience. You’ll hear Donnell bravely tell her perspective of what it was to experience sexual, physical, and emotional assault at the hands of the same person who had raped her sister; and how different that impact was, even though it was assault from that same perpetrator. And how Donnell’s emotional response to the assaultive behaviors was totally different from the responses of her sister. And how those totally different responses have had a totally different outcome in Donnell’s life, contrasted to the outcomes in Leanne’s life. And yet, how all those differences are somehow the same when it comes to healing and caring enough to share those experiences with others to further their healing journey. Trying to describe these immense differences in these episode notes wouldn’t do justice to the way Donnell is able to relate her experience courageously and succinctly. So, I’ll just let you get to the listening...
Please listen to this episode, then tell everyone you know to give it a listen. And please rate this episode and subscribe to this podcast…even if you don’t listen to every episode; your listening helps bring justice to victims and survivors, and helps this podcast grow! Thank you for being a part of these efforts. It matters, because we all know someone whose life has been affected by rape or sexual assault. And by the way, if you’re a victim or survivor of rape, sexual assault, or any type of interpersonal violence, and you would like to be a guest on this show, email me…let’s talk about it!
https://www.thejanbrobergfoundation.org/