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From Silence to Stories: How Memoirs Are Changing the Conversation on Sibling Sexual Abuse
Each of us thought we were alone. We knew incest and sibling incest existed, but no one ever talked about sibling sexual abuse and harm. It was a silence wrapped in shame, guilt, and self-blame—a silence that extended to how our families managed (or didn’t manage) this devastating reality. Families often didn’t know what to do because, honestly, they likely had no idea what to do, because no one spoke about it… they also felt like they were alone. And so, the survivors carried the silence into adulthood until one day, each of us—myself, Diane Tarantini, Jane Epstein, and Maria Socolof—decided to break it. We wrote memoirs. Not quickly or…
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Seeking Validation and Forgiveness When There’s No Remorse
Alice shares her thoughts about paving a way forward to find peace when the person who caused harm shows no remorse. I haven’t seen my brother in 30 years. The last time I saw him, I wrote about in Resolve, in the chapter The Lioness Appears. No one in my family ever talked about that day, not until years later when I would respond to a comment with, “That was because of the abuse, remember. I told you that.” The only topic they seemed willing to discuss was how to “get around Alice not wanting to have Christmas with the family.” Years later, I learned that my brother had told…
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Writing Under a Pen Name: A Journey of Courage, Healing and Compromise
When I first decided to write Resolve, I planned to publish it under my real name. It felt natural, even empowering, to own my story fully. But as the drafts evolved and I moved closer to publication, the reality of writing about sibling sexual abuse (SSA) became clear. For legal reasons—defamation risks, protecting the privacy of my extended family, and my own peace of mind—I chose to write under a pen name. Alice Perle was born out of necessity, but she also became a symbol of courage. Alice represents the strength it takes to walk through the dark tunnels of memory, the resolve to speak the unspeakable, and the compassion…
