The Sunday Times Magazine Article

“Don’t Say A Word,” written by Decca Aitkenhead, is a Sunday Times Magazine Article published on Sunday, March 17, 2024. It has now been made available to read without a newspaper subscription.

Noting: whilst it was a publicly produced article, it could still be triggering or upsetting. I felt shaken, sad, and happy all at the same time. I needed to get outdoors and be in fresh air after I’d read it. Please take care of yourself. The article contains interviews with survivors, sharing accounts of what they’d experienced. Also, interviews with advocates and leaders supporting survivors and preventing sibling sexual abuse from happening in the future.

Sibling sexual abuse is a family and societal taboo. It is referred to as the hidden taboo or the universal taboo, and the silence surrounding it has suffocated survivors sometimes for their entire lifetime.

As one of the survivors shared in The Sunday Times Magazine Article:

‘I just wish there had been people writing articles like this 20 years ago. I thought it was normal for every woman to feel worthless. If I could have read an article like this I wouldn’t have had to feel shit about myself, and not know why, for another 20 years.’

Lily

I am full of appreciation and praise for all contributors to Decca’s article that has gone out publicly via The Sunday Times Magazine. Because now, there is an article like this so others will not have to feel shit about themselves and not know why and hopefully find their way to disclosure and recovery closer to the time that the abuse ends.

This article was shared in full by 5waves.org in the USA, a leading foundation and website full of resources for all affected by sibling sexual abuse.

Follow this link to the Sunday Times Magazine Article:

Listen to Decca Aitkenhead’s podcast on sibling sexual abuse at Stories of our times. You will need to scroll to find the story on March 18. Noting the Stories of Our Times stated it is changing its name as I went to listen to it so, know, for now it’s there:

Six years ago, I felt like no one else was talking about sibling sexual abuse. So I decided it was time, I was going to share my story and I began to write a memoir.

My memoir, Resolve, is a recollection of childhood; of the repercussions that go on for years beyond the time the abuse was occurring; what I found there was to recover from what I thought had always been ‘me just being me’; and what I found helped me to reconnect with my truest self. Resolve was published in 2023.

Since releasing Resolve I have come to meet many advocates and activists breaking the silence surrounding sibling sexual abuse.

So, thank you, Decca, from all of us. We know just how important that article was to risk writing and putting it out in front of the public.

Together with those advocates and activists, I’m shouting out the message loud and clear that sibling sexual abuse is preventable. The shame is misplaced! It’s time to set survivors free of holding onto that and the guilt and self-blame they’ve held onto for far too long.

Please read Resolve and any other new memoirs about this topic. If you don’t want to read them, tell others about them.

They show markers that could be missed. By showing what we can recall from our lived experience, parents today can become more informed and conscious in their parenting. Our stories will show other survivors like us that they are definitely not alone and that recovery is possible.

My story, in Resolve, is contributing to the bigger movement. Together, we will break the silence. That’s what will help professionals develop frameworks for prevention and strategies to care for survivors who feel so alone.

Resolve is a book written from a place of love. That feels good and like I have fully honoured Young Alice and the woman I have become by committing to the process that I did.

My blog is shared to Goodreads as they are published and are available here at: www.aliceperle.com.au/blog.

With love,

Alice

Resolve: A Story of Courage, Healthy Inquiry and Recovery from Sibling Sexual Abuse is now available globally on Amazon, and all online bookstores. Libraries and bookstores can order copies. Please follow me on Instagram and Facebook. The audiobook is now also available via over 50 audiobook sites.