Lived Through This

Anne K. Ream is a rape survivor who founded the Chicago-based Voices and Faces Project, a national documentary initiative created to bring the testimony of sexual violence and trafficking survivors to the attention of the public. Through her activism, Ream promotes the message that rape victims are not alone, that they should feel no shame, and that others have survived rape and gone on to lead full lives. In Lived Through This, Ream brings the same energy and empathy that fuels her activism to these profiles of approximately fifteen rape survivors, who share their struggles, their wisdom, and the ways that they have healed. Her subjects range from the women of Atenco, Mexico, who are subjects of a high profile Amnesty International campaign, to Fatou Diallo, a Senegalese rap star who is using her music to address sexual violence in Africa, to Dorothy Allison (Bastard Out of Carolina), who speaks candidly about how her personal experience inspired her award-winning book. The women--and men--she profiles come from a variety of ethnic, class, and geographic backgrounds, providing a moving testament to the breadth of the population affected by sexual violence--and the many ways that these inspiring people have found peace, fulfillment, and community.