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Start giftingGoing Public
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It took Julie Macfarlane a lifetime to say the words out loud — the words that finally broke the calm and traveled farther than she could have imagined. In this clear-eyed account, she confronts her own silence and deeply rooted trauma to chart a remarkable course from sexual abuse victim to agent of change.
Going Public merges the worlds of personal and professional, activism and scholarship. Drawing upon decades of legal training, Macfarlane decodes the well-worn methods used by church, school, and state to silence survivors, from first reporting to cross-examination to non-disclosure agreements. At the same time, she lays bare the isolation and exhaustion of going public in her own life, as she takes her abuser to court, challenges her colleagues, and weathers a defamation lawsuit.
The result is far more than a memoir. It’s a courageous and essential blueprint on how to go toe-to-toe with the powers behind institutional abuse and protectionism. At long last, Macfarlane’s experiences bring her to the most important realization of her life: that only she can stand in her own shoes, and only she can stand up and speak about what happened to her.
Reviews
“This memoir, manifesto, an honest cri de coeur all wrapped in one of what sexual violence and abuse does to women must be read by all who seek justice, truth, reforms of a distorted legal system, and accountability for institutional cover-ups. Going Public is a page-turner of truth, bravery, persistence and morality by a leader of reform in the justice system.” — Carrie Menkel Meadow, Distinguished Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine and Georgetown University Law Center (Emerita)
“Going Public is more than a #MeToo memoir; it is a call to action to fundamentally change institutional responses to sexual violence.” — Mandi Gray, activist and subject of the documentary Slut or Nut: Diary of a Rape Trial
“Going Public is truly unique. It is embodied sexual violence scholarship that brings ‘the personal is political’ and ‘the political is personal’ to life … simultaneously painful, inspiring, challenging, demoralizing, empowering, and practical. A must read.” — Charlene Y. Senn, professor and Canada Research Chair in Sexual Violence (CIHR) Department of Psychology / Women’s and Gender Studies at University of Windsor
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