Damaged Like Me: Essays on Love, Harm, and Transformation

Description

That which damages us can make us stronger, smarter, more compassionate, and ready to build something better.

People who have been damaged, thrown away, marginalized, or traumatized are more capable of apprehending social patterns, precisely because they've needed to be aware and vigilant about how the world works. For too long, those who rely on long-held rights and entitlement have claimed that others are biased about the very topics on which they have expertise. Damaged Like Me is a series of essays and stories that reveal a complex social landscape. It shows how possible and vital it is to build roads to a more equitable and loving collective culture that includes body sovereignty, racial justice, gender equity/liberation, and much more. It does so by relying on the insights and approaches to knowledge production of those on the receiving end of inequity and violence, those whose "objectivity" on issues of oppression has been consistently maligned despite their having the most to teach us.