{"id":62398,"date":"2017-11-13T12:41:21","date_gmt":"2017-11-13T17:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uncommongoods.pro\/?p=62398"},"modified":"2018-08-20T13:30:06","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T17:30:06","slug":"giving-tuesday-rainn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/2017\/giving-tuesday-rainn\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharing Survivors&#8217; Stories with RAINN"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>*Editor&#8217;s note 1\/18\/2018: We originally shared Samentha&#8217;s story in our countdown to Giving Tuesday. Today, we celebrate Samentha&#8217;s courage to speak out and we share her story again as part of our Keep Marching campaign. All profits from our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/\/2018\/keep-marching\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Keep Marching Necklace<\/a>\u00a0sold on January 20 and 21, 2018 will be donated to RAINN.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-61101\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/rainn-logo-tagline.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"358\" height=\"167\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>*Editor\u2019s note: Here at UncommonGoods, we\u2019re counting down to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.givingtuesday.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Giving Tuesday<\/a>\u2014an annual day of giving back observed on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving\u2014by sharing stories from our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/static\/better.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Better to Give<\/a> partners. Up this week: <a href=\"http:\/\/rainn.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">RAINN<\/a>, the nation&#8217;s largest anti-sexual violence organization. Through our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/static\/better.jsp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Better to Give<\/a> program, which allows you to choose a non-profit partner at checkout to receive a $1 donation at no additional cost to you, we\u2019ve donated over $350,000 to RAINN since beginning our partnership in 2010. Today, we\u2019re proud to share a story from Samentha Moore, a participant in RAINN&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainn.org\/survivorseries\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">survivor series<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/I_a5Roftmm8\" width=\"650\" height=\"410\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h5>\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful thing, to be a survivor of something so heinous.\u201d<\/h5>\n<p>\u201cI felt like a broken record. It was embarrassing for me. I told people after the first and the second\u2026but after the third [rape] I felt like a freak show,\u201d said Samentha Moore. Samentha\u2019s experience with multiple incidents of sexual assault by a stranger left her feeling self-conscious and blaming herself.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven for the longest time after my second rape, I hated leather jackets because he had a black leather jacket on, so that was something that triggered.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>On being a survivor:<\/strong> \u201cFind your survivor-hood through your voice. If you have to scream to get it out, scream to get it out! Don\u2019t keep that negative gunk inside.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In the years after trial, Samentha struggled with effects from surviving multiple sexual assaults. She began overeating. \u201cI just thought if I made myself less attractive it wouldn&#8217;t happen again,\u201d she remembers. Sexual violence can sometimes influence a survivor\u2019s perception of the body and feelings of control. In some cases, these feelings can manifest into <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rainn.org\/articles\/eating-disorders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">disordered eating<\/a> patterns that may be harmful in the longer term.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-62920\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Samentha.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"335\" height=\"451\" \/>As Samentha began to shed feelings of guilt and shame, she began exploring a healthier path for her body: lyrical dance. Samentha had danced since she was a young girl, but she found that a lyrical style helped her to express the pain that she couldn\u2019t share verbally. \u201cI was able to create something so beautiful out of something that was just&#8230;not.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In time, Samentha grew more comfortable talking about what happened, but she didn\u2019t always find the support she was looking for. \u201cEven when I did try to talk to someone they would say something like, \u2018that\u2019s amazing you survived.\u2019 That\u2019s nice. But that\u2019s not dialogue.\u201d It can be challenging for loved ones and friends to find the <a href=\"https:\/\/rainn.org\/get-information\/sexual-assault-recovery\/respond-to-a-survivor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">right words to say<\/a> when someone they care about has been impacted by sexual violence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI finally did some research to find somebody who could actually help me. And that\u2019s how I found RAINN.\u201d Samentha first reached out to RAINN through the <a href=\"http:\/\/online.rainn.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Online Hotline<\/a>, a free, anonymous service available 24\/7 to survivors of sexual assault and their loved ones. \u201cSometimes typing it is actually easier until you\u2019re ready to talk about it. After that, I built up to calling [the National Sexual Assault Hotline] and talking about it out loud.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>On finding your own recovery:<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s like a snowflake. Everyone\u2019s survival is totally different. And just because it\u2019s different doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s wrong.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Today, Samentha spends her time taking care of her smart, beautiful daughter and sharing her story at speaking opportunities around the Washington DC area. She feels that it\u2019s important to share messages of hope\u2014but that it\u2019s also important to talk about the challenges that come along with pressing charges. By talking openly about these challenges, she hopes to influence and improve the way perpetrators are brought to justice through the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing able to help another victim is so important. Whenever a survivor gets to a place where they feel comfortable, utilizing your edge on surviving can help those who might have just become a victim.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"cta\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/causes\/backlog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Join RAINN &amp; UG in supporting victims of sexual violence\u00a0\u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>*Editor&#8217;s note 1\/18\/2018: We originally shared Samentha&#8217;s story in our countdown to Giving Tuesday. Today, we celebrate Samentha&#8217;s courage&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":63186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[315,2280,610,2480],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/259"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62398"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70148,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62398\/revisions\/70148"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uncommongoods.pro\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}