Survivor Skills for Living Under Authoritarianism

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It’s strange to me how some people are reacting with shock at the current events in the US: how we’re quickly becoming a Christofascist state under the current administration. Haven’t they been listening? Weren’t the warnings about Project 2025 enough?

When the election happened and we knew the likely results, I felt a deep despair and a need to withdraw. I’d tried so hard to speak out about Christian patriarchy and nationalism and the white supremacist vision of the far-right. But then I felt like it hadn’t been enough. So many of us were sharing our stories of pain and trauma in the hope that people would listen and vote for a non-abuser, a non-rapist, a non-fascist.

I remember going to a screening of For Our Daughters in Holland, Michigan last year. It was a packed house, and I sat next to fellow survivor Tiffany Thigpen on the panel. It is never easy to get in front of strangers and talk about our abuse stories, but looking out at the hundreds of people in the audience who had showed up, we felt some hope. Maybe there were enough people out there, across the country, who truly cared.