Let's Talk About it: Sexual Abuse

Our focus at Color Online is to promote a love of reading, to encourage young women to express themselves in writing and to support their emotional and social development. And we want to help them heal. Each month we will highlight books that address a myriad of crisis that plague women. We’ll begin with sexual abuse.

Sexual abuse is difficult for most of us to talk about, but if we’re going to heal, we have to address it. Reading can be a first step. If you’re looking for works suitable for young adults, we recommend: When Kambia Elaine Flew In From Neptune by Lori A. Williams , I Hadn't Meant to Tell You This by Jacqueline Woodson and Sold by Patricia McCormick. For non-fiction, we recommend, The Enemy Between My Legs by Stephanie Jones.

When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune is the story of two friends. Kambia Elaine tells Shayla, "They live in the wallpaper... they have five-inch fangs, fiery red eyes, purple horns, long sharp claws, and spiky gray fur... they whisper horrible, nasty things in your ear... then they make you do them."

I hadn’t Meant To Tell You: “Two girls: one white, one black; one abused, one protected, both missing their mothers. An unlikely friendship ignites between the two, and, in sharing their differences, both of their lives are transformed.”

Sold is the story of a young girl sold into sex slavery. From a review on Amazon, “Lakshmi, 13, knows nothing about the world beyond her village shack in the Himalayas of Nepal, and when her family loses the little it has in a monsoon, she grabs a chance to work as a maid in the city so she can send money back home. What she doesn't know is that her stepfather has sold her into prostitution.”

The Enemy Between My Legs is a personal testimony written by Stephanie L. Jones a local Detroit motivational speaker and community activist. Ms. Jones is committed to helping all women heal.

If you know of other titles that address molestation, rape and incest, share them with us. Let’s talk about healing.