Customer Reviews

The Truth About Rape

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Be aware: this book is intended to be Q/A information ABOUT rape trauma, not a workbook or personal guide THROUGH rape trauma. I've loaned this book to quite a few clients who find it very helpful. To be honest, though, most of my clients skip the first half of the book which are transcripts and recollections of therapy sessions. But the second half of the book is a series of brief and accurate answers to direct questions about rape recovery. I like this section particularly, because it is arranged to only one question/answer per page, so the reading is fast and it's easy to navigate. The writing is clear and clinically well-informed.

I took a star off because of the unfortunate cover. My clients have been unanimously embarrassed by the eroticized color photo of a nude female model, crouched over so submissively. This image does NOT match the classy and empowered writings of the author. It's been such a problem that clients would refuse to even accept my offer of this book until I taped a sheet over the book like a dust jacket. Which (male) graphics design editor thought a burlesque nude photo would be a good match for this book?

Don't be fooled or dissuaded--this is a top-notch book with superb information.

Thank you Teresa for your insight, sensativity and your honesty. This book is a tool for everyone, victim, survivor, family and friends can all benefit from the insight and information provided. This books not only acknowledges the tremendous emotional and physical impact rape has on a woman but it reminds us of our capacities to endure and rise above.

Thank you!!

I was disappointed about this book. I was willing to over-look the poor choice in cover-art (you can't judge a book by its cover!), but the author's attitudes and information about the rape phenomenon were out-dated.

In one place she has the extremely poor taste to list out how to "avoid" date-rape. This is an AWFUL thing to put in a book written for rape survivors!!! This is a victim-blaming mentality, and seriously, seriously -- HOW is this information supposed to help the person who is now reading this book??

In another place, she lists out the "types" of rapists. Yet she does not even touch on the affects society and culture have on the rape phenomenon. This is a huge and disappointing ommission.

I did not like the author's tone -- at times she comes across as patronizing and condescending.

I did not like how the Q&A format was so stringently followed. Each answer is edited and formatted so that it only takes up a single page, regardless of the question. Some questions deserved a much more in-depth answer than this format allowed.

I think that the Q&A section of the book should have been put at the front of the book, instead of the therapy sessions coming first. Every survivor could potentially benefit from the Q&A (if it was updated), but not every survivor will be willing or able to read the therapy session section because it is insanely triggering. The therapy sessions should come at the end of the book, behind a hefty trigger-warning.

The resources she provides are excellent. Each section of the Q&A is followed by a hefty list of resources -- general resources, internet resources, book resources.

This book has potential -- I hope that it is updated so that the offending cover and content no longer detract from the book as a whole.

I do NOT recommend this book for a survivor who is yet uneducated about victim-blaming and society's role in the rape culture. There is too much potential for the misinformation to be damaging to a person who is still emotionally vulnerable.

Until this book receives some much-needed updates, I would strongly recommend Resurrection After Rape: A guide to transforming from victim to survivor, which is excellent, despite being written by a man. I side-eyed the fact that the author is a male, but his tone is perfect, his information and attitude is up-to-date and even progressive, and he is actually a highly experienced behavioral scientist specializing in domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Dr. Lauer,

Thank you so much for writing this book. Thank you for answering questions I was afraid to ask or didn't even know I had. Thank you for sharing your own story and helping me, and many others I'm sure, to have the courage to do the same.

-Christy

I had to recover my book as the picture on the front was too triggering to look at over and over. Aside from that, the book wss gripping and hard to put down. Teresa shares many of her journal entries while going through her healing process. She includes her story as told to her therapist, and much of what her therapist said to her. I found this to be a very helpful format and not quite as intense as her other book "Hours of Torture, Years of Silence." The back of the book is filled with many many questions that would come up for a survivor. It is answered both by a survivor and then the opposite page has 'professional' answers and explanations. I found this very helpful as I could hear from someone who has experienced rape and faced that question and then to get the researched version to back it up and detail it further. Also you don't have to read it in order, you can just jump around to the question you need at the time which makes it an ongoing resource for my own recovery. This is a book I would highly recommend to someone who has never been raped but who wants to understand better what victims go through and possible ways to help them.

The beginning of the book is a transcript and in one part the author describes being raped twice. It was horrifying, but after starting, I couldn't put it down right away. Then I put it down and couldn't pick it back up for years. The story seriously disturbed me at a time that I couldn't handle any more trauma. Maybe that type of story helps some people relate or work through their issues, but I think it needs to come with a warning.I definitely wasn't ready to hear it and don't think it would ever be helpful to have to imagine her horror. So there's your warning. On the other hand, the back section of the book seemed helpful enough, but by the time I was able to pick the book up again, it had been a few years, and most of those questions were no longer relevant to me.