The Undoing - essay synopsis

Following is the synopsis for The Undoing - The hidden paradoxes of victim-survivor behaviour. Open to publishers.

• Braided essay (personal/investigative)

• 7600 words

• Final Edit

• Editor: Katia Ariel

In October 2019, at an end-of-year board dinner of a reputable private club in Melbourne Australia, I was subjected to a misogynistic harangue by a male colleague who decried the slew of ‘fake’ rape cases before the courts. He surmised it was evident when a woman had made a false accusation and enumerated his theory. I was guilty of every charge.

This personal essay explores the prevailing myths about victim-survivor behaviour and how they pervade our culture. I counter each of my colleague’s assertions by sharing my story and drawing on sexual assault statistics, research, and commentary (including trauma specialists Bessel van der Kolk and Gabor Maté, and poet Gregory Orr). I travel deep into my own trauma and inexplicable behaviour following my rape. Behaviour that had led me to doubt my own account until I better understood trauma survivor behaviour. This essay attempts to uncover what remains buried under victim-survivor shame and enduring social constructs and then asserts what needs to change.