YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

Episode: 301
The 31 year-old writer discusses feminism, sexual violence and misogyny in the context of partisan politics, and her personal life. She shares about the complexities of marrying a Muslim, growing up being told "you're too sensitive", avoiding her emotions by achieving, hating her body, fighting the drill sergeant in her head and learning the power of being vulnerable and letting go of shame. Jamie's links
Facebook: facebook.com/jamievaron

Twitter: twitter.com/jamievaron

Instagram: instagram.com/jamievaron

All my published writing: jamievaron.com/writing

Writing workshops: http://workshops.jamievaron.com

Great episode. I wanted to lend my support to Paul for addressing the sticky issues of our recent election as they pertain to sexual predation. I also appreciated Jamie's story, and thank her for sharing. ("ME TOO!")

We'll always be at risk of criticism when we tackle controversial topics--our chosen partners, our views on political candidates, coming forward to reveal a vulnerable truth about our personal history. As they say, haters gonna hate; my thinking is, more of us who applaud your bravery need to step up and add to the noise.

Sorry that I'm way behind on my listening so this is out of date but I found something about this really hard to understand. There was a part where she talked about opening herself up to attack and how that was strength. How protecting yourself felt like strength but was not. I think anyone who's lived knows that if you show even the tiniest amount if emotion that's an invitation to attack and people are start to abuse you. To me it felt like they were saying "dive into a shark tank, that's strength. You're weak if you don't" and I really don't understand how setting yourself up for attack or putting yourself in a place of danger is strong or healthy.