Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Vist this blog!

It's shameful how rarely I update this, internet community. I apologize. I can't promise that I'll update this any more frequently in the future, but I don't think I have too many readers hanging on my every word anyway.

First, check out this blog. Trigger warnings, as usual, for frank sexual language and sex toys. The blogger is my close friend and roommate, and he knows his shit. He is also very receptive to questions and requests for help, which may be useful to you, because I know for a fact that he has an understanding ear for people who have PTSD. He has held me through more than one flashback (when I could be held of course,) and he has a good understanding of mental illness issues in general. Not to mention the fact that if you ask him anything pertaining to PTSD, he'll have me here as a reference.

The reason I suggest it here is that quite often the PTSD community and the queer, kink, and trans communities overlap. Queer and trans people are a lot more likely to be sexually assaulted or abused than any other section of the population, in part because they are in a position that already marginalizes and isolates them. This position can and often is taken advantage of (and even sought out to a certain extent) by abusers. Kinksters, as well, are a group that tends to think about consent much more actively than the rest of the population. The kink community, in my humble opinion, can be really attractive to survivors because it is so focused on consent and negotiation. The air of healthy sex positivity can also be something very empowering to survivors, depending on what stage of their process they are in. There are times that sex positivity in and of itself can be incredibly triggering to me. Accordingly, I wouldn't say that I am an active member of any kink community, but when I am doing well enough to be sexual and comfortable, it's a group that I greatly appreciate.

I have plans to write a blog soon on the intersection of post-structuralism and PTSD, but I think for now I'll leave it at this.