Amy Dawn on Navigating the Criminal Justice System

Beyond MeToo: Healing the Wounds of Sexual Trauma

In this episode, Molly interviews Amy Dawn about how she navigated the criminal justice system after deciding to press charges against the man who raped her. Some key highlights include:

• How Amy found herself in a role reversal from criminal justice student to someone navigating the system, and the challenge she experienced coming to terms with being a rape survivor.
• Her decision to report and then to pursue legal action.
• Disclosure and allowing other people’s reactions to impact how we feel about ourselves and what happened to us.
• Victim blaming, objectification, and dehumanization throughout the legal process.
• The importance of her legal advocate throughout the legal process.
• How the legal system’s way of poking holes in her character led to her questioning her very identity.
• The awkwardness/injustice/irony of being a mere witness in a case about her own rape.
• Her decision to leave the criminal justice world professionally.
• Finding her voice and her authentic self.

Amy Dawn has a Master’s in Criminal Justice and Criminology but left that field behind following her own experience with sexual assault. She pivoted careers and now volunteers with Resilience as a medical advocate. Outside of her full-time day job, she also works as a photographer. She is passionate about using her experience to foster dialogue whether it be through writing, photography, or advocacy. In her spare time, you’ll usually find her with her best friend, her dog Addison, who she rescued from Paws, and when they are feeling ambitious, they love taking in foster dogs.

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Amy Dawn is putting together a currently untitled photography project around survivors. It’s meant to bring to light the magnitude of words during disclosures, to convey the impact of victim shaming, and to humanize survivors. Link here: https://www.amydawnphotography.com/open-call

Contact Molly: www.theembodyconnection.com // [e-mail]

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Special thanks to:

Jenn Baykan, content creation for somatic based healers https://www.jbaykan.com/

Dave Hiltebrand for intro and outro music original composition: https://www.davehiltebrand.com/

Gina McLaughlin Photography for photo and graphic design: https://www.facebook.com/ginamclaughlinphotography/?fref=tag