Feminist Conversations is a weekly column at Feminists For Choice, where we talk to feminist activists from across the interwebs to find out what feminism means to them. In honor of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we’re spotlighting Elisha Adey today, the founder of a new website called SoulSpeakOut. Alisha explains that, “I graduated from The University of Massachusetts in 2010 with a degree in Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies and Sociology. My concentrations were violence against women & social work. I’m a certified rape-crisis counselor for the Everywoman’s Center at UMass. I worked for several years on their crisis hot-line as well as co-facilitating a support group and one-on-one counseling for survivors of sexual assault.”

1. What was your inspiration for starting SoulSpeakOut?
SoulSpeakOut was created to fight against the silence surrounding sexual abuse and violence in this society. The survivor’s submissions on SoulSpeakOut chip away at the stigma surrounding discussing sexual abuse, violence and harassment. My close friends and fellow activists, Maria and Stefana and I, wanted to create a community of support for survivors and provide an outlet for them to feel empowered and validated.

As an undergrad at UMass I trained to become a rape-crisis counselor and during those two years I saw exactly how detrimental silence and shame is to the healing process after an experience of sexual violence. With SoulSpeakOut we wanted to create a space where survivors felt empowered to share their story and be able to connect with a community of other survivors.

2. What are your goals for the website? [Read more...]