Читать книгу Faith Born of Seduction - Jennifer L Manlowe - Страница 15

Below I will briefly describe the respondents and their abuse history, their present faith, their coping techniques with food, and the nature of their present involvement with their families-of-origin. This is to better aid readers in keeping core themes together. In the following chapters, I will go into greater detail regarding each of their narratives.

Cherise calls herself an evangelical Christian. She is a sufferer of compulsive overeating (with bouts of self-starvation in between) and alcoholism. She was physically and sexually abused by her father from age seven until age twelve. She is the only one in her family that has chosen not to kill herself.

Natalie calls herself a Christian who imagines God to be female. She is a sufferer of bulimia who was physically and sexually abused by her father from age two to age five. She has intermittent contact with her family of origin.

Margery considers herself to be a Christian. She is a chronic dieter who breaks her diet with a binge. She was sexually abused by her maternal grandfather throughout her childhood. She lives within a few miles of her family of origin.

Haddock grew up in a cult and now considers herself a Twelve-Stepper. Her faith is in a Higher Power. She suffers from anorexia, bulimia, and compulsive overeating. She also considers herself an alcoholic. She was sexually and physically abused by her father, uncle, aunt, and mother from infancy until early adolescence. She has chosen to cut off all contact from her nuclear and extended families.

Melinda is a former Christian and now considers herself a non-denominationally affiliated “spiritual person.” She is a sufferer of compulsive overeating. She has an early history of fasting. She was sexually and physically abused by her father and gang-raped by her older brother and his friends. She remembers the abuse occurring from age four until her early teens. She has attempted to confront her father with his abuse; because he denies the incidents, she has severed all contact with him and her brother.

Janine is a former Christian who now considers herself an agnostic. She has been diagnosed as anorexic with bulimic episodes. She was sadistically tortured and sexually abused by her father, and sexually molested by her step-uncle and a male babysitter. Her first memory of sexual abuse was at age four. She has yearly contact with her family of origin.

Stephanie considers herself a “practicing Christian.” She suffers from chronic dieting which she “breaks” by compulsive overeating. She was sexually abused by her maternal grandfather from age four until age eight. She has intermittent contact with her family of origin.

Samantha calls herself a Twelve-Stepper who believes in a Higher Power. She is a self-starver who rarely eats and when she does it’s something sweet. She considers herself “a sugar addict” in addition to being an alcoholic and former valium addict. She recalls being sexually abused by her nanny in early childhood and by her father in adolescence. She has yearly contact with her siblings and extended family.

Renita describes herself as a Twelve-Stepper who believes in God as her Higher Power. She is a sufferer of bulimia and anorexia. Her paternal grandfather, her father, and her two older brothers sexually abused her. She periodically lives with her family of origin, in between jobs.