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A powerful call to recognize that those who have survived gender-based violence are essential to ending it, by the co-founder of Healing to Action
“In the act of surviving, survivors acquire an unmatched capacity to identify and make sense of why violence occurs, and how to stop it.” —from Survivor Genius
In an era in which a court finding of sexual abuse is no bar to electing a president, and the federal government attempts to deny the very existence of transgender people, the gender justice movement is in a fight for its life. Survivor Genius presents a road map for reinvigorating a part of that movement, arguing that survivors of gender-based violence are themselves the bold, resourceful, and creative leaders we need to end it.
Sheerine Alemzadeh, a co-founder of one of the leading anti-violence groups in the country, dismantles, one by one, arguments that victims are too fragile, broken, or scared to do more than share their stories in a legislative hearing. Survivor Genius offers a sharp analysis of the failures of traditional advocacy models led by “professionals” and argues for a new paradigm in which survivors, particularly those with marginalized identities, are leading players in the movement to end gender-based violence.
Through a collection of moving stories drawn from her organization’s work, Alemzadeh ilustrates how survivors of violence can both identify better solutions, tailored to their needs, and foster their on healing through collective action. Her book provides practical advice for field organizations and public institutions that would allow survivors to participate in and lead anti-violence work.
For readers invested in social movements and community empowerment, Survivor Genius offers a brilliant reframing capable of transforming our cultural understanding and public policy around a problem too often normalized as inevitable.
Praise for Survivor Genius:
“Survivor Genius is both a passionate critique of how anti-violence work has failed to deliver the justice it promises and a compelling testament to the power of collective resistance . . . a brilliant example of abolition feminism and a moving and profoundly hopeful contribution to the growing body of freedom literature.”—Beth Richie, professor, activist, and author of Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America’s Prison Nation
“Survivor Genius is the book we need right this minute to jump-start our movements. Full of both heart and concrete strategy, buoyed by a fierce commitment to survivor leadership that infuses every page, Sheerine Alemzadeh combines practical lessons with radical imagination to show us how we can truly walk our talk in the struggle to end gender-based violence.”—Maya Schenwar, co-author of Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms
“A powerful reminder that the sooner we value survivors as the architects of their own vision of change instead of the passive beneficiaries of someone else’s—the sooner we’ll send gender-based violence into the dustbin of history.”—Vanessa Priya Daniel, author of Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning
“Sheerine Alemzadeh has written the book that every survivor, anyone who loves a survivor, and everyone who wants to live free from violence needs to read. The book is filled with joy and collective power so palpable you can hear it while you read.”—Sonya Passi, activist and founder, FreeFrom
“Sherine Alemzadeh asks the question this field keeps avoiding: if survivors are the experts, why aren’t we the ones deciding? Survivor Genius answers with the survivor leaders of Healing to Action, whose analysis of violence is as clear-eyed as anything in a policy brief of a plenary session. This book shows what becomes possible when we’re trusted to lead.”—Tarana Burke, founder, ‘me too.’ Movement
“Survivors of gender-based sexual violence share predictable trauma: shame that must be overcome, stigma that must be faced, disbelief that must be challenged, and recovery that must be won. This moving book details how the leadership of survivors—from those who started the first rape crisis center in 1972 to those who fueled Tarana Burke’s ‘me too.’”—Loretta Ross, author of Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You’d Rather Cancel
“In a moving distillation of stories from the field, Sheerine Alemzadeh shows how the movement against gendered violence would profit if we asked survivors not just what they need, but also what they think about solutions. Her book is a clarion call that every advocate should read.”—Fatima Goss Graves, executive director, National Women’s Law Center
Sheerine Alemzadeh is the co-founder and co-director of Healing to Action, a pioneering grassroots organization whose mission is to end gender-based violence by building the leadership and collective power of survivors. She has worked at the intersection of gender-based violence and social inequality issues for two decades as an attorney, professor, writer, community educator, activist, grassroots organizer, and nonprofit leader. Alemzadeh has been quoted in The Washington Post, The Guardian, Vox, The Chicago Sun-Times, and Teen Vogue and has been interviewed on public radio stations throughout the country. She lives in Chicago.