The Forced Heroism of the ‘Survivor’

By Parul Sehgal, The New York Times Magazine, May 5, 2016

FOR MOST OF her life, Virginia Woolf suffered from what she called “looking-glass shame,” an aversion to seeing herself in mirrors. She wrote about it late in her career, not long before her suicide, recalling that the trouble began with one particular mirror. It hung in the hall of her family home, and when she was about 6, her half brother Gerald Duckworth lifted her onto a nearby table and put his hands under her clothes.

One thought on “The Forced Heroism of the ‘Survivor’

  1. Thank you for this. I can’t quite put my finger on why I am so grateful, but I think it is because you addressed what post- sexual assault humans want: humanity. So, thank you.

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