Ruth Krall, Religious Leader Sexual Abuse — What Language Shall We Use?

By William Lindsey
Bilgrimage blog
June 20, 2019

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/AbuseTracker/Ruth%20Krall,%20Religious%20Leader%20Sexual%20Abuse%20%E2%80%94%20What%20Language%20Shall%20We%20Use?

This essay is the third in a series Ruth Krall has written with the title "Recapitulation: Affinity Sexual Violence in a Religious Voice." The first essay in the series was published in two parts (here and here), and was followed by another two-part essay (here and here). As Ruth notes below, "In the first two essays, I utilized the language of public health to explore issues of prevention, containment and treatment. In this essay I have raised questions about how we begin to study these issues. I have raised the question of our research language as essential."

As she further states, "Vis-a-vis the current clergy sexual abuse issue in multiple world religions, we need, I believe, an enhanced vocabulary. We need this enhanced and more precise vocabulary in order to comprehend the complex institutional forces at work in today's religious communities as they experience and/or demonstrate the affinity sexual violence phenomena." Here's Ruth's valuable essay:

Religious Leader Sexual Abuse — What Language Shall We Use?