Can't Stop the Sunrise with VANESSA OSAGE
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Today, I have a special guest because of what she\\u2019s been through and how she has dealt with her abuse. I\\u2019m chatting with Vanessa Osage, a sexuality educator for the past decade, and runs a non-profit, The Amends Project, whose mission is to \\u201cMend the loophole that has allowed for the Cupra of the abuse of children in private schools.\\u201d Vanessa\\u2019s work is to implement the Justice CORPS Initiative, which she created with other health professionals. She has also authored the book \\u201cCan\\u2019t Stop the Sunrise: Adventures in Healing, Confronting Corruption and the Journey to Institutional Reform.\\u201d
Vanessa\\u2019s Home Life and Childhood
"I was a tomboy of the 1980's" is how she thinks of herself, looking back on her childhood. She grew up in a household of five children that were born within six years. Vanessa remembers her parents being unhappily married, her mother an alcoholic, and both her parents falling into consumerism as a way to project stability and happiness; she remembers her life growing up with her parents "always being concerned that our life looked good on the outside."
Being the second born of five, she recalls being in a parent role often as a child. "I have a lot of recollection of feeling maternal towards my siblings being the oldest girl." Her parents sent her to Catholic school, then boarding school in the small town she lived in Massachusetts.
Conditioned to Be Quiet as a Young Girl
\\u201cI believe I was very much conditioned to be quiet.\\u201d She has many memories of being quiet, sad, and the source of nurturing to be sought out. Her environment and family upbringing \\u201clacked authenticity.\\u201d
Her Boarding School Sexual Abuse Experience
When she started boarding school at the age of 13, she went without any sexual education background, getting to high school completely uninformed about human sexuality. Vanessa arrived at her school with a sexual molester on campus, the groundskeeper, who had been preying on girls for at least a decade before her arrival.
He had a formula to get close to his victims and was in a teaching role in an automotive class during the summer.
The clearest moment, she understood that what he was doing was wrong, was when he told her not to say anything because \\u201cyou don\\u2019t want to give people the wrong idea.\\u201d
Links and Resources
Visit Vanessa on the web at The Amends Project
Read her story here
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