Show Notes
Join host Debbie Millman, a survivor and Joyful Heart Foundation board member, as she introduces you to remarkable individuals who experienced trauma yet channeled it into changing laws and minds.
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Debbie Millman: We've all heard the alarming statistics about the prevalence of sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse. According to the Department of Justice, one out of every six American women has been the victim of rape or attempted rape in her lifetime. My name is Debbie Millman. I am a writer, designer, educator, artist, brand consultant and host of the podcast Design Matters. I am also a survivor of sexual violence and a longtime board member of the Joyful Heart Foundation, working alongside our fearless founder, Mariska Hargitay, who you might know for playing Olivia Benson on Law and Order Special Victims Unit. The Joyful Heart Foundation's team of dedicated advocates have worked with survivors, policy experts and government leaders to transform society's response to sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse and along the way, we've worked with many remarkable people whose stories are inspiring, enlightening, and motivating. We want you to meet some of these people, which is why we're launching Survivor Stories, a new podcast to introduce you to people who have survived terrifying, painful experiences of violence and gone on to change laws and minds to reduce the chance that others will go through the nightmares that they have. You'll meet people like Donna Palomba, who was raped in her own home and falsely accused by the police of making up the crime, only for the perpetrator to be caught years later, after continuing to assault others after the statute of limitations had expired.
[00:01:52] Donna Palomba: He thought I was lying. This lieutenant who didn't know me, and rather than talk to anyone who did know me, talk to my business partners, talk to any friends of mine, talk to my family members, follow me around for that matter, and see how I live my life. He chose to break me and he almost did.
[00:02:16] Debbie Millman: Donna's advocacy led to the removal of the statute of limitations on sexual crimes with DNA evidence in the state of Connecticut. You'll meet people like Natasha Alexenko, a sexual assault survivor who has devoted her life to championing the rights of survivors and has worked with Joyful Heart to end the scandalously long delays in testing rape kits in jurisdictions across the United States.
[00:02:43] Natasha Alexenko: Sexual assault doesn't just affect the survivor. This affected my mother and my friends and my family. Everyone who loved me was broken. It broke, he broke, everything and he changed the trajectory of my life forever.
[00:03:04] Debbie Millman: And you'll meet Noelle Martin, an Australian lawyer who 11 years ago discovered manipulated images of herself on the internet in which photographs of her face had been pasted onto bodies of adult film stars and she's been working ever since to change laws and the policies of social media companies to prevent more people from being victimized.
[00:03:31] Noelle Martin: I didn't know what was happening. I didn't fully understand what it was going to mean and how much this would impact my life over the years. It's not only what this abuse does, but also, and more importantly, what the societal, legal, cultural attitudes towards this abuse does to a person who experiences it. That's almost like the hardest part is not only dealing with it, but dealing with everyone else's views of it.
[00:04:03] Debbie Millman: Please join us and these remarkable survivors for Survivor Stories, a podcast of the Joyful Heart Foundation. Subscribe on iTunes or your favorite podcast app so you don't miss an episode.
