Meet Michael.

Michael is an advocate against sexual abuse on a mission to take back the power from his abuser. Michael writes, directs, and performs in his interactive play ‘Ask A Sex Abuse Survivor,’ where he tells his story of abuse and how he is able to heal from it.  

Michael is a panelist in We Are HER’s upcoming Trauma Recovery Panel, in which he gave his perspective on the healing process and what healing looks like to him. Before we release the panel, we wanted you to get to know Michael with this quick Q&A.

HER: Tell us more about your organization.

Michael: Ask A Sex Abuse Survivor began in 2014 as an interactive play, telling my story of abuse and healing while fielding questions from the audience throughout the presentation. The idea was to create a real-time conversation about abuse and the issues surrounding it. And it worked beautifully from the very beginning. These days the play is one small part of what we do. I am on a mission to amplify survivor voices, to give my fellow survivors access to the platform I created for myself.

HER: What prompted you to start your show ‘Ask a Sex Abuse Survivor’?

Michael: The whole notion of the interactivity came from my frustration that the subject of sexual abuse was so taboo, no one talked about it. And we need to have these conversations. If we are going to grow as a society, and learn how we can best address what is essentially a worldwide health crisis. And the great thing about making the audience an integral part of each performance is that no two performances are ever the same. Each is a singular event.

HER: In what ways does sharing your story through your show help with your healing?

Michael: I get a lot of support and kindness from the attendees, even those who are not survivors. I learn so much from their questions and comments. Near the beginning, I refer to the first time I was abused as "the first time I had sex." An audience member said, "You call that the first time you had sex, but you didn't have sex, you were raped. There's a difference." I was floored by this. Since then, I have rephrased it in the show as, "I called that the first time I had sex. But as an audience member pointed out to me, I didn't have sex. I was raped. There's a difference. Trouble was, I was seven years old, and I didn't know the difference."

HER: What would you say is the most common misconception about sexual abuse from a gender standpoint?

Michael: I think the notion that male survivors are more likely to grow up to be predators themselves is an incredibly harmful misconception. It locks many male survivors in silence because they are terrified that this will happen to them and they will be judged by the people around them. 

HER: What do you hope viewers take away from this panel?

Michael: I hope they will see all the different faces and hear all the different voices of survivors, across the racial and cultural and gender spectrum, and recognize themselves, and feel a sense of community.

Learn more about We Are HER’s Trauma Recovery Panel here.