Don Hennessy appears in this Irish documentary which follows 26-year-old Emma Murphy as she tries to use her experience of domestic violence to make a difference.
Filmed over two years, Emma undertakes a journey to increase awareness about domestic violence, and encourage other young women to speak out.
At 29:16 in the doco, Emma talks to Don Hennessy:
[The link to the documentary (Emma Murphy Fights Back) is broken and we were unable to find a copy in the Internet Archive. Editors.]
#emmamurphyfightsback is the hashtag to use if you are sharing it on social media.
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We encourage you to read all our posts about Don Hennessy. Find them at our Don Hennessy Digest.
Caveat: in this Irish documentary there is a brief shout-out for same sex marriage — one of the secular DV workers Emma Murphy interviews talks about how good it was that Ireland voted to allow SSM.
We want to assure our readers that the A Cry For Justice team does not endorse same sex marriage or same sex practices. But we do admire and honor Emma Murphy for speaking out about her experience of domestic abuse and raising awareness of the issue of domestic abuse.
A Cry For Justice 
Reblogged this on Speakingtruthinlove's Blog [Internet Archive link].
(Airbrushing…)
I don’t know where to begin…
I watched the whole documentary, then viewed the original video. My heart breaks, for all the Emma’s, for their children, for those who love and support them.
I cannot even begin to imagine the pain and suffering…and know many in the ACFJ community can relate. For those encountering “c”hurch “politics”, “c”hurch discipline, “c”hurch doctrine, the layers bring on increasing incomprehension. How can anyone created in the image of God act so obviously like Satan?
I agree with Don’s comment regarding the use of the word “evil”. Yes, these folks are indeed evil, right down to the bitter core. No disagreement on that front. If “evil” is the only word used, I think the issue is more easily brushed off, more easily thought of as Not-In-My-Backyard.
What I add next is not intended to detract in any way from all the Emma’s and their children.
I keep thinking about the number of hard copy biographies / autobiographies I read, secular and Christian…people I could relate to who had experienced similar unexplainable health issues. I keep thinking about BJUGrace. The SGMSurvivors. And so, so many others I read on the road to discovering I had lived an entire life in abusive relationships.
I am a mixture of worlds, secular and Christian. Only twice in my life was the abuse physical…”childhood discipline.” The road to complex trauma started from a severe early childhood illness. The road continued through childhood, surrounded by abusers in my entire family of origin, into an almost two decade long abusive “marriage”, abusive workplaces, abusive “friends”, and abusive counsellors. It wasn’t until I was in my late thirties that I was told incest was correctly called sibling sexual abuse.
I had read In Sheep’s Clothing. I had read Unholy Charade. I had read Tear Down This Wall of Silence. And a number of others. I had started Judith Herman’s Trauma and Recovery while pursuing in-depth research into the effects of complex trauma – the first steps prior to reading her book were forays into discovering complex trauma even existed.
My final stop was ACFJ.
The stories I read, the information I found, started connecting the dots. Finally, the kaleidoscope shifted and I understood my entire life in a completely different light / Light.
I, too, am an abuse survivor.
Why do I write such a lengthy response? Because there are others out there like me. Others who have no visible wounds, no visible signs of the damage done. Others who do not realize their relationships are abusive because they have been covertly groomed since childhood. Others who try to heal through various means, and wonder why change seems minimal, temporary. If the abusive surroundings don’t change, the attempts at healing become far less effective or sustainable.
I did all this in complete isolation, reading and researching through the re-integration of 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week flashbacks. I do not want others to be in the same position.
I have words I can share…I can speak for the voiceless…I can support those on the front-lines effecting change and advocacy.
Some how, in some way, I can help…
The online articles of Dr George Simon and this website were / are the two particular (extra-biblical) resources that assisted me in gaining a clearer understanding of abusers and abuse. I always knew that there was something very wrong with one of my siblings, but have always struggled with the cognitive dissonance of being reared in a family that enabled and fostered (however unintentionally) an environment that minimises abuse (i.e. evil). To this day, I am severely impaired with respect to socialising and relationships.
Nevertheless, I am not as weak as I once was. I, too, hope one day to be of some assistance to others who have suffered abuse, in whatever form it might manifest itself.
Finding Answers and Some Anonymous Bloke,
I don’t think you will ever know how much you have helped already, with your participation here at ACFJ. You are speaking, now, for the voiceless.
Barbara’s outstanding series of posts listed in the Don Hennessey Digest have been essential for me and led to lots of healing.
There is a link to it above, but I don’t want there to be any chance someone might miss it.
It can be found here: Don Hennessy Digest
Jamie,
Your reply reminded me of The Barbershoppers’ theme song, though not singing for the same audience:
If you Google it, you can find links to it being sung…
Many thanks for your kind words, Jamie.
It is helpful to see that Don points out how the abuser is going to have his ‘sex’ whether she wants it or not. It is not sex, it’s rape. She doesn’t want it. The abuser does not care. He is going to take what he considers his.
I think it is a book title or something but rape seems to be the all-American crime. Be it gang raping rituals or the common wife raping, there is a lot of it going on and nobody seems to acknowledge it. Marriage may no longer be as much of a hitting license as it is a raping license. All of it is so shame-inducing in the victim.
A lot of abusers are rapists, too. DV and SA seem to go hand in hand. Don H. recognizes this. His term of ‘sexual slavery’ shows that there is no real consent going on or possible. A slave doesn’t have agency, choices, options, or free will.
And even for the abusers who have yet to hit the woman, fear and intimidation go a long, long ways and the mere threat of violence, given it’s coming from an evil, wicked person who has proven again and again to delight in inflicting pain, harm, and damage, can get the job done a lot of times.
The world is chock full of evil men and there are so many evil women, rape apologists, abuser allies to make a person want to throw in the towel and kick the bucket.
Rape is not only an American crime. It’s worldwide.
Please remember that America is not the only place in the world, and that this blog has readers from all over the world. People who are not Americans are often offended by the way Americans speak as if America is the only place on this planet.
Oh yes, you’re absolutely correct. It’s worldwide. I was thinking there was a book titled that. Delete it by all means. I don’t think the USA is the only place in the world. I hate that I came across as one of the obnoxious Americans. Perhaps I am, but don’t know it. Hope not.
This is an Aussie production with a wonderfully global reach, assuming internet availability. You’re doing God’s work with this ministry. 🙂
Hi Anonymous, I didn’t delete that bit of your comment — I left it in because the little exchange between us may be of help to some other readers. But rest assured I’m not offended by you, and I’m glad you feel free to comment ad lib on this blog. 🙂
(hugs) from Barb.