ABSTRACT
This chapter is about how radical politics have helped shape current understandings about, and ways of working with, women who have experienced sexual abuse in childhood. It is about how feminists and radical mental health activists have drawn on their own and others' experiences of inequality, abuse, and/or exploitation to challenge traditional forms of authority. It is a story of revolutions: about the dynamic relationships between theory and activism that continue to inspire innovations in practice to the current day. This chapter speci®cally re¯ects my own personal engagement with women's activism around sexual violence, and my own journeys in feminist and critical theory. It therefore builds on the outline given in Chapter 1, and provides a detailed account of some of the epistemic and political communities I hold myself accountable to, and which shape the principles and value base that I bring to my work.
