There are a lot of big subjects that our culture has trouble talking about: wealth, death, addiction, religion. But one of the toughest has to be sexual assault and rape. For how common sexual violence is – it affects over half of women and almost one in three men – it can be extremely painful and even stigmatizing to discuss. But in Jamie Hood's new book Trauma Plot, which contextualizes rape in her own life and in our culture, Jamie looks for new ways to speak the "unspeakable." It tells her story in experimental fragments and finds a unique way to discuss one of the most common violences we face. Brittany sits down with Jamie to discuss Trauma Plot, the contours of rape narratives in our culture, and how we can move beyond them to tell stories about sexual violence in new ways.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Full Episode
Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. A warning, this segment contains extensive discussion about rape and sexual assault, along with some explicit language. There are a lot of big subjects that I think our culture has trouble talking about.
Death, addiction, wealth, politics. But one of the toughest, I think, has to be sexual assault and rape. For how common sexual violence is, it affects over half of women and almost one in three men. It understandably can be extremely painful and even stigmatizing to discuss.
And in our culture, we see narratives about sexual violence play out in Law & Order SVU, in personal essays, or in the headlines. And there aren't a ton of other scripts out there.
You know, I did feel constrained. And what I wanted to do was to, like, fight against that and to sort of challenge myself to not prettify the story in order to fit accepted form. That's Jamie Hood.
She's the author of the new book, Trauma Plot.
How do we loosen the constraints? One way is for people to imagine that the stories don't have to be always super conventional.
And Trauma Plot, which contextualizes rape in her own life and in our culture, is very unconventional. It takes her story to different points of view in separate fragments, but put together, she finds a unique way to tell both her experience and to think about one of the most common violences we face.
I sat down with Jamie to discuss trauma plot, the contours of rape narratives in our culture, and how we can move beyond them. So to jump right in, your book is titled Trauma Plot. And it starts with the defense of the trauma plot, which is something of a literary term. Maybe not everybody knows it. And so I wonder if you could tell us what is the trauma plot and what are you defending it from?
Yeah.
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