Harrison James on Love And Healing After Child Sexual Abuse
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is a Triple J podcast. I think people often mistake healing as you've stopped struggling, and that's just not the case.
Hey, Dee here. Really big ep for you today. It's with someone I deeply admire and I've wanted to chat to on the Hookup podcast for a while now. Someone who I think there's so much to learn from. His name is Harrison James and he is a child sexual abuse survivor, an award-winning activist and co-founder of the hashtag Your Reference Ain't Relevant campaign. Basically, Harry is behind this incredible activism that has fueled legislative reform across multiple Australian jurisdictions, including recently in New South Wales, where good character references were abolished for convicted offenders of all sexual violence offenses. and also harrison has just released his debut book transform your pain into purpose where he talks about his story being a 13 year old boy who was sexually abused manipulated and coerced by his stepmom for years who then also gave birth to his daughter he was forced to keep the abuse and the fact that the baby was his a secret and had to pretend that it was his sister
So just a bit of a heads up, we are going to talk about sexual abuse, sexual assault and domestic violence in this episode. But we've got some really helpful resources in the show notes if this episode brings up anything for you as well. But you know, this episode also has a lot of hope and inspiration and excitement. And Harry chats about his journey of healing and finding love with his now fiance, Bella, who you're also going to hear from. So really excited to get into this chat. Let's do it. Harrison, thank you so much for coming into the studio.
Thanks for having me.
I really appreciate it. So you have an incredible career of advocacy. You are such an amazing voice for victims and survivors of child sexual abuse. It has been so inspiring to watch. And like I said, in my intro, I have been wanting to chat to you for a long time. So I'm really excited to chat to you today. Can you talk us through a little bit about where your journey began?
Yeah, for sure. So after experiencing sexual abuse as a child from the ages of 13 to 16 and heading to a mental health facility, that's sort of where things started to change for me. And I saw Grace Tame become Australian of the Year. And that sort of instilled this confidence in me to pursue advocacy. And I had this sort of niggling, like this chip on my shoulder about the idea of good character references being used as a mitigating factor in sentencing and that sort of propelled me to diving into the world of advocacy and it was complex and I think along the entire journey it was Just a constant learning experience. It still is to this day, even after securing legislative wins across the country, it still is a learning experience.
And yeah, it's just been it, but it has been rewarding and healing. Like my perpetrator, my stepmother didn't go to court, so I didn't garner justice in the traditional sort of sense. But to be able to campaign and advocate and help other people along the way, that has been my form of justice. And it's been really beautiful to see that come to fruition.
And a huge congratulations because it recently changed in New South Wales, right?
Yeah. So we've passed the law in four jurisdictions. So New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria has made a commitment to introduce legislation this year and Tasmania has done the same. So four out of the eight jurisdictions of Australia.
It's so huge and so incredibly, I can imagine, rewarding. You talk about in your book the fact that you, through your experience of, you know, child sexual abuse, you felt that you were coerced into being silent about that ride. But there was a pivotal moment where you decided to come public with your story. What was that moment like for you?
Yeah, it was a surge of, I think, multiple emotions at one thing. I can't really concentrate it to one feeling or anything like that. But there was just this urgency to do something with it. And I think I came to the understanding that what happened to me was not my fault, but it was my responsibility to do something with it and not let it fester.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–10:35
2
How did Harrison James first get involved in advocacy against child sexual abuse?
10:35–14:28
3
How did the #YourReferenceAintRelevant campaign change sentencing laws in Australia?
14:28–18:45
4
What led Harrison to go public with his abuse story and what happened next?
18:45–33:35