Aly Raisman's Lifetime Documentary About Childhood Sexual Abuse Has Already Ignited Change

Championing women39s issues has been Lifetime39s mission since it launched in 1984 and it hasn39t stopped since So let39s take a moment to recognize two recent critically important accomplishments directly linked to the network R Kelly facing life in prison when he is sentenced in May and the 99 percent increase last week in calls to the National Sexual Assault Hotline 8006564673 Both are results of Lifetime programming Surviving R Kelly a twoseason docuseries that premiered in 2019 and Aly Raisman Darkness to Light a threehour documentary that aired at the end of September respectivelyquotWe are just blown back and so happy that the women the survivors from R Kelly were validated that people believed them which is such a huge piece of the healing and everyone was talking aboutquot said Amy Winter Executive Vice President Head of Programming quotAnd to have it particularly from Black women who are so frustrated with not feeling like they have been heard amp8230 it is an absolutely powerful momentquotOur points of entry on both of those projects were differentquot Winter continued quotWith R Kelly nothing was happening and Lifetime brought that to life and was creating a change With Aly Raisman pictured at top we entered that conversation at a different point 39Okay I have gotten this level of justice but there is still more to be had I want to focus on how we get to this healing moment39quotWith SRK some had made that pivot to that path of healingquot she added quotSo much of it was still trying to share their truth and that was very painful So what I39m hoping is that out of this they must be feeling that they made this happen We will see what happens with the Chicago trialquotFound guilty in New York City of a slew of charges including kidnapping and sexual exploitation of a child Kelly faces additional charges in Chicago Before the Lifetime series however he had been acquitted The Peabodywinning series made people finally listen to the accusations against the powerful RampampB singer It aired as the MeToo Movement was constantly in the news The movement was started in 2006 by Tarana Burke a Black activist and survivor and it became famous when Alyssa Milano tweeted about it 11 years laterBurke is among those featured on the Raisman special as survivors of childhood sexual abuse talk about healing Raisman the retired Olympic gymnast and one of 265 known survivors of Larry Nassar the former USA Gymnastics team doctor spoke with survivors and those who work toward helping them healThe day after the special RAINN the national hotline for survivors of sexual abuse saw a 99 percent spike in callsquotWe thank Lifetime and Aly Raisman for their collaboration on this project and for highlighting not just the impact of child sexual abuse but also offering hope for survivors letting them know they are not alone and that healing is possiblequot Erinn Robinson RAINN press secretary said in a prepared statement quotWe continue to see the very real impact television can have on survivors reaching out for support in addition to educating the public on the farreaching effects of sexual violencequotAiring this was a natural for the networkquotLifetime wanted to work with Aly because we admire her platform and knew that she was trying to tackle a topic so critically important to our audiencequot Winter said quotWe were incredibly excited to help her She had a very definitive approach to how she wanted to go about her special and project The trauma has happened Now what How do we help survivors posttrauma And then we realized we might be talking to people in the midst of it right nowquotDarkness to Light was similar to Surviving R Kelly in that both gave voice to survivors of childhood sexual abuse Raisman39s loving kindness shines as she talks with women and men who survived heinous acts as children In addition to hearing their traumatic stories the documentary features experts such as Anton Gunn a board member of Darkness to Light a nonprofit dedicated to stopping the sexual abuse of children He stresses that this is an adult problem and the burden should never be on the childrenLike Raisman about 90 percent of abused minors know their predators And even when the felon is imprisoned as is Raisman39s amp8211 disgraced former doctor Larry Nassar now serving a 175year sentence amp8211 that does not mean life returns to normal The nightmares don39t just stop because the assailant is doing timequotOnce he was put in jail a lot of people thought it was done we39re finequot Raisman says on the documentary quotKnowing that he39s locked away and can39t hurt another child is really important But it doesn39t mean that everything39s OK It doesn39t mean that we don39t have fears or PTSD that creeps up in ways that someone else may not understand It doesn39t just stopquotRecounting graphic details of rape remains triggering for survivors to which Raisman and the network were extremely sensitive The doc issues a warning five seconds before someone launches into specifics providing viewers who need to mute time to do so Winter found she used the warnings and mutedquotI was watching it with my 15yearold son and my younger girls 10 and 11 kept walking through the rooms and I didn39t want them to hear it out of contextquot she saidUltimately Winter39s goal is not to need to tackle such traumatic issuesquotMy hope is there will be no need for any more cases that we just end itquot Winter said quotThat is a very amazing big goal but that is one worth shooting for in terms of trying to prevent it and raise awareness for sexual abuse This one really leans into children It is a big north starquotClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Aly Raisman's Lifetime Documentary About Childhood Sexual Abuse Has Already Ignited Change

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Jacqueline Cutler

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Aly Raisman's Lifetime Documentary About Childhood Sexual Abuse Has Already Ignited Change

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