Thank you. This gives me strength - and hope.

Thank you @featsofstrength.bsky.social We have to keep going 💪💙

A new blog post, with news of a lyric essay published in BMJ Medical Humanities. Proud of this. clarebest.co.uk/2026/04/21/s...

The starting point: how is child sexual abuse represented in the arts, if indeed it is represented at all? Looking for ourselves in books, films, plays, visual arts, and music is a human thing. We look outward as ways of looking inward.We look outward to reflect upon our own lives and experiences.

Like so many here on this earth, there is a lot going on for me right now, from every angle: in real life, in the wider world, psychologically and medically. The last few weeks have brought brilliant peaks -- and some very tough troughs.

Why I cried: I must look. My eyes are stuck open. Every day, and especially right now. Millions of us have to look. We have no choice but to know about all of this, from the inside -- and none of us, not a single one, wants to. We are flayed raw. We are so tired. We are so heartsore.

Survivors, like me, are well aware that few perps ever face justice. While this case is blowing wide open, the rich & powerful are pulling no punches to obstruct & cover up. This ends much like the abuse scandal in the church, w/ some progress, but falling short of lasting justice. Keep fighting.

So many are asking this question right now: survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, allies of survivors, and the general public. Who will be charged? Who will be prosecuted? And importantly: will this global explosion around sexual abuse and sex trafficking change anything?

where so many of us are right now

Sunday January 25th, the day after Alex Pretti's death, I felt, like a lot of people, incandescent with rage. And I couldn't see how I was going to get out of it. Would I just have to get used to this hopelessness -- would we all?

McBride: Look, people are clutching their pearls at this guy yelling something at the president. They are more offended by a worker standing up to the president and calling him out for his hypocrisy than they are by the president trying to cover up for a human trafficking ring

Something is happening now. Does anyone else feel it? NOT just around Epstein and his cronies. But around the whole space of Child Sexual Abuse. In the last six weeks or so, my Threads and Bluesky and even Instagram feeds have been flooded with disclosures. Is it finally time for #metooCSA?

What is the point of working away in my small corner? In the last few months, the plight of the Epstein survivors, and the involvement of men and women who occupy the most wealthy and powerful positions in the world in their trafficking -- have crashed my worlds together.

Let’s be clear. When the President defies the Supreme Court, it is the role of Congress to remove him from office. Full stop.

MIT following Harvard's lead here

This event might be of interest: on creative works about child sexual abuse and the cultural ramifications of creative works (& we would appreciate a repost) @survivorsrise.bsky.social

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.

Join us for the CSAReps project online launch event Apr 29th & 30th With esteemed speakers @drcisme.bsky.social @theflyingchild.bsky.social @hazelklarkin.bsky.social @brenrooney.bsky.social Chris Godwin David Hanauer & Emilie Pine Register: www.eventbrite.ie/e/csareps-pr... Contact: [email protected]

If you need help, you create structures to help. If more people need to be part of the process, you find the people. You figure it out. You think outside the default. Not investigate sexual abuse because it was ‘overwhelming’? This smells of fear. #CSA #welby www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

For anyone who hasn’t seen this group yet. 💪

First they came for gender identity…. I wonder if the gender critical brigade will EVER admit that their agenda is a profoundly right wing one? But the reality is here: erasure of trans and queer people. Because wow that 1% of the population is such a threat. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Make your calls. Go to your town halls. Ask your state and local officials what they are doing under state and local law. Rest. Hydrate. Make soup for the hungry. Don’t let people tell you that you’re doing it wrong. Not a sprint. Not a marathon. A relay. Find your team. Thank you.

These children are no longer protected. They are being systematically raped. Shame on you Trump and Musk. And unfortunately - shame on the US for allowing this to happen. I’m an American living abroad. And it’s so heartbreaking to watch all of this.

So. I do get that the US ‘administration’ is committing crimes at the rate of knots. However. I feel like my brain is melting: how is firing thousands from their federal jobs ‘helping’ the economy? This seems such an obvious weakening of it. Thousands unable to support themselves/others. Really?!

And what the hell planet is he on? Are they on? I mean: they treat the world like their playground. We are being bludgeoned over and over.

Excellent. 💪

Take note. More and more and more protests must happen. We have HAD IT with this crap.

“Once you decide that a single vulnerable minority can be sacrificed, you’re operating within a fascist logic,” they said. “That means there might be a second one you’re willing to sacrifice and a third, a fourth. Then what happens?”

🏆 Governor Pritzker- Illinois - has signed an order prohibiting all J6 rioters from state employment.

This. As well as outraged about the state of the world, I am also this x 2: a zebra #CSA survivor, and a zebra #EDS person.

My dear friend. So many congratulations 🎉 and so much love, knowing something about its toll. ♥️♥️♥️ #memoir

I don’t even know how to make this land where it needs to land. Help.

This.

Donold is blaming a plane crash that killed 67 people on “DEI” with zero evidence. He is attempting to use racism to deflect from the fact it is HIS fault. He had just removed 100 FAA senior officials. It’s been 11 days and there are 67 bodies in the Potomac in Washington DC because of him.

Yes Walz! Some comments here call for rallies around the country - yes yes! We are in desperate need of visible consolidation now. We mustn’t drift away in despair. We need to know that work and thinking and action are on the way. 💪 #resistance #Walz

Thanks to George Conway for posting Caroline Kennedy's letter so everyone is informed about RFK Jr. Please repost far and wide.

Jim Acosta, in his live resignation speech on CNN: ‘I will not give in to the lies. I will not give into the fear. Put it on your social media.’ This is where we are folks. Do not stop questioning. Do not stop resisting. #resistance #togetherwestand #peacefulprotest

It’s up to all of us to speak up now. We cannot let fear stop us. This is how it’s done. 💪🔥♥️ #bishopbudde www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Clearly this is now the only place where we can post in freedom. What are our #nextsteps? Does anyone know if #democrats and #theleft are now amassing and developing a plan for #resistance? How do we help please?

Releasing convicted criminals from prison. Corrupt, blatant expansion of wealth through bitcoins. Erasing trans people and their rights. Taking a government women’s reproductive rights website down. Declaring a state of emergency at the border. I know we all know what this means. #resistance

THIS. A survivor-centred approach to putting safeguards, permissions, supports in place in Telford UK. Done locally. Producing RESULTS. #CSA #CSE www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

“The hard right has seized upon high-profile cases involving men of mainly Pakistani heritage, although a Home Office report found most child sex abuse gangs were made up of white men under 30.” And most abusers are family members. THIS is the heart of it. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Victim survivors of #CSA must be heard. They are the CENTRE of the conversation, not a by-product of a horrible situation. We need safeguarding, prevention, and justice. Every day that passes without implementing the #IICSA recommendations allows abuse to carry on unhindered. #ShameMustChangeSides

What’s going on in the UK around Child Sexual Abuse and ‘oh dear what do we do? We demand ANOTHER inquiry’ - is playing politics at the expense of past and present victim survivors. We want CHANGE. Musk has NO idea what CSA looks like or come from. Sensationalising rather than solving. Disgusting.

You will read countless times today that the LA mayor cut the LA Fire Department's budget by $23 million. That is a lie. The budget was actually *increased* by $50 million.

Very much this.

Two years after IICSA, and until now not a single recommendation from it implemented. Thousands more children sexually abused in that time - and no mandate to report suspicions or claims. It is NOT up to children to disclose. About bloody time. #ShameMustChangeSides #CSA