Books by Andrea Nicki
This book explores a variety of topics: male and female
socialization, sexual violence agai... more This book explores a variety of topics: male and female
socialization, sexual violence against girls and women, child
abuse, family dysfunction, exploitation in academia,
goddess spirituality, animal spirituality, eco-spirituality,
tarot, and communal dance. It draws on different genres of
poetry: feminist poetry, spiritual poetry and eco-poetry. As
a work in Engaged Goddess Spirituality, it embraces
qualities associated with femininity, such as empathy,
compassion, inclusiveness, and environmental humility.
Pre-Christian roots of dominant cultural holidays are
foregrounded, and Earth's seasons are cast as spiritually
significant, along with plant and animal species, viewed as
spiritual guides or mirrors.
While some might perceive the poems about sexual
violence against girls and women, child abuse and family
dysfunction as “trauma poems,” I prefer to view these as
poems about social justice issues. When writing is called
“trauma writing,” there is often an assumption that
producing the writing was healing for the authors or that
healing was the primary motivation for the writing, even
when authors have explicitly rejected such claims. In
writing about incest rape of girls, in particular, my main
motivation was to emphasize girls' innocence and agency,
and present girls as resilient, intelligent, and reasonable.
This is an educational approach adopted by other poets
writing about incest rape, such as Elly Danica, Avery M.
Guess, Judy Grahn, and Christine Stark. Survivors of incest rape
are often mistreated by
health care professionals and others who perceive them as
emotionally unstable, manipulative individuals who seduced
their attackers. This misperception is related to denial of
the high incidence of incest in society and the strongly
enforced myth of the inherently safe nuclear family. While
sexual abuse in the workplace has been receiving increased
media attention, sexual abuse in the family has not. Some
reports estimate that in the United States 1 in 9 girls and 1
in 53 boys under the age of 18 are sexually abused by an
adult, and the perpetrator is most often the father
(www.rainn.org/statistics/children-and-teens). I also
wanted to convey that people who survive child sex crimes
are not only survivors needing to make sense of these
experiences and find sources of hope but multifaceted
individuals with a variety of talents, pursuits, and life
experiences. And so I have made this book, which draws
on my own life experiences, not only about child abuse but
a variety of subjects. Women “can make their own rose”;
we have a right to control our bodies and sexual
experiences and shape the different layers of our lives.
Papers by Andrea Nicki
International Journal of Feminist Bioethics, 2016
In this paper, I argue that the pervasive assignment of the psychiatric diagnosis of borderline p... more In this paper, I argue that the pervasive assignment of the psychiatric diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) to female survivors of chronic childhood trauma pathologizes their life experiences, behavior, and survival strategies. I build on Nancy Potter's argument that diagnostic and clinical practices related to BPD are significantly informed by cultural and gender norms. I maintain that clinicians and society need to appreciate better the life experiences, social situations, and moral virtues of survivors. I conclude with a consideration of Judith Herman's alternate diagnosis of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) and discuss various limitations of current mental health treatment of survivors.
Humanities-MDPI, 2018
I examine and challenge the view, expressed by some literary theorists, that writings about traum... more I examine and challenge the view, expressed by some literary theorists, that writings about trauma should be read and taught differently from other writings because these reflect a desire to heal with the support of a community of readers. I explore some poems about incest, including my own, and the expressed intentions and intellectual processes of the authors. I argue that framing these writings as healing narratives misconceives the writers as healers. I address some challenges in teaching incest narratives and strategies that can help ensure the inclusion of student incest survivors and, generally, student survivors of chronic childhood trauma. While some scholars have emphasized the importance of instructors providing trigger warnings when assigning material about trauma, students of chronic childhood trauma can be triggered by wide-ranging material. I emphasize that these students need to be recognized as a minority group facing disadvantages and discrimination, and discuss how educational institutes and campus services could be improved to better meet their needs. Further, I elaborate how survivor-inclusive pedagogy gives a central place in diverse curricula to first-person narratives and experiences of survivors. Finally, I note some encouraging developments in the fields of psychology and law and make some recommendations.
http://www.wordgathering.com/issue36/essays/nicki.html, 2015
In this essay, I explore a particular instance of disability poetry, which may be called “psychol... more In this essay, I explore a particular instance of disability poetry, which may be called “psychological disability poetry.” Psychological disability poetry challenges stereotypical conceptions of people with psychological disability as having largely negative traits, or personality deficiencies. It depicts disability within social, cultural, political, economic, or environmental contexts and enables readers to gain a deep understanding of the lived experience of disability and of the complex network of causes informing it. In this way, psychological disability poetry promotes social transformation, and does not over-individualize problems. I argue that this kind of poetry is distinctly different from confessional poetry or poetry that assumes the validity of the concept of mental illness and of the enterprise of psychiatry. I present a number of examples of psychological disability poetry and explore poems by Barbara Crooker, Judy Grahn, and James Wagner, as well as some of my own. I show how psychological disability poetry is critical of psychiatric explanations of the lived experience of psychological disability and is linked to the emergent field of mad studies. Psychological disability poems may be seen as acts of resistance against the oppression of people who are psychiatrically labelled and deemed mad. Thus psychological disability poetry may also be appropriately called “mad” or “mad activist poetry.” I explore some obstacles that psychologically disabled/mad poets and poets writing on psychological disability/mad experience may encounter in mainstream literary publishing.
Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2015
Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, 2017
http://www.wordgathering.com/past_issues/issue44/reviews/guess.html, 2017
Avery M. Guess' chapbook The Patient Admits is a taut, finely-crafted collection of seventeen poe... more Avery M. Guess' chapbook The Patient Admits is a taut, finely-crafted collection of seventeen poems which explores her family life experience of child abuse and chronic incest rape and subsequent institutionalization in a psychiatric facility. Literary scholars and the general public have typically medicalized and marginalized ideologically and aesthetically diverse narrative writings about chronic incest rape, regarding these as courageous, inspirational "trauma narratives" which provide healing for the authors. i Guess' book, in its original, accomplished handling of the subject matter, serves as a strong challenge to this reductionist view.
Interviews by Andrea Nicki
Hello, I'm Shelley Tremain and I'd like to welcome you to the tenth installment of Dialogues on D... more Hello, I'm Shelley Tremain and I'd like to welcome you to the tenth installment of Dialogues on Disability, a series of interviews that I am conducting with disabled philosophers and post here on the third Wednesday of each month. The series is designed to provide a public venue for discussion with disabled philosophers about a range of topics, including their philosophical work on disability; the place of philosophy of disability vis-à-vis the discipline and profession; their experiences of institutional discrimination and personal prejudice in philosophy, in particular, and in academia, more generally; resistance to ableism; accessibility; and anti-oppressive pedagogy. My guest today is Andrea Nicki.
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Books by Andrea Nicki
socialization, sexual violence against girls and women, child
abuse, family dysfunction, exploitation in academia,
goddess spirituality, animal spirituality, eco-spirituality,
tarot, and communal dance. It draws on different genres of
poetry: feminist poetry, spiritual poetry and eco-poetry. As
a work in Engaged Goddess Spirituality, it embraces
qualities associated with femininity, such as empathy,
compassion, inclusiveness, and environmental humility.
Pre-Christian roots of dominant cultural holidays are
foregrounded, and Earth's seasons are cast as spiritually
significant, along with plant and animal species, viewed as
spiritual guides or mirrors.
While some might perceive the poems about sexual
violence against girls and women, child abuse and family
dysfunction as “trauma poems,” I prefer to view these as
poems about social justice issues. When writing is called
“trauma writing,” there is often an assumption that
producing the writing was healing for the authors or that
healing was the primary motivation for the writing, even
when authors have explicitly rejected such claims. In
writing about incest rape of girls, in particular, my main
motivation was to emphasize girls' innocence and agency,
and present girls as resilient, intelligent, and reasonable.
This is an educational approach adopted by other poets
writing about incest rape, such as Elly Danica, Avery M.
Guess, Judy Grahn, and Christine Stark. Survivors of incest rape
are often mistreated by
health care professionals and others who perceive them as
emotionally unstable, manipulative individuals who seduced
their attackers. This misperception is related to denial of
the high incidence of incest in society and the strongly
enforced myth of the inherently safe nuclear family. While
sexual abuse in the workplace has been receiving increased
media attention, sexual abuse in the family has not. Some
reports estimate that in the United States 1 in 9 girls and 1
in 53 boys under the age of 18 are sexually abused by an
adult, and the perpetrator is most often the father
(www.rainn.org/statistics/children-and-teens). I also
wanted to convey that people who survive child sex crimes
are not only survivors needing to make sense of these
experiences and find sources of hope but multifaceted
individuals with a variety of talents, pursuits, and life
experiences. And so I have made this book, which draws
on my own life experiences, not only about child abuse but
a variety of subjects. Women “can make their own rose”;
we have a right to control our bodies and sexual
experiences and shape the different layers of our lives.
Papers by Andrea Nicki
Interviews by Andrea Nicki
socialization, sexual violence against girls and women, child
abuse, family dysfunction, exploitation in academia,
goddess spirituality, animal spirituality, eco-spirituality,
tarot, and communal dance. It draws on different genres of
poetry: feminist poetry, spiritual poetry and eco-poetry. As
a work in Engaged Goddess Spirituality, it embraces
qualities associated with femininity, such as empathy,
compassion, inclusiveness, and environmental humility.
Pre-Christian roots of dominant cultural holidays are
foregrounded, and Earth's seasons are cast as spiritually
significant, along with plant and animal species, viewed as
spiritual guides or mirrors.
While some might perceive the poems about sexual
violence against girls and women, child abuse and family
dysfunction as “trauma poems,” I prefer to view these as
poems about social justice issues. When writing is called
“trauma writing,” there is often an assumption that
producing the writing was healing for the authors or that
healing was the primary motivation for the writing, even
when authors have explicitly rejected such claims. In
writing about incest rape of girls, in particular, my main
motivation was to emphasize girls' innocence and agency,
and present girls as resilient, intelligent, and reasonable.
This is an educational approach adopted by other poets
writing about incest rape, such as Elly Danica, Avery M.
Guess, Judy Grahn, and Christine Stark. Survivors of incest rape
are often mistreated by
health care professionals and others who perceive them as
emotionally unstable, manipulative individuals who seduced
their attackers. This misperception is related to denial of
the high incidence of incest in society and the strongly
enforced myth of the inherently safe nuclear family. While
sexual abuse in the workplace has been receiving increased
media attention, sexual abuse in the family has not. Some
reports estimate that in the United States 1 in 9 girls and 1
in 53 boys under the age of 18 are sexually abused by an
adult, and the perpetrator is most often the father
(www.rainn.org/statistics/children-and-teens). I also
wanted to convey that people who survive child sex crimes
are not only survivors needing to make sense of these
experiences and find sources of hope but multifaceted
individuals with a variety of talents, pursuits, and life
experiences. And so I have made this book, which draws
on my own life experiences, not only about child abuse but
a variety of subjects. Women “can make their own rose”;
we have a right to control our bodies and sexual
experiences and shape the different layers of our lives.