By Adriana S.Thiago and Margarida Teixeira (RadicalGirlsss)

The impact of the work of Jeanne Sarson and Linda MacDonald for women and girls worldwide is hard to explain. First, because their work provided a vocabulary to express the terrible violence endured by so many women and girls - Non-State torture - and succeeded in integrating that vocabulary at international human rights forums of the highest level. Second, because their path to becoming human rights defenders was quite unusual and mostly driven by their own political and feminist consciousness and unbreakable will. Third, because despite their amazing journey, Linda and Jeanne always make sure that we, the public, hear the voices of survivors and their testimonies, therefore they do not fall into the typical trap of speaking over those who are affected by human rights abuses.

Their self-published book “Women Unsilenced - our refusal to let tortures-traffickers win” is a difficult, heart-wrenching, fascinating and inspiring read. This is the life’s work of two women human rights defenders, who defied and continue to defy patriarchal norms; this is the life work of two women who have succeeded in carving a feminist agenda by identifying and analyzing the human rights abuse of non-State torture. Feminists have long known that violence against women and girls is a continuum that stretches from name calling to femicide. Few were able to tackle the arguably most horrific form of violence against women and girls, namely, the torture perpetrated by their own families, pimps, sex buyers, and society. In fact, as the book demonstrates, the simple word “torture” would not usually apply to such forms of violence - it was, as Jeanne and Linda write, reserved for “warring men”. But they demonstrate, over and over again, how the torture inflicted to soldiers in war and the torture inflicted to women and girls in abusive households follow the same tactics and have the same effects - except that soldiers know what violence was perpetrated against them, while women and girls are instead stigmatized and considered mentally unstable if they dare speak out.

The stories of these women as recounted in the book, many of whom started to be tortured as children, are horrific. It is no wonder so many people prefer not to believe them; to accept their truth means acknowledging the existence of such evil in the world. But Jeanne and Linda demonstrate that we, as a society, owe them that much; and that we, as feminist, have a lot of work to do to begin correcting these injustices and holding perpetrators accountable. We can start by noting the resilience and courage of women who had to endure such terrible forms of torture and still lived to tell their stories and do everything we can to amplify them, although we must also mourn those who were murdered or induced to suicide by torturer-traffickers. 

Linda and Jeanne’s journey is also a valuable lesson for us young feminists. Both stumbled upon non-State torture without knowing much about it, because there were no resources available to them. Women’s issues are often sidelined in mainstream medicine, international law, psychology, among other fields of knowledge, and so Jeanne and Linda had to design an intervention by themselves, trusting their instincts that they could not abandon a survivor in need of support. 

Too often, victim support services are framed as a one-way street. The professionals support the victims, and that is it. That is not the feminist approach; this book exemplifies that. Without the valuable input and participation of survivors, Jeanne and Linda would not have been able to come up with an adequate and caring response for victims and survivors. And without Jeanne and Linda’s open mind and feminist beliefs, the input and participation of survivors would not have been valued.

They had to patch together different resources, methodologies, and activities and, together with survivors, come up with an adequate response. This is nothing new in the feminist movement. Many support services available to women began “at the kitchen table”, with small groups of women supporting others and discovering solutions in a participatory way. But we never actually get to read about them in such a way. 

The Human Rights-based approach is also very present in their work, especially in how they make sure to present the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the women they support. Too often, human rights are disconnected from supporting victims. But they knew it was an important step for the survivors to understand they were not only persons, but persons with human rights. Their work illustrates how human rights should be integrated in all approaches -and how transformative they still are.

 Jeanne and Linda are also not afraid to share the impact this work had on their lives. This is extremely important. We often only know the results of the work of women’s human rights defenders - a Convention, a Resolution, new laws, etc. But we do not know the cost. And because of that, we often do not value the physical, intellectual, and emotional labor involved in human rights advocacy. Jeanne and Linda make that work visible, they share their setbacks and mistakes, how they learned to set boundaries, how they discovered the importance of self-care. 

 We cannot recommend this book enough to all young feminists who want to make a difference in the world. Our generation should amplify and disseminate the concept of non-State torture and do everything possible to eradicate this form of violence. Too many victims still exist that do not know the words for what they are suffering or have suffered. We MUST seize upon this concept to make the world understand that women and girls are indeed tortured worldwide on a daily basis, that this is not an exaggeration and that our generation will grow in a world where the acute pain and suffering of women and girls is acknowledged for what it is.

Linda and Jeanne’s lives are an inspiration for young women who often are unsure of whether they can contribute anything of value. Their path is a roadmap for every young feminist activist who wondered about what she should do - if nothing else, she should at least care.