ENEMY ON THE INSIDE

Synopsis

Grace Poore's Enemy On The Inside picks up where her earlier documentary The Children We Sacrifice (TCWS) left off. While TCWS looked at incest victimization and surviving this victimization, the new project, Enemy On The Inside will look at perpetration and preventing it. Intended audience includes educators, those who work with incest perpetrators and victims of incestuous sexual abuse, those who feel the system lets incest perpetrators off too easily, as well as those who advocate for community integration and not ostracism of childhood incest perpetrators.

Unlike other sex offenses, incest involves victims and perpetrators from within the same spheres of family and friends. Frequently, incest perpetrators are given child custody in divorce cases. This kind of abuse is difficult to prosecute and indict and often never comes to court. On the other hand, criminal prosecution of incest perpetration more often tears families apart and does not repair the damage caused by the abuse. More importantly, prison without sex offender re-education does not prevent re-offending just as societal ostracism of child sex offenders does not ensure community and family safety.

Among other questions, Enemy On The Inside will attempt to answer:

• Who are the people who commit incestuous sexual abuse?
• Why do they commit this type of abuse -- is it because of nature or nurture?
• What is being done to stop them from abusing -- does counseling or punishment work?
• Will incest perpetrators change -- can we trust them with children ever again?
• How do we know who a perpetrator is -- are we supposed to suspect everyone in our family?
• How do we prevent this problem in the first place -- what do we, as a society, do on the community and family levels, at the public and State levels?

The project will involve a documentary, an educational guide on CD-ROM, and a 2-year community education campaign in collaboration with various individual and organizational partners working on prevention of child sex offending. By featuring cross-racial and cross-cultural perspectives  Enemy On The Inside is especially unique. In addition, there will be art and performance along with interviews and personal narratives. In this regard, the documentary and CD-ROM will be multi-vocal, multi-disciplinary tools for social change that will push people working on both sides of the divide -- be it with victim-survivors of incest or incest perpetrators -- to think about preventing incest perpetration in new ways.

Interviews have already been conducted with:

• 25 perpetrators of incestuous sexual abuse across different cultural backgrounds;
• 10 (non-perpetrating) survivors of incestuous sexual abuse across different cultural backgrounds;
• family members of perpetrators and victims;
• district attorneys who prosecute incest perpetrators;
• sex offender treatment providers working with incest perpetrators;
• activists who are organizing for community-based solutions to deal with child sexual abuse;
• proponents of making child sex offending a public health issue.

Collaborative partners for Enemy On The Inside include national organizations such as Generation Five, Stop It Now, and Men Can Stop Rape. Together with SHaKTI PRODUCTIONS they will become part of the two-year community education campaign to prevent first-time or repeat perpetration of incestuous child sexual abuse. For comments by collaborative partners, see Why The Project?

Fundraising Activities

SHaKTI PRODUCTIONS, LLC has been actively fundraising for Enemy On The Inside by seeking foundational grant support, organizing community fundraisers, and developing community-based donor support.

It takes many committed and generous individuals to make a project like this happen.

Help us by becoming an Individual or Organizational Major Donor or Matching Donor. Through our 501(c)(3) non-profit fiscal sponsor, your donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

How You Can Help

• Your donation will help us shoot the documentary, produce an educational guide on CD-ROM, and prepare the ground for a much-needed community education campaign.
• Your donation will go a long way in helping to create resources that do not currently exist.

Find out how to participate in the community-based donor support campaign for Enemy On The Inside.

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