I began writing the content for siblingsexualtrauma.com nearly four years ago. As far as I knew, it was the only site on the web specifically devoted to facing sibling sexual trauma or abuse. That's why I wrote it; I wanted to share the information I had gleaned and the lessons I had learned with those who came after me. I expected that it wouldn't always be the only website on the topic. And now I know that to be true.
By the time the women of 5WAVES came together and got siblingsexualtrauma.com published online, we had already connected with SSA survivor Nancy Morris and discovered her pre-existing site: SiblingsToo.com. This site points users to SiblingsToo's real gold mine of information and connection: the SiblingsToo Podcast and SiblingsToo Day event videos. It also includes a blog, a journaling tool, and more.
In 2022 the UK Home Office's Sibling Sexual Abuse Project launched https://siblingsexualabusesupport.org/ This site focuses on the needs of adult survivors of sibling sexual abuse. It includes a private community forum, a blog, information and links to support resources. Some of the 5WAVES cofounders were involved in the steering group that developed this site.
More recently, survivor Colleen Mullowney launched https://www.sstaaware.org/. Her goal is to bring awareness to sibling sexual trauma and abuse, through the stories of survivors, and presentations aimed at university students--those who are studying to enter public service fields, those who are dealing with history of sibling sexual abuse in their own family, and those who will be more aware in their personal parenting.
Surviving Sibling Intimate Harm, https://www.siblingintimateharm.com/, is the latest site to come to our awareness. It is the start of a Canadian survivor's effort to reach other survivors with support, counseling, and community.
There are also a number of websites with a connection to personal books and memoirs. They also include blogs, extra content, and links to resources: https://aliceperle.com.au/, https://notchildsplay.com/, https://www.jane-epstein.com, https://dianetarantini.com/, https://www.philagoldstein.com/resources-for-survivors (including content for male survivors) and https://healingfromchronicpain.com/ (for those whose trauma manifests in physical pain).
It is notable that most of these efforts were undertaken, or at least begun, without any awareness of the others' existence. This is evidenced by the diverse language used to describe our experiences: "brother-sister incest," "sibling intimate harm," "sibling sexual trauma," "sibling sexual abuse." The topic was so hidden, and we were each so isolated, that we had to make up our own language to talk about it.
Most likely, there are others presently writing, creating, and trying to speak out, of which we are unaware, and who have not discovered us. Yet, with each voice, each story, each mention, the reality of sibling sexual abuse is slowly emerging from the shadows.
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