Anne Jensen on religious & sexual abuse, disclosure, and healing intimacy

“I’m still struggling with ‘my body is my own’... It really does make me angry because it feels like I’m missing out on this wonderful thing that you experience with a partner.”

In this episode, Molly interviews Anne Jensen, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse within a religious cult, shares her journey over the past several years after disclosing the abuse to her family. She discusses how the process of disclosing was retraumatizing for her, how she started doing the true work of healing when she was truly ready, the role of religion & purity culture in her silencing and disempowerment, and her ongoing struggles with intimacy.

Anne was born and raised in a non-denominational Christian cult in Ontario, Canada, where she endured years of sexual, emotional, and religious abuse. After her family moved out of the community, she spent her teenage years and early twenties in evangelicalism trying desperately to find some kind of healing. She stayed silent about the abuse until she was forced to reveal it in 2015. Since then she has left religion and fully committed herself to her own healing journey which has included talk therapy, yoga, meditation, and medication. She started sharing her story on social media in the hopes that it would encourage other survivors and make them feel less alone. Since she spent so many years suffering in silence, she has made it her mission to use her voice to advocate for survivors of both sexual and religious abuse. She is currently writing her memoir and hopes to get it published one day.

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Contact Anne: annemargaretjensen@gmail.com

Twitter: @annemargaretj

IG: @annemargaretj

Contact Molly: www.theembodyconnection.com // molly@theembodyconnection.com

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Special thanks to:

Jenn Baykan, virtual assistant for creatives: https://www.jbaykan.com/

Dave Hiltebrand for intro and outro music original composition: https://www.davehiltebrand.com/

Gina McLaughlin Photography for photo and graphic design: https://www.facebook.com/ginamclaughlinphotography/?fref=tag