Holy Heretics: Losing Religion and Finding Jesus · The Sophia Society

Speaking of Rape w/ Danielle Tumminio Hansen

·50 min·3 clips

Danielle Hansen says there are “a lot of reasons to have hope” after sexual harm.

1. Holy Heretics: Losing Religion and Finding Jesus centers this episode on rape, sexual harm, and the limits of language. 2. Gary Allen Taylor hosts Reverend Dr. Danielle Tumminio Hansen, a Candler School of Theology professor at Emory University and author of Speaking of Rape and Conceiving Family. 3. The episode asks why rape is so hard to name and what language can do for survivors, churches, and communities. 4. Danielle says she has “tripped over the word rape for 20-some-odd years,” and that it once made her “temporarily mute.” 5. She says people often tell her their own stories in a “clandestine whisper,” which shows how private and difficult the subject remains. 6. She explains that words like “victim” and “survivor” can flatten lived experience, while “perpetrator” can become a stereotype that hides harm. 7. Danielle compares the language problem around sexual harm to the narrow male language often used for God. 8. She argues that rape myths keep people from naming what happened, and that this affects access to resources and belief from families, churches, and the criminal justice system. 9. She cites Mary Koss’s research and a meta-study showing that only about 40% of women whose experiences fit a legal definition of rape identify as raped, with the rate dropping to about 28% on college campuses. 10. She says common myths about strangers, intoxication, and who can be a perpetrator make many people doubt their own experiences or stay silent. 11. Danielle says people often ask why someone harmed them and whether they could have prevented it, and she connects those questions to control, fear, and self-blame. 12. She frames the problem as systemic sin, naming misogyny and patriarchy as forces that normalize violence and make consent hard to read clearly. 13. She points to pornography and choking as examples of violence becoming embedded in sexual expectations, and says a recent New York Times report helped illustrate that trend. 14. She says Christian purity culture teaches that sex before marriage “ruins” a person, and she uses Elizabeth Smart’s public reflections as an example of that harm. 15. Danielle argues that Christian traditions need a life-affirming theology of sexuality and gender that dismantles old assumptions instead of reinforcing them. 16. She cites Judith Herman’s three stages of recovery—safety, meaning, and reconnection—and says safety must come first. 17. She recommends therapy, trustworthy community, body-based spiritual practices, and arts like singing as ways to rebuild agency and trust. 18. She describes singing in a choir as restorative because it requires breath, timing, trust, and voice, all within a shared group. 19. Listeners who want theology, trauma language, and survivor-centered care will find this useful. 20. Listeners looking for light entertainment or a quick topic are unlikely to enjoy it.

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