What Works for Susan Won’t Work for Tameka: Centering Culture in the Fight Against Sexual Violence 

Leah M. Forney 

Voices of Change
1. What Works for Susan Won’t Work for Tameka: Centering Culture in the Fight Against Sexual Violence 
2. Restorative Justice: An Avenue for Healing the “Unhealable”

I’ve spent the last 11 years as an advocate, educator, and activist in the fight against sexual violence. As a Black woman survivor, my journey has been one of reclaiming power and rewriting justice on my own terms. I’ve learned that healing is deeply personal, and it must be culturally grounded.  

I was honored when the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence invited me to lend my voice to this Voices of Change campaign, because this work isn’t just personal. It’s collective. and the need for culturally responsive approaches to prevention and care extends across every state, including Ohio. 

Survivorship doesn’t look the same for everyone. And yet, so many systems still respond to sexual violence with a one-size-fits-all model that erases the cultural and lived realities of marginalized survivors.  

In Ohio alone, over 15% of the population identifies as Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, Asian, or multiracial. These communities experience higher rates of sexual violence yet often face greater barriers to healing like generational stigma, systemic racism, language access, and culturally disconnected institutions. 

What works for Susan won’t work for Tameka. It’s not just a phrase. It’s a truth I’ve lived. It’s also the title of my book, What Works for Susan Won’t Work for Tameka: A Culturally Responsive Approach to Sexual Violence Prevention and Response. I wrote it as a call to action for advocates, organizations, and co-survivors to meet survivors where they are with care that reflects their culture, their identity, and their community.

Becoming an advocate helped me find my voice again. It gave me a way to transform pain into purpose. And now I use that voice to train others, build survivor-centered responses, and ensure that survivors especially Black and Brown ones are not an afterthought in the movement to end sexual violence. 

To the survivors and co-survivors in Ohio: Your voice matters. Your experience matters. and your healing matters. You deserve prevention & response models that reflect your reality, not someone else’s. You deserve systems that see you. My hope is that this campaign creates space for that visibility and begins to inspire conversations that lead to change. 

Being a voice of change doesn’t mean having all the answers. It means showing up with honesty, with courage, and with a commitment to doing better for all survivors. I may not be from Ohio, but I stand with you in this fight. And I believe that together, we can create a future where every survivor regardless of where they live has the support, safety, and culturally rooted care they deserve. 

If we want a world where all survivors can heal, we must build systems that reflect all of us. Whether you’re a survivor or co-survivor, ask yourself: Am I creating space for healing or asking someone to shrink into mine? Start there. Then act. 

 

https://www.leahmforney.com/  

 

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