A study of the rhetorical power of shame and its effect on reproductive politics Not long ago, unmarried pregnant women in the United States hid in maternity homes and relinquished their "illegitimate" children to more "deserving" two-parent families—all to conceal "shameful" pregnancies. Although times have changed, reproductive politics remain fraught. In Enduring Shame Heather Brook Adams recasts the 1960s and '70s—an era of presumed progress—as a time when expanding reproductive rights were paralleled by communicative practices of shame that cultivated increasingly public interventions into unwed and teen pregnancy and new forms of injustice. Drawing from personal interviews, archival documents, legal decisions, public policy, journalism, memoirs, and advocacy writing, Adams articulates how the rhetorical power of shame persuaded the American public to think about reproduction, sexual righteousness, and unwed pregnancy. Despite the aspirational goals of reproductive liberation, public sentiment frequently reflected supremacist beliefs regarding racial, economic, and moral fitness—notions that informed new public policy. Enduring Shame maps a range of experiences across these decades from women's experiences in homes for unwed mothers to policy and legal changes that are typically understood as proof of shame's dissipation, including Title IX legislation and Roe v. Wade. Rhetorical historiography and questions of reproductive justice guide the analysis, and women's testimonies provide essential perspectives and context. Through these histories, Adams articulates a network of language, affect, and embodiment through which shame moves; expands rhetorical understandings of the discursive power of the identities of woman and mother; and considers how the gendered, raced, and classed aspects of shame can help us understand and support reproductive dignity. Enduring Shame recovers a misunderstood part of women's recent history by considering why reproductive politics continue to be so volatile despite previous gains and why shame still figures centrally in discourse about women's reproductive and sexual freedoms.

It was not long ago that unmarried pregnant women in the United States hid in maternity homes and relinquished their illegitimate children to more deserving two-parent families--all in the name of keeping secret shameful pregnancies. Although times and practices have changed, reproductive politics remain a fraught topic and site of injustice, especially for poor women and women of color. Enduring Shame explores two volatile decades in American history--the 1960s and '70s--to trace how shame remained a dynamic and animating emotion in increasingly public interventions into unwed and teen pregnancy. Heather Brook Adams makes a case for recasting this era not as a time of gaining reproductive rights for all but rather as a moment when communicative practices of shame and blame cultivated new forms of injustice. Drawing from personal interviews, archival documents, legal decisions, public policy, journalism, memoirs, and advocacy writing, Adams articulates the rhetorical power of shame to explain how the American public was persuaded to think about reproduction, sexual righteousness, and unwed pregnancy during a time of presumed progress.

One Woman's Journey from Post-war Germany to the American Dream! Elke Zell Bowman was born in 1945, on the eve of Nazi Germany's collapse. Enduring Shame tells her story-beginning at an orphanage where she was sent as an infant and continuing through the difficult years in post-war Germany to a life in the United States where she finally found a home and country.We follow Elke as she navigates the harsh conditions of the orphanage, her escapades as a rebellious young girl with a passion for poetry, and shocking reunion with her birth mother in the United States. Instead of finding love and salvation with her mother and half-sister, Elke is met with a loveless and merciless woman bent on shaming her daughter into subservience.Through her inner strength and commitment to survive, young Elke finds the care and nourishment she has yearned for in the love of another half-sister and in school under the mentorship of a school teacher-the profession Elke herself pursues when she leaves her mother and begins a new life in America.Elke is a retired high school teacher who taught English and German in Indiana for thirty-five years.

This volume deals with the varied forms of shame reflected in biblical, theological, psychological and anthropological sources. Although traditional theology and church practice concentrate on providing forgiveness for shameful behavior, recent scholarship has discovered the crucial relevance of social shame evoked by mental status, adversity, slavery, abuse, illness, grief and defeat. Anthropologists, sociologists, and psychologists have discovered that unresolved social shame is related to racial and social prejudice, to bullying, crime, genocide, narcissism, post-traumatic stress and other forms of toxic behavior. Eleven leaders in this research participated in a conference on "The Shame Factor," sponsored by St. Mark's United Methodist Church in Lincoln, NE in October 2010. Their essays explore the impact and the transformation of shame in a variety of arenas, comprising in this volume a unique and innovative resource for contemporary religion, therapy, ethics, and social analysis.

Are you plagued by remorse? Are you overly self-conscious, afraid that people will discover your deepest secrets? Are you in a cycle of harmful and/or self-defeating behaviors? If so, you may need some healing from shame. Shame tells you to hide. You’re the only one who struggles with these things. Look, everyone else can do ___ better than you. You’re never going to get over this. No one will accept you if they knew this about you. Shame lies. This book will walk you through emotional and spiritual healing strategies from a Christian worldview so you won’t need to listen to those lies ever again. We’ll cover: Generational Issues Ungodly Beliefs and Lies Emotional Wounds Demonic Oppression And more! Plus strategies to walk out the healing you’ve received. Are you ready to embrace the freedom and joy that come through authenticity?

The go-to guide to understand and unpack shame: what it is, why we feel it, and how to undo the lies it tells us about ourselves. Are you ready to get Discomfortable? This is a book about shame: what it is, why we have it, and how we can break its hold on our happiness. We all know shame: it's that feeling that tells us that somehow, who we are is inherently wrong. It's more than embarrassment or regret: it shakes us to the core. And most of all, it tells us that we need to be, feel, and act differently in order to be seen, loved, and accepted. Author and "shame-ed" coach AJ Bond takes us through his own shame breakthrough, sharing how he went from I'd rather die than be gay to uncovering and reclaiming his inherent wholeness and worth. With unexpected humor, warmth, and candid personal stories, Bond shows readers: Why shame shows up--the trauma, fixed mindsets, and messaging that give it a foothold How shame tricks you into believing there's something wrong with you, even when you're perfectly right The evolutionary reasons we humans developed a sense of shame (and why it doesn't serve us today) How to manage and deprogram shame through connection, gratitude, and empowered choice How we can re-parent ourselves, be fully seen, and feel fully loved Bond shines a light on this feeling that doesn't want to be seen, heard, or named--and invites us to bring our own shame into the open and release it to reclaim and reframe our lives in a powerful new way.