Theo Verelst Proposal for Power and Sexual Abuse Communication Centre

Outline and motivation

The main idea is to provide an independent platform to exchange thoughts and ideas about the vast area of sexual and power abuse as it is unfortunately all too frequently encountered in our society. There are good reasons to use the internet for both a good inventory of the problems and solid proposals for improvements and solutions, because of its reach, its possible annonimity, and its capacity to act as a highly flexible mains of pusblishing and gathering information, possibly in an outomated form, and to deal with issues in an informed democratical fashion, given appropriate software infrastructure.

In short a actual site would include various means of gathering information, anonomously statistical (forms with buttons for all possible (known) problems), anonymous suggestion or answers to directed queries, discussion groups, proposals and votes for categorizing problems and proposed solutions, and pointers for further information and aid channels.

Dealing with these subjects requires care to make sure no unneeded hurt or harm is inflicted on the people participating in the discussion or information gathering process. It should be noted that it is quite possible to persue wanting to actually change evil situations related to the subject, wherefore a reliable and solid platform is needed.

My possible role

My vast computer and sufficient html/java/cgi/server knowledge can serve to generate a first operating environment, and to produce alternatives of gathering or offering information in ways most aptly adapted to the fragile and possibly threatening target communication.

Also, the need could arise, and may already exist to make good use of the current day internet facilities. Everybody can have free and easy access to electronic mail and homepage facilities, and relatively little to the point help on how to get and manage these facilities may open up a wealth of opportunities with.
Maybe even more so it is usefull to have a short course on how to find specific information on the internet, using search engines and site-search facilities. Experience teaches that knowing a few tricks can greatly add to the hit chance and to the effectiveness of the search process.

I have years of university level experience in instructing students (albeit in digital and analog electronics, and tought and structured some UNIX courses, was on student graduation committee, and was closely involved in the work various PhD's, in the area of electrical engineering), and could easily start a relatively low threshold course to the above effect.

Possibly engageable related research areas

Social sciences, medical science, legal aspects, psychology, theology.

Personal Angles

There are two major personal motivations for dealing with these subjects, which I can sum up as having been professionally seriously maltreated, and having almost undoubted suspicions that people that have been near to me have had to deal with both sexual and (perhaps similar) power abuse.

I would want to seperate both the academical questions related to both the form and effect of abuse as well as the structures in which it is embedded from my personal thoughts, experiences and relatives. This gives rise to three major thought and story pages:

(NEW!)
abuse forms and structures: theoretical model of modes of abuse and their embedding in society.
my experience: personal professional (not sexual) history and inferred possible causes.
Inferences on Thoughts Tranmitted by Relations: broader picture concerning abuse of persons near to me (in the past) who in spirit presented me with information.