Why Earthlings is one of my favorite books, as a survivor of CSA

(Content warning for child sexual abuse)

I read Earthlings two years ago, and it easily slots into my top 10 favorite books of all time.

Nearly every person to whom I've ever disclosed having been sexually abused as a child hasn't really known how to react. Typically, the response is pretty subdued. I don't blame anyone for not having a stronger reaction; it's just one of those uncomfortable situations where the other person doesn't know what to say or how to say it.

But reading Earthlings felt extremely validating, because I think it reacts to child sexual abuse at a magnitude it calls for. Something about the way that the last pages elicit so much disgust and horror. Like, yes, being that level of disgusted and horrified is the kind of reaction that CSA deserves.

I think this is in the same vein as some work by the artist Precious Okoyomon who makes a lot of really confronting and uncomfortable art about child sexual abuse. I read through some Instagram comments on a show she did and a lot of people had very strong negative opinions about the art being disgusting and that the police should "check her harddrive."

But it's like, the whole point is to make the viewer feel disgust! That is the appropriate reaction to have to CSA!

It's like, something about the viewer/reader being confronted with deeply unsettling imagery and having a strong reaction to it feels cathartic in some way.

I dunno, does this make sense?