BookEnds Talks to Marie Browne & Marlene Browne
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Feb 16 2007
Marie H. Browne, R.N., Ph.D., & Marlene M. Browne, Esq.
If the Man You Love Was Abused: A Couple’s Guide to Healing
Publisher: Adams Media
Pub date: February 2007
Agent: Jacky Sach
Marie H. Browne, R.N., Ph.D., a licensed marriage and family therapist and professor of psychiatric nursing for thirty-four years, maintains a thriving private practice providing therapy for individuals, couples, and families. Her specialties include treating adolescent and adult victims of abuse, as well as their families.
Marlene M. Browne, Esq., a lawyer licensed in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Colorado, is the author of several books. In addition to writing with and without her mother, Marie, Ms. Browne lectures on the law and other topics, appearing regularly as an expert guest on local and national media outlets.
Author Web site: www.marlenebrowne.com/AbusedMan.htm
BookEnds: Describe your book in 50 words or less.
Marie: Written for the partner of a male abuse victim, this ground-breaking book is informed by case studies from real patients, practical applications, and authoritative research, offering the reader the ultimate guide for her relationship. Sensitive, yet authoritative, this book offers candor, compassion, and, ultimately, help concerning this taboo topic.
BookEnds: What is your favorite thing about this book?
Marlene: De-stigmatizing abusive boyhood experiences endured by the reader’s partner and exposing the prevalent damage that can still affect his relationships.
BookEnds: Who do you consider the audience for your book?
Marie: Reflective and concerned couples seeking relationship insights, to identify and deal with lingering abusive childhood experiences.
BookEnds: How do you think your book is important to readers?
Marlene: The taboo topic of abused and victimized boys is deconstructed and explained, enlightening the reader and her partner to the possibility of transcending his childhood trauma.
BookEnds: If readers only take away one thing from your book, what would you like it to be?
Marie: Hope and compassion for men that where abused as children.
BookEnds: What was the most difficult part of writing this book?
Marlene: Learning how common it is for boys to suffer abuse.
BookEnds: Is there anything we missed or anything you would like to add?
Marlene and Marie: We hope to make the world aware that abuse happens nearly as often to boys as to girls. And, as victims and survivors, these men need as much understanding as the women victims; but in a way that will be effective, given our culture and the expectations we have for men, and that men have for themselves.
To learn more about Marie H. Browne, R.N., Ph.D., & Marlene M. Browne, Esq., see Our Books at www.BookEnds-Inc.com.
Very interesting and intriguing interview. I hope we’ll be seeing you both on a nationally televised talk show to further illuminate this important topic.
And–in no way do I mean to trivialize your work–what a great resource book for fiction writers of wounded heroes and the women who love them.
I am glad someone wrote on this subject. I used to work with teenage, male, sex offenders who suffered from sexual abuse. They needed extensive counseling. They were very angry. I had to break up many a fight. I’m a 5’3″ woman, by the way. Imagine breaking up a fight, involving a pissed-off 6’2″, 300-pound 16-year-old. Fun times… I counseled A LOT…
Thank you for your comments. We want people to understand, however, that though many men who abuse others–or who become sexual offenders–were themselves abused; MOST abused men DO NOT become abusers. This is a major message of the book and takes up a good part of one of our chapters, replete w/ the latest academic research on the issue. Marlene Browne, Esq. Co-author