'We're fighting for gay marriage and concerned about health care reform, but the issues of safety and freedom from molestation and rape and sexual violence is just not here.'
Karen Williams loves to laugh – and not just for a good joke. The comedienne and creator of the International Institute of Humor and Healing Arts splits her time between Cleveland and New York, but wherever she is, Williams is constantly using humor to teach survivors of abuse how they can find the joy in their lives again.
And she'll do just that at the upcoming I Am For Survivors conference, held Sept. 22-23 at the Comfort Inn and Suites Hotel and Conference Center in Mount Pleasant. The event is hosted by the Michigan Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
There, participants will learn about and speak on issues of importance to LGBTIQ survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault through workshops by Williams and clinical psychologist Dr. Andrea Neumann Mascis. Williams, who will soon be going on a Healing With Humor Freedom From Fear National speaking tour, will also be performing comedy at the event.
But before all this, the do-it-all comic took time to speak with Between The Lines about her upcoming workshop, the LGBT community's views on abuse and how sexual violence affected her life.
What can people expect from you at your I Am For Survivors workshop? Is it stand-up comedy? Is it a lecture?
No, the stand-up comedy show is a totally different entity and may or may not have something to do with the topic. It's just purely a comedy show. The Healing With Humor workshop will address issues of sexual violence and focusing on using appropriate humor to deal with some of that trauma and how to recapture joy. That's essentially what I focus on.
How did you decide on this focus on sexual violence in your tour and for the conference?
This is my 25th year of performing stand-up and comedy, plus I have the international Humor and Healing Arts Institute, so the sexual violence piece is just – on a personal level, my 18-year-old granddaughter was date raped about six or seven months ago and I had a similar situation when I was at college when I was 17. It just brought again to the surface that yes, we're fighting for gay marriage and concerned about health care reform, but the issues of safety and freedom from molestation and rape and sexual violence is just not here. It's an ongoing social issue that really, is still not talked about that much. I also had the opportunity the year before to perform in a comedy show that was sponsored by the San Francisco Women Against Rape. They are co-sponsors of the tour and what they allow me to do is whoever produces the comedy show, I can also network in whatever city I'm in with the San Francisco Women Against Rape and find a rape crisis center where I can do a workshop as well while I'm in town to do the show.
Do you feel like the gay community sees sexual violence and rape as a straight issue?
Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are raped. I am doing two shows in New York City and I had a conversation about – I have a transsexual friend who told me he was raped as a man and he was raped as a woman. With sexual violence, we have to look at the power dynamics in our relationships as humans relating to each other and why its become important to force a man or woman or child to engage in an activity they don't want to engage in. I'm not going to be able to heal that in a one or two hour workshop, but we can at least begin a dialogue.
So what will people experience in your Humor and Healing workshop at the conference?
The format of the workshop has a lecture component, a storytelling component and a group discussion component. Basically, I really believe that one of the strongest aspects of culture as Americans is our storytelling culture. What I'm doing is providing a venue for people to recapture their essential joy. I think there's a joy that we're born with, that we're gifted with at birth and we lose it. We lose focus on that in the course of life and dealing with life's hardships. I think there's a way that I can facilitate a discussion with people that allows them to not transcend their hardships as much as face them head on and still be able to learn from the experience. How many people have become passionate activists about things because of their own personal hardships? I think that comes out of providing a place for people to have those dialogues and have those discussions. So even though it seems very serious, the reality is that the humor piece allows for an opening of the heart and thereby allowing some other kind of information to penetrate.
It's interesting that you focus on this topic because there are so many LGBT comics who do lend their voice to causes, but generally those causes are marriage or political causes or things of that nature. So why not take that route?
Because it's been done and it's being done. I have eight grandchildren and I want to make the world a better place for them. How the world operates at large is very important to me. I'm more than just my sexuality. It gives me a chance to express more of my humanity.
How does your comedy play into the workshops that you do?
Well, I certainly know how to have crowd appeal. I understand power dynamics and I know how to use humor to help people open up, to release tension, to educate. I know about using the tool of humor and helping myself and others almost, I would say, as an educational tool.
And you have a background in education too. Tell me about the course you taught in stand-up comedy.
I think there's only two of us – I forget who the other guy was, but I think he was down at Kent State teaching the sociology of humor – but I taught a stand-up comedy class and that was unusual. The school had a (comedy) club on campus and they opened up the club and comics came from all around. We had a Thursday night open mic night. I think there were 13 or 15 comics so it was a really great experience.
Do you think you'll ever teach again?
I don't know about in a traditional way. At the time I was also a student and didn't even have my Master's degree yet and I think that pissed off some of the faculty there. But I do have a Master's degree in education. And I enjoy more non-traditional teaching.
But some of the best teachers are the ones who know from experience.
That's right.
I Am For Survivors
Sept. 22-23
Comfort Inn and Suites, 2424 S. Mission, Mount Pleasant
http://www.mcadsv.org
