Originally submitted: http://feminismandreligion.

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Making Amends and Moving Forward by Hugo Schwyzer

January 11, 2012 Since Clarisse Thorns interview with me appeared at Feministe about two weeks ago, theres been a huge outpouring of shock and anger surrounding revelations about my past. Ive only read some of the posts and the comments at various sites, but Ive seen enough to recognize that these revelations have understandably touched a deep nerve. Exactly a year ago, I wrote a post about the last time I used drugs and alcohol, a binge episode that ended with my attempt to kill myself and my ex-girlfriend with gas. The post was written in haste as a response to a friends query about forgiving oneself for a terrible error. The example my buddy Bill offered was of neglecting a dog hed been housesitting. Foolishly, I regrettably offered the most painful example from my own life of a dreadful action the time I tried to kill another human being and myself. It was grotesquely insensitive of me to compare what Bill had done with a pet to what I did to my ex, and I deeply regret having framed the story in that way. I also am sorry that the post was written so as to frame my feelings alone in a way that eclipsed my ex, the victim of this episode. I do want to clarify one point from that post for the sake of the record. I never lied to the sheriffs deputies about a suicide pact, as some bloggers have alleged. I was barely coherent when they kicked down my apartment door, and made no statement to them about what was happening, other than to ask the deputies why they were handcuffing us. After Id been placed on a hold in a mental hospital, it was a psychiatrist who told me that the deputies had told him that this had been a suicide pact. Filled with remorse, I immediately told him the truth. He then notified the sheriffs department. My ex and her family declined to press charges, and so no case was filed. Continue reading: http://feminismandreligion.com/2012/01/11/making-amends-and-movingforward-by-hugo-schwyzer/ drug and alcohol recovery, gender and power, Hugo Schwyzer, making amends, men and feminism, power relationships, professor student relationships, Ethics, Feminism, Gender and Power, Men and Feminism, Power relations, Sexual Ethics