In today’s progressive world where both men and women are at par and shoulder their responsibilities equally, both are recognised and awarded for their career growth, but we still come across incidents of
women who are tortured physically and emotionally. It is alarming to know that females gender around are still mishandled irrespective of their age. Some women have faced the toughest challenges and have
had the most traumatic childhood and yet they endured the pain and fought against all odds to come out as a winner and stand up for their well-being.
It is never easy for a woman to stand up and take charge of her life in a male-dominated society across the world. They are treated as objects and are subjected to never-ending pain both physically and
mentally.
Tanisha Bankston is a 38-year-old strong independent woman with 3 children. She is a rape survivor, incest, childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence. All this has caused a lot of anxiety, depression,
PTSD, nightmares and flashbacks. Tanisha Bankston is one such woman who has fought hard through
her childhood. Her pain is heart-wrenching. We always assume that every child will have the most beautiful childhood which will be loving, carefree and playful. But the truth can be scary. Tanisha has
had the most traumatic childhood which is beyond our imagination. She was sexually abused at the tender age of 5. Nobody believed her complaint. She was separated from her mother and siblings and was adopted by her aunt along with her baby brother. After 4 years she was raped again by a man who was staying at her grandmother’s house. The only person she thought of confronting and sharing her pain was her mother. She ran across the rail track, but to her disappointment, she was let down. This episode shattered her completely and she went into a shell and never came out of it. She
was taken to hospital. But unfortunately, the man was never
punished or locked up. After that, she went through repeated episodes of physical abuse. At
the age of 10 years, her aunt’s boyfriend would have sex with her on the pretext of giving her some change and a few dollars, every time he would take her to the old dog pond. Tanisha’s ordeal did not end
there. Year after year, many men continued to sexually abuse her. At the age of 11 years, another neighbourhood man started having sex with her for many years. As a teenage girl, her cousin’s husband
started abusing her sexually which led her to getting pregnant. DNA tests proved that the baby belonged to him. She felt helpless. Getting raped at every age had just gotten worse. There seemed no end to
this horrifying life as a teenager. At 14 another neighbourhood man started having sex with her who is now her son’s dad. She landed in a horrifying domestic violent relationship for 9 long years with the
same man. But one fine day she broke all hell loose and ran away never to look back. Tanisha’s pain was not limited to herself. She had to face the pain of losing her brother to an accidental drug overdose.
God kept testing her. After years of fear and helplessness, Tanisha broke her silence. On July 3rd, 2020 she spoke out. All the pain that had bottled up was spoken out loud. Tanisha wrote her life story only with a mission to help more women fight and come out strong, through her story she wants to help those women who are weak and helpless, they should stand up and speak out the truth so that people
listen and the offenders are punished. Tanisha Bankston has finally emerged as a winner and today she is a proud author of her own life story, My Pain is My Power.
Our Storyteller: Chanda Maken
Work hard, dream big, and never give up. That is Chanda; she is a dreamer, go-getter, creative, and very ambitious. She loves to live each second of her life to the fullest. She is a people person and also loves to travel and explore. Her energy and family are her strengths.
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