Mary Simmerling Ph.D.

I am a poet, scholar, publisher, and activist dedicated to advancing social justice, ending violence, and fostering healing. I lead writing workshops with survivors of gender-based and sexual violence and trauma, as well as people with lived experiences of grief. I am committed to listening to, nurturing, and freeing silenced voices and amplifying voices of rebellion, reclamation, and resistance.

My interests include applied ethics, social justice, the principles and philosophical tenets of Adlerian psychology, trauma recovery, and harnessing the healing powers of the creative self through creative writing and art. I have a diverse yet complementary background in fine art, philosophy, social justice, Adlerian psychology, and applied ethics. I hold a PhD in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where I specialized in applied ethics and social justice. I also hold an MA in psychology (non-clinical) from Adler University, where I studied Adlerian theory, focusing on the roles of narrative agency and post-traumatic growth.

I am the founder and president of The Wrong Questions Project, a survivor-led multi-arts intervention to expose and upend victim-blaming, and to reveal how victim-blaming questions protect perpetrators, harm survivors, and impede justice. Each of its exhibits begins with one of those questions: “What Were You Wearing? The Role of Victim-Blaming & Indifference in Facilitating & Perpetuating Gender-Based Crimes,” “Why Didn’t She Just Leave? Coercive Control through Language,” and “Why Didn’t You Just Tell Someone? Silencing Children.”

I am also the principal and editor-in-chief of Write Where We Belong Press. I serve as Senior Research Advisor and National Leadership Council member at RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), and I am a member of the League of Canadian Poets.

I believe that poetry and art can be powerful tools for personal healing, transformation, and social change. My poem “What I Was Wearing” challenges harmful questions and responses to disclosures of sexual assault that inappropriately blame victims rather than perpetrators, thereby retraumatizing victims and perpetuating false narratives about sexual violence. “What I Was Wearing” is the inspiration for thousands of global grassroots art exhibits “What Were You Wearing?,” that invite survivors to contribute their own stories and representations of the clothing they were wearing when they were assaulted. Like the poem, the exhibitions seek to upend victim-blaming myths and raise awareness of the far-reaching and long-lasting impacts of sexual violence and the healing powers of empowering survivors to reclaim our own stories. In 2019, a group of high school students in the UK created an original music composition based on my poem, which won the BBC’s 2020 Young Composer Award. You can listen to Edward Atkin’s award-winning composition “What Were You Wearing?” here.

In 2024, I curated, edited, and produced a first-of-its-kind anthology of writing from workshops I led with survivors of sexual violence. We’ve Been Put Through Fire & Come Out Divine: Stories of Hope & Survival not only gives voice to survivors, but seeks to upend false narratives about sexual violence. For example, the thinly veiled accusation that lies behind the question so many survivors are often asked: “What were you wearing?” This innovative work represents a new pathway for survivors and those who interact with us to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of sexual violence on us as individuals and communities.

My other books include the philosophical trilogy Mary Was Here, In Plain Sight, and The Architecture of Impunity: A Forensic Audit of Modern Predation, published through Write Where We Belong Press. I am also at work on a poetry collection, Retracing the Silence: Poems from My Body.