Julie Jewels Smoot

Medical trauma does not necessarily end when someone leaves the examination room. Sometimes the consequences follow a person for years. For me, that experience contributed to a profound loss of trust in VA healthcare. I did not simply forget what happened.

And I am especially tired of people celebrating military service while becoming uncomfortable when veterans talk about military sexual trauma, chronic pain, medical neglect, and the lasting consequences of serving.

Think about that. A service member experiences sexual violence, and instead of receiving protection, compassion, and accountability, that person may find themselves facing hostility from the very people responsible for their welfare.

Healing did not take away my voice. Peace did not make me passive. And compassion did not make me willing to tolerate bullshit.

“Shut Up and Listen to Survivors” operates less as a protest poem and more as a clinical case statement rendered in voice. Written in 2016 in response to survivors of military sexual trauma (MST) being heard but not meaningfully responded to during U.S. Senate proceedings, the poem articulates a familiar trauma dynamic: testimony offered in good faith, followed by institutional non-response.