Mia Döring: Surving The Unsurvivable

An Irishman Abroad

Jarlath Regan

Society & Culture, News, Health & Fitness, Society & Culture:personal Journals, Personal Journals, Politics

4.8 • 834 Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2022

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Any Girl is a ferociously honest, intensely tender and utterly unforgettable book that is as thought-provoking as it is timely. It is written by our guest today Mia Döring. Mia was exploited by an older man while in her teens. She explains to Jarlath how this exploitation carved her path into the sex trade. In her incredibly moving memoir we hear how she eventually left the trade and what life was like while within it. As you can imagine, this episode covers some adult themes of abuse, sex and trauma. Mia and Jarlath discuss a wide range of topics including the startling statistic that 1 in 15 Irish men pay for sexual access. Mia Döring asks, “Why are we not talking about the men? Why are they not talking? We do not hear from them. They don’t ‘come out’. They don’t create associations or campaigns for punter’s rights. If punting is the legitimate and harmless hobby they claim it to be, why not?” If punting is the legitimate and harmless hobby they claim it to be, why not?” Any Girl: A Memoir of Sexual Exploitation and Recovery’ by Mia Döring is published by Hachette Ireland (€14.99) If you have been affected by the issues raised in this podcast, contact the Rape Crisis Centre’s 24-hour Helpline at 1800 77 8888 or the local rape crisis services in your area. To hear every episode in full and to gain access to the entire back-catalogue of over 600 Irishman Abroad episodes that are not available on iTunes for just the price of a pint every month visit www.patreon.com/irishmanabroad Supplementary research provided by John Meagher. Our charity partner is jigsawonline.ie. In these tricky times, Jigsaw provides a range of resources, advice and care for your people to help them strengthen their mental health and the skills needed to navigate life. Please visit their website and consider making a donation. For updates on future episodes and live shows follow @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected]. Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.

Transcript

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0:00.0	What an absolute pleasure it is to have me adoring on today's podcast.
0:07.1	I should give you the warning in case you don't know already that we are going to be covering some very adult topics today.
0:14.0	And if any of the topics covered affect you, the rape crisis centre is 24.
0:28.3	Our helpline is 1-800-8-8. We're here today, of course, to talk about any girl, a memoir of sexual exploitation and recovery by Me Adoring as published
0:34.4	by Hashed Ireland. It's available everywhere now in hard copy,
0:39.3	e-book and of course audio version. It is a radically honest account of surviving sexual exploitation
0:48.3	in the Irish sex trade. Mia is of course a psychotherapist and an artist and an incredible writer and this is her debut
0:58.0	memoir and novel to basically talk about this trauma and the integration of her lives both past and present.
1:09.0	The story is in a nutshell that from the outside looking in,
1:14.6	the young life of Meadoring seemed kind of unremarkable. She was doing her studies in a prominent
1:21.6	Dublin University and just immersed in that life. But unbeknownst to those around her,
1:29.7	May's life was anything but ordinary.
1:37.6	At just 16, she'd been sexually exploited by an older man, which carved a direct path into the sex trade for her, where she remained for several years until finally leaving it behind her
1:43.9	over a decade ago at the age of 24.
1:47.8	In this book, Mia, who is, as I said now a psychotherapist specialising in sexual trauma,
1:55.7	she kind of excavates her difficult history as she sets about integrating that old life with her present day life.
2:07.0	Anyone who's been through trauma needs to read this book.
2:11.9	Along the way, she presents an ardent and intelligent reputation of a culture that affirms and applauds the industrialization of sexual violation of women and girls.
2:23.2	And ultimately offers something more precious.
2:27.4	I love the wording of this.
2:29.3	She really does look for a way forward, for a society that is bedded in true understanding and compassion.
2:39.6	The book is unlike anything I've ever read. It is, as I say in this interview, one that
	...

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