Ragdoll Redeemed: Growing Up in the Shadow of Marilyn Monroe ~ Paperback ~ Dawn D. Novotny

In 1963, I was just 17. I thought God had finally come through for me. Out of nowhere appeared my dashing Prince Charming. Married within three months, I was sure this was the redemption from my ragdoll beginnings. Though I had lived in the shadow of illegitimacy, bludgeoning poverty, physical and sexual abuse, I was sure I would prove worthy to my bridegroom. After all, I had remained a virgin. How was I to know that he expected me to be an aggressive sex-pot, or "whore" as he put it, modeled after the persona of his famous step-mother, Marilyn Monroe? Thus began my ill-fated effort to compete with the sexual image of Marilyn. Divorced after two years, I found myself-as I saw it-"used goods." Ironically, I reacted by becoming just what Joey had wanted- an alcoholic and a sex-object-not only in men's eyes but in my own. About the Author Dawn Novotny is a licensed clinician, teacher, author, and workshop leader, with a private practice in Sequim, Washington for the last twenty-seven years. She holds Master's degrees in clinical social work, and theology, and is a nationally certified psychotherapistdramatist, has been an adjunct professor at Seattle University and an instructor at Peninsula Community College. Dawn brings her training and insights from her work in psychodrama to the page as an author of many articles about making ones implicit feelings explicit through the art forms of collage and the concreteness of exploring your life though self-representation or psychodrama. She feels passionate about the importance of personal stories as healing and transformation. Dawn has been in a writing group with Linda Joy Myers for over three years where she has written numerous stories, and her memoir.