ABOUT OUR LOGO
What Our Logo Represents, Our Acronym, Our Logo's Beginning
OUR ACRONYM
SHEARED literally stands for Spreading Hope for the Exploited and Abused through Resources, Education and Discourse. The acronym 'SHEARED' is not just letters that can be pronounced together; it is a word that evokes one of the main functions of our organization - education. "Shearing" a wolf in sheep's clothing is something we do, in essence, by educating the public and professionals on abusers and their tactics, revealing them for the wolves that they really are and taking the shame off of victims.
OUR LOGO'S BEGINNING
The idea behind our logo was created by our Founder, Marissa Ghavami, and executed first by our friend, artist Miriam Rodriguez. Miriam drew our final draft, below, before our logo was sent to The Mad Hand, Arts, Graphics & Design. Our original acronym stood for Spreading Hope for those Exploited and Abused by Repression, coercion, deception and battery of the body, mind and spirit through Education and Discourse.
WHAT OUR LOGO REPRESENTS
The idea of false prophets being wolves in sheep's clothing comes from the Bible (Matthew 7:15). We at SHEARED believe that cult leaders and spiritual abusers can especially be described as false prophets and therefore as wolves in sheep's clothing. We also believe that virtually all abusers can be described as wolves in sheep's clothing as the tactics of blame shifting, projection, shame, repression, coercion and deception that are so often present leave the victim feeling like the abuse is their fault. These abusive tactics, coupled with the trauma bonding that so often results, leaves the abusers looking innocent (like sheep) and the victims and those surrounding them blind to the true abuser within (a wolf). We work hard to "shear" wolves in sheep's clothing; to educate the public and professionals on abusive tactics in order to reduce further cases of abuse and help victims understand what has happened to them and to help victims, their loved ones, the public and professionals understand how it happens to reduce victim blaming and subsequently stigma, shame and isolation.