browneyedgirl
Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but b
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2007
- Messages
- 539
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browneyedgirl, I don't know how old you are. I'm nearly 60 and when I was a child, no one talked about sexual abuse but that does not mean it did not happen. All it meant was that no one talked about it.
I was raped by a school counsellor when I was 12 years old. Back then, children didn't get sex education until later (usually 14-15 years old) and if I had tried to tell someone what he had done to me, I would not have had the words to describe it.
I'd guess that about one quarter of the friends I have who are my age or older were molested or raped as children.
The sexual abuse of children is nothing new, not at all. For instance, read Virginia Woolf's "A Sketch of the Past", an autobiographical essay written in 1939 that graphically describes her sexual abuse at the hands of her half-brother in 1895. Knowing that she suffered intermittent insanity for the rest of her life makes her brave and matter-of-fact description of being molested even more horrifying.
In a sense, though, your parents were correct. The chances of a child being molested or raped by a stranger are pretty tiny. The vast majority of children are at highest risk from their own parents or other adults familiar to them.
Hi Grainne, I am so sorry that you had such a horrifying experience. I agree that sexual abuse wasn't discussed in the past, in fact, growing up in the 70's, my parents never even discussed the possibility of a stranger taking me. And I am thankful that I was able to have that type of security in my childhood. I wish that we were able to give that type of security to our children nowadays, however, being the mother of 3 boys, you bet we have had all of the "talks" that are warranted.
Every year at Halloween as I pass out candy, I also pass out an updated list of the sexual predators in my area with all the pertanent info, address, phone, where they work and what they have done or are wanted for.
Again, I am terribly sorry that some PERV stole your childhood from you, but I am glad that were able to survive and that you are not afraid of telling your story. It's only from the true victims do we ever really learn.