The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a wide scale public inquiry into child sexual abuse, which has started in Melbourne. The BBC has the general report here and we expect to update with any further information with the BBC’s usual story aggregate lists from the same link.
“My middle son told me something the other night that made my stomach twist into a painful knot. He told me that his preschool teacher wasn’t very nice to him, but he hadn’t told me about it before because he knew that I liked her. This may seem like a little thing. But, it isn’t…
“According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, about 11% of women and 3% of men said they had been sexually assaulted during childhood. “ That’s how many said they were. There are probably more who did not say they were. Either way, think about it. If you know 14 people in the UK,…
The NY Times has published an article about the ways in which various US States have reviewed and refined the laws on teenagers sending sexual images by text messaging, or “sexting”. It’s up to around 130 Comments in the debating crawl after the article which is just as insightful to read as the main piece….
Cynthia Cox was kind enough to let me know that her new novel about surviving childhood sexual abuse, The I in Me, will be available for free starting Aug. 1. You can go check out her website for more information. Since I’ll be traveling at the time, if you get a copy and want to…
For myself, and all of you, remember that feeling of loneliness is there for a reason, because we are meant to be connected to other people. Generally speaking, all those people we know and should connect with, also need the same thing. Many of them might even be struggling with their own internal negative thoughts too, and could use someone to reach out to them. If we all sit around convinced that no one wants to connect with us, eventually we’ll all be lonely, which seems like something we are headed toward. The solution is for each of us to take a step toward connection when we can.Â
I, for one, was sexually abused by an older boy. Not a stranger. Someone in my family. Many other men I know were abused by a family member, a member of the clergy, a coach, or some other trusted person known to their parents. I also went into my 20s planning to never tell anyone. I know many men go through most of their lives never planning to tell anyone. I was lucky to find other men who did talk about it, and helped me realize first that what happened to me was abuse and that someone would believe me if I spoke up.Â
I would argue that most men have never had that. Thus, they don’t show up in any statistics about sexual abuse. The sexual abuse of minors is chronically underreported and is likely to get worse as society continues to push victims to “move on” instead of speaking out. We need more spaces to discuss CSA, not fewer.Â
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Colleen Spiro liked this on Facebook.
Let’s begin a discussion about the victims, the emotional and psychological pain they suffer, some for a lifetime.
Read my latest book BETRAYED, the Aftermath of Child Abuse, available free on smashwords.com, PROMO GD83H. Laurel Hall
RT @SurvivorNetwork: Australia Begins National CSA Inquiry: The Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a wide scale public i. …