Link – Calls to male rape charities soar after Hollyoaks Ollie child abuse storyline
I’m not in the UK, and haven’t ever watched the show, so I’m not in a position to talk about how well, or not well, they portrayed the story of a boy being abused by a football coach.
On the other hand, I see these reports and I think “Of course”. The truth is that many boys grow up never having seen any other man talk about being abused as a child, so they keep quiet. As men, they don’t see anyone else talking about having been abused, whether at school/church, by a coach, by a family member, etc. and they can only assume that it doesn’t happen to other people.
When they finally see someone else saying it, even on a TV show, and then start to have conversations about it, they realize that it wasn’t just them. It was a lot of boys. Many of whom could really use help and support, and are just now realizing that they can seek it out.
Here’s hoping we can keep having these conversations among all groups.
