Abuse in the news
There has been so many news stories about abuse the last few months. It breaks my heart to hear about the abuse and how the victim is often not believed. It's true that some might be only after money or fame, but not all of them. I was a teen in the sixies. It wasn't unsual for an older teen or even a grown up to try to force themselves on you. It happend to me four times before I was eighteen. Two were guys I dated. Two were older men. One who I worked with and one the father of a guy I dated. I learned to avoid being alone with them. Some were rough with me and some pressured me over time.
After I was divorced, my father in law came onto me. It destroyed me. I had been very fond of him. His wife had died a few months ago and I lived some distance. I came home for a visit and he called me to come see him. He cried and begged me to have sex with him. I managed to leave and never went back to see him alone again.
I totally understand how a victim hides what happened and can only come forward years later. You feel like you some how encouraged it or it was your fault. Often you admired the person and it destroyed you when it happened. You just want it to go away so you can forget it. Then you find out it has happend to others so then you feel guilty you didn't tell so it wouldn't have happened to anyone else.
I just hope that now that this is coming out, somehow it might change things. We shouldn't have to be afraid to speak the truth and call abusers out.
After I was divorced, my father in law came onto me. It destroyed me. I had been very fond of him. His wife had died a few months ago and I lived some distance. I came home for a visit and he called me to come see him. He cried and begged me to have sex with him. I managed to leave and never went back to see him alone again.
I totally understand how a victim hides what happened and can only come forward years later. You feel like you some how encouraged it or it was your fault. Often you admired the person and it destroyed you when it happened. You just want it to go away so you can forget it. Then you find out it has happend to others so then you feel guilty you didn't tell so it wouldn't have happened to anyone else.
I just hope that now that this is coming out, somehow it might change things. We shouldn't have to be afraid to speak the truth and call abusers out.