A Safe Secret! By luminoUS, Editor at Large

For some reason, many people need to see numbers before they believe in something. Whether money or statistics, numbers provide facts and most tend to rest easier when facts are involved. Well, here are a few facts when dealing with child sexual abuse: 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys are sexually abused before the age of 18 and there is an estimated 39 million child sexual abuse survivors in America today. Out of those children who have been sexual abused, family members have abused 30-40% and over 30% never disclose the eXperience to anyone

When Mackenzie Phillips appeared on Oprah last year and disclosed the sexual abuse that she suffered at the hands of her father, the nation was in an uproar. Many people turned a side-eye in her direction and raised numerous questions, namely, why did she allow it to happen and why did she choose to discuss such a family taboo on national television. As wrong as it may sound, sexual abuse occurs more often than people would like to believe [see the statistics in the first paragraph] and if they do know about it, they tend to brush it under the rug and pretend that all is well. No one wants to talk about it, but healing cannot be achieved properly if the incident isn’t discussed.

When you turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to sexual abuse it becomes a cyclical pattern. The attacker is liable to strike again since fear has been instilled in the victim and this, in turn, leads to damaged adults who will either abuse others or partner up with an abusive mate. Being creatures of habit, many continue with what they know instead of seeking out resolution. It’s much harder to break cycles as opposed to going along with them and it is because of this fact that silence becomes a saving grace. For whatever reason, the victim keeps quiet and their silence allows the cycle to continue on. This silence falls over families in a heavy fashion and weighs down for generations until someone finally has the courage to speak up and break the weight of secrecy.

To view the entire article, click the link below:
http://etmmagazine.info/wakeup/2010/articles/01/2010_01_asafesecret.html