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Abuse Stories Coming Out in Droves;
Like Ants from an Infested Hill
by Wendy Stevens
Recently it seems that stories of sexual abuse during the 1950s and after, are coming out in droves. As the generation crones, childhood stories of dirty men, dishonest creeps, janitors, teachers, uncles, fathers, brothers, grandfathers - have been coming out like ants from an infested anthill. How many lovely women in this world over age 45 were abused by men? For every one statistic that has come out of the closet, there are more who have not. I find this trend very disturbing. Now we are discovering our loved wise women have been disgraced.

But what to do about it at this late date? Once again we have to call upon our protective instincts to protect our children from this fate, and stop the cycle of damaged genarations, stop this from happening to our girls.

Not to sound like a man-hater, though they make a good case for themselves, but how come so many men took power from little girls through sexual abuse? Was it OK to do those types of things

I'd like to see sexual abuse stop this decade.

back then, because little girls were thought of as doll playthings? Whatever the deranged mentality of those men who would commit such acts, the result is devastating. Grown women walking around, feeling powerless, still feeling like they did something wrong. And these feelings, carried through their entire lives, has stunted their ability to live fully, to trust, to understand. To walk the earth unmolested.

Because of the silent decades where those things weren't talked about, girls and grown women were meant to hold in their pain; meant to think of themselves as nothing more than a play thing, cutting off access to their deep pools of spirituality and being.

'Horsepower' by Suzanne Cheryl Gardner.

As women's liberation continues to push its way through history, men are learning repurcussions for their actions. And parents and guardians are feeling their way through how much to tell their children, how much is overkill, how much is paranoia (not much these days...).

I'd like to see sexual abuse stop this decade.

Talking About It
With recent developments in society, where victims are encouraged to speak out about their pain, its like millions of ants coming out of their anthills. Horrifyingly, sexual abuse happened more often in the 1950s... and all we are left to do to heal from the experience is to make sure it doesn't happen to our future generations. So for all the times my Mom game me the speech on the sanctuary of my body, all the times she asked me if anybody was touching me in ways that I felt uncomfortable.. for all the times she felt I was too young to be unsupervised - THANK YOU. My parents did a good job in protecting me from sexual abuse.

The Gift of Knowledge
Thankfully, these days society has uncovered many of these horror filled truths, and children are now educated about sexual abuse. Much to our social dismay, as young as 4 and 5 we begin to teach them about privates and how noone is to touch them. When kids are told these things very early, they are raised with awareness. If a perpetrator was to attempt any illegal act, the child is predisposed with the knowledge 'No, this isn't O.K.'.

"An eye-opening look at the every day dangers of being young and female, and how adults can help."

Why Do They Perpetrate?
As far as the sexual abusers, who have been taking power from little ones for their own, I'm not going to waste this good space making an explanation for an inexcusable act. But I will say that by giving our children the right information, we are giving them more power than the poor excuse for men out there can ever achieve (priests included).