>>> Let me say it again:
>>> it looks like coming forward and accusing someone of child abuse
>>> 40 years ago may be a great way of making money.
>>
>>** Not in California.
>
> Was Ratprick projecting?
Just making a true statement.
> Has he ever met any victims of pedophiles?
Does it have to be a pedophile?
Since child sexual abuse is "COMMON" in many families, I
would be afraid to label a stepfather as a pedophile.
Children are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse
and neglect. Every year 3.3 million reports of child abuse are
made in the United States involving 6 million children.
Five children die every day in America.
a.. 14% of all men in prison in the USA were abused as children. 7
a.. 36% of all women in prison were abused as children. 7
a.. Children who experience child abuse & neglect are 59% more likely to be
arrested as a juvenile, 28% more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30%
more likely to commit violent crime. 5
http://www.childhelp.org/pages/statistics/
> It's about closure for the victims, punishment for the perpetrators
> and those who facilitated it, and making sure it stops.
Bull Shit.
No one is serious in the Criminal Justice System in punishing
the perpetrators. Just today, some perp plead guilty to
40 counts of child sexual abuse and was sentenced to 2 years
in prison.
> Just like any other kind of rape.
> I was assaulted when I was a small boy, in the lavatory of a public
> park with a children's playground. My parents called the police but he
> was never caught.
> He didn't sodomise me, just tried to masturbate me but I was too young
> to know what he was doing at the time.
> It took me years to get over it - I thought there was something wrong
> with me that he had done it to *me*, which lasted until my first
> serious girlfriend rather later in life than most young men.
> No amount of money would have made up for it.
> Similarly for the other posters here of both sexes who have told their
> own stories.
I am sorry for your experience. But, you MUST know that
this happens every single day. It is up to EACH of US to figure
out how to cope with the loss of innocence.
Some people will cling onto their victim status for as long as
they feel they are being coddled. (or need coddling)
(I said SOME -- not all.....)
At some point, letting go of the past is a healthy strategy.
"Living well is the best revenge," said George Herbert.
Focus on healthy adult relationships, figuring out who you are,
and achieving your goals. Set aside the past and look ahead,
to the future.