Abused children, teens often disbelieved

Their stories keep arriving. Anonymous, these writers aren’t seeking attention or other gain. They just want the truth known about sexual abuse and the devastation it leaves for years.

#MeToo – “At 12, I was working at a florist shop. The owner assaulted me in the basement. He tried to stick his tongue in my mouth while grabbing my breasts.

“My mother didn’t believe me, nor did her boyfriend who was the florist’s golf buddy.

“At 13, I was stopped by two policemen who ordered me to get in their car. I was taken to an empty parking lot where they both assaulted me.

“At 17, my father came into my life after previously ignoring us. He was married to someone with three kids but my mother had an ongoing relationship with him that also produced three children.

“He took me out for dinner one night in the countryside, pulled into a parking lot in the middle of nowhere and pressed the door-lock button.

“I fought back tooth-and-nail until he stopped what he was trying to do. He acted like it hadn’t happened.

“I didn’t tell my mother as she hadn’t believed me before. Not long afterward I left home.

“I didn’t know that my father took my 13-year-old sister to New York for the weekend and raped her as soon as they entered the hotel room.

“My sister has suffered greatly from the effect this incident had on her, for the remainder of her life. I didn’t report any incidents to the police. I’m still dealing with repercussions from all this at age 69.”

#MeToo – “At seven, while awaiting a tonsillectomy, a doctor arrived late at night with a flashlight. He removed my pajama bottoms but quickly replaced them and hurried away.

“Years later, l read about the investigation into a local doctor who’d been molesting boys in that area in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. My parents kept my hair very short and I was often mistaken for a boy.

“After he was found guilty, (at nearly 90), I told police and they sent me a photo of him. It was the same man. I’d never told my parents.

“But a life-changing event happened to me when I was nine. Neighbour boys, whom I thought were my friends, tied me to a tree, stripped me, and touched me.

“They penetrated me with their fingers. I cried and cried, and was never the same innocent child again.

“At ten, at a ‘sleepover’ at a girlfriend’s house, her older brother came into the room, stripped naked and stuck his penis in my face and told me to suck it. I pushed him away and ran for home.

“I never told anyone. I felt it must’ve been my fault. “When I was 11 or 12, my oldest brother (by six years) used to motion with his head to follow him downstairs to his bedroom where he’d have sex with me. He told me not to tell anyone or he wouldn’t like me anymore.

“After a year or so he stopped. Then he didn’t want anything to do with me. I felt ashamed, guilty, and angry.

“Now, 50 years and a heart operation later, I realized that had I not survived, his dirty little secret would never be known.

“I asked for an apology, got none, and now I’m ostracized from my family who feel that he shouldn’t have to apologize for something he did as a kid.”