Survivor of childhood sexual abuse responds.

As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, I found Diane Panacek’s letter to the editor, “Get off the #MeToo bandwagon,” on Monday to be one of the saddest and most ill-informed letters I have ever read.

She states that the women could have just “walked away,” and that they should have spoken up when the abuse first happened. If Panacek were better educated about the dynamics of all sexual misconduct, she would understand that almost every victim (male or female, adult or child) initially feels an overwhelming sense of fear, shock and helplessness when the violation first occurs. This is almost always followed by incredible feelings of shame and guilt afterwards — and in nearly every scenario, the victims’ distress is exacerbated with confused thoughts of self-blame.

When being violated in such an intimate way, the natural coping mechanism is to withdraw into oneself and attempt to bury the ugly thoughts and feelings. This is true for adults as well as children — and it is a common scenario for victims to grapple with their trauma for decades before they disclose the abusive experience. I was in my mid-40s before I was able to speak about my story — and this was after years of therapy.

To cast doubt on all accusers and to disparage them collectively as ungrateful gold diggers is violating them all over again. Her statements (and those of supporters of Alabama’s Roy Moore) are actually helping the predators’ cycle of abuse to continue.

Dave Robinson Orlando