Kegan
Spam Assassin Mod
Well this sort of hits home in a strange sort of way as well. Not asking for people's sympathy or understanding either, just to be clear. Normally, I wouldn't talk about this sort of thing...but to better understand a situation such as this, I guess it would be wise to inform those who may be less versed in the subject.
When I was five, I lived in an apartment with my family and we were close with my aunt and uncle. My aunt had recently married this man and had a kid with him, but he had two boys from a previous marriage. They were 11 and 14, I believe.
Anyway, they would all come over to the apartment where we lived and the kids would play with us. After a while, I suppose the older child decided that he couldn't control his hormones any longer. So for a while, I sort of endured his molestation, thinking that it was a game. Keep in mind, I am a man and have no questions about my sexuality - but at that time, I was too young to know any better and actually did think it was a game.
I guess my mom thought something was up after a couple months and proceeded to ask me about it. The step cousin, I suppose had told me it was a "secret game" and that I shouldn't tell anyone - so I didn't. After a while, I got rather sick of the game and spoke with my mom. I was put in therapy immediately and didn't see this guy for years.
I don't know what sort of agreement was come to, or what exactly happened because it was so long ago...but I know he never served jail time. We moved recently after that and my family and I started a new life elsewhere. When I was growing up, I found that I was angry for no reason and chose not to tell my parents because I know they would have brought up the incident.
When I was 17 years old, I saw him one Christmas day at my aunt's house. This was the first time I'd seen him and didn't even know who he was until I was told. Needless to say, memories came flooding back that I hadn't remembered or had blocked out. My cousin had gotten a baseball bat for Christmas that year and strangely, I found the urge to beat the hell out of him...and boy, did I ever kick the living **** out of this guy. He couldn't walk for months and all the nerves in his left arm are shot.
The point of this story isn't to get the "I'm sorry to hear that"s or "You shouldn't have beaten him up" - but, like Matt said...its to make people more aware.
Being through this is horrible and even though it was a really long time ago for me, I can't even begin to imagine what it would do psychologically to a little girl who's brain is more developed and able to remember such things. I know what its like to keep things a secret and trust me, its a hard thing to get out of a kid if they've been convinced that its okay. Its not okay and you have to make sure your kids know that there can't be any secrets kept from them. Only then will you be able to make a step forward in stopping these perverted sex predators.
-Kegan
When I was five, I lived in an apartment with my family and we were close with my aunt and uncle. My aunt had recently married this man and had a kid with him, but he had two boys from a previous marriage. They were 11 and 14, I believe.
Anyway, they would all come over to the apartment where we lived and the kids would play with us. After a while, I suppose the older child decided that he couldn't control his hormones any longer. So for a while, I sort of endured his molestation, thinking that it was a game. Keep in mind, I am a man and have no questions about my sexuality - but at that time, I was too young to know any better and actually did think it was a game.
I guess my mom thought something was up after a couple months and proceeded to ask me about it. The step cousin, I suppose had told me it was a "secret game" and that I shouldn't tell anyone - so I didn't. After a while, I got rather sick of the game and spoke with my mom. I was put in therapy immediately and didn't see this guy for years.
I don't know what sort of agreement was come to, or what exactly happened because it was so long ago...but I know he never served jail time. We moved recently after that and my family and I started a new life elsewhere. When I was growing up, I found that I was angry for no reason and chose not to tell my parents because I know they would have brought up the incident.
When I was 17 years old, I saw him one Christmas day at my aunt's house. This was the first time I'd seen him and didn't even know who he was until I was told. Needless to say, memories came flooding back that I hadn't remembered or had blocked out. My cousin had gotten a baseball bat for Christmas that year and strangely, I found the urge to beat the hell out of him...and boy, did I ever kick the living **** out of this guy. He couldn't walk for months and all the nerves in his left arm are shot.
The point of this story isn't to get the "I'm sorry to hear that"s or "You shouldn't have beaten him up" - but, like Matt said...its to make people more aware.
Being through this is horrible and even though it was a really long time ago for me, I can't even begin to imagine what it would do psychologically to a little girl who's brain is more developed and able to remember such things. I know what its like to keep things a secret and trust me, its a hard thing to get out of a kid if they've been convinced that its okay. Its not okay and you have to make sure your kids know that there can't be any secrets kept from them. Only then will you be able to make a step forward in stopping these perverted sex predators.
-Kegan