CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE – A DARK REALITY ! Lets make efforts towards Awareness and Empathy!

THIS IS BASED ON TRUE FACTS. This write-up has some disturbing details. It is meant only for adult readers. If you are below 18 years of age then please do not read ahead.

For obvious reasons, I am going to state a Disclaimer.

Disclaimer:
This is a fictitious story created completely out of imagination. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely a co-incidence. Please do not rely on the ideas, facts, thoughts, stories, suggestions and opinions given in this write-up. Please do not consider the information in this write-up as professional, legal or medical advice.

This write-up is meant for creating awareness about child sexual abuse and what can be done to prevent it which would in return help protecting children. It also intends to create an attitude of empathy (NOT SYMPATHY!!) towards the victims.
It is also an effort towards helping people understand the horrific ordeals of the survivors of child sex abuse.

Imagine a 9 year old little girl in two little pony tails who has the sweetest smile! A soft spoken girl with a cute accent and a lively laughter! She is naughty but yet a well-disciplined little girl. Loves to draw and is quite good at it too. She is a girl who has not yet lost her innocence and is unaware of the horrors of this world. She is a girl who is always lovingly pampered by her parents but not to the extent of spoiling her. She is from an upper middle class family background having very well educated parents as well as extended family. The entire immediate as well as the extended family has a reputation in the society of being highly cultured and religious. The girl is very talented and manages to win awards every now and then in the extracurricular activities at her school.
She is full of life! She has a friendly nature making her company a delight for most people who meet her. Everyone who knew her would always think that she has a bright future to look forward to!

THIS LITTLE GIRL WAS GRAVELY SEXUALLY ABUSED EVEN BEFORE SHE TURNED INTO A TEENAGER!

This girl used to be a friend of mine many years ago during my college days. She did not have any close friends and she was especially known for always staying away from boys and not having any close guy friends. Overall, She was almost a loner!

Due to college assignments we got into regular touch and communication with each other and had to work together on quite a few assignments. Somehow, we became good friends which was a surprise for me and also for others in my college. As I started knowing more and more about her I came to know that she used to hate all men! She had male acquaintances, but, except me she did not have any other male “friends”…not even in the past and hence having any romantic crushes towards guys or having any boyfriends in the past or present was a far-fetched thought! Whenever I prodded her to know her reason for such a way of life, she used to just shut me out!

Over a period of time she was able to trust me enough after which she shared her torturous story with me.The girl did not tell me the entire story in just one go. We had many long conversations over a period of many months when she slowly and in pieces shared her entire story with me. I think, after her parents and her psychological counselor, I was the only person whom she could trust enough to share that part of her life. I feel humbled. Over a period of time, I was able to piece together the events right from how it started, intensified, continued and then finally ended!

I am going to share her story with you but would not get into the very deep details of her entire ordeal. It is too disturbing! And hence I am going to give you a glimpse of the horror she faced. GIVEN BELOW IS JUST A VERY SHORT SUMMARY.

The abuser was her father’s elder brother, her own uncle! The abuse started when the girl was just around 9 years old. The rotten minded uncle used to lick the little girls private parts. The mentally sick man used to violate her body and make the little girl help him masturbate! This torturous ordeal went on for almost 2 long years. At that point of time the girl did not know what was happening with her. She was just being an obedient child and doing what her uncle told her to do! These events of abuse used to happen at regular intervals and she used to feel discomfort during those events, but she was emotionally blackmailed by the man to continue with what was happening and to keep all of it a secret. Eventually, when sometimes she used to say no or cry, the man used to threaten her with bad consequences. She was scared of the consequences that she was threatened with and also scared of disobeying her father’s elder brother who was highly respected in the entire family and so went on with what was happening with her. The man used to use a mix of coercion and manipulation techniques to control her and to continue with the sexual abuse!

The little girl showed many symptoms of being troubled emotionally and mentally. Many signs were visible in her behavior that,  generally, the sexually abused children portray but none of it was ever taken seriously by her parents because of their lack of knowledge about the subject and their biased thinking!

At around age 11, the girl was admitted to a dance class where she grew very fond of her dance teacher. And the dance teacher was also equally fond of her. Once during a dance session the teacher noticed that the girl was not dancing properly. On closer inspection the teacher felt that she was in some sort of physical pain. On just a mild inquiry by the teacher about whether she had hurt herself somewhere, the girl got very nervous and reacted drastically by starting to cry inconsolably and complained to the teacher of pain in her anus. Gauging by the girls response, the teacher got really worried and sensed something was seriously wrong. She asked the girl to tell her more about how she hurt her anus and on hearing that question the girl got even more scared and went on crying! The teacher did not let it go and kept on insisting her to share whatsoever it was and on a lot of pestering the girl finally told the teacher a bit of what had happened.

The man, during his sessions of abuse, was generally very careful to not do anything whose side effects would be evident or clearly visible. But during one particular session of abuse he had inserted his finger in the girl’s anus which had caused some sort of injury becoming the cause of pain to the little girl. And the girl shared with the teacher that her anus was aching because of what her uncle did to her earlier that day. The horrified teacher immediately got in touch with the girl’s mother and narrated, to the mother, all that the girl had told her.

The mother was, over a period of few days, able to get her little girl tell her the entire story of 2 years!

The father and mother were completely devastated! It was unbelievable that something like that could happen in their life and to their little girl! The father confronted his brother but till the end the uncle kept on denying everything. The parents cut of their ties with the man. The parents consoled the girl and tried to counsel her and got into the efforts of helping her heal and forget everything,

But the abuser was not punished in the way that I believe he should have been!

The parents handled things to the best of their ability. And they handled things keeping in mind the societal backlash, the effect on the uncle’s wife & kids and most importantly, the little girl’s future!

Was the way in which the parents handled the situation correct? Maybe yes, maybe no! It is a subjective judgement.

But a very obvious negative effect of all this was on the girl’s future which requires no subjective judgment!

The girl remained scarred and devastated for a long time in her life!

The physical ordeal for the girl had stopped but the mental agony only kept on increasing in the future course of time! Even after many years, the wounds on that girls mind were still visible and seemed as good as fresh when she narrated her story to me after so many years of that event in her life. The girl kept on reliving, in her mind, the physical and mental torture. She was never able to forgive the man or herself or her parents for not being able to protect her or punishing the man! She had developed a lot of deep rooted and intense negativity against all men in general. She had unbelievable amounts of frustration and anger inside her which she wished to unleash on her uncle and punish him. But as she was unable to do that, it kept on eating her from the inside. She developed extreme difficulty in trusting people and had lost trust in her own parents and family. Her understanding and perspective of physical intimacy, sex and relationships was devastatingly altered. This girl was on a self-destructive mode of mind for many years after the actual abuse had stopped. She suffered heavy depression for a long time and used to get into bouts of inconsolable crying and sadness every now and then. She had lost complete faith in goodness of the world.
One sweet little girls innocence and happiness was ruined!

I know…..it is a sad and a heart wrenching story!

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Other than this girl, I have personally known two other boys who were sexually abused as kids. One of them was abused by a man who was a neighbor and the other by his school teacher who was a female!

More often than not, a general reaction of people to such stories is full of sympathy but with a pre-conceived notion that such things cannot happen in their own happy family or social circles!

Most people, when they hear such stories, cannot accept the possibility of the vulnerability of their kids to such happenings and would not be able to picturize their own kids or nieces or nephews or any other kid they know in the place of that little girl or those boys!

And hence….NOW…
Let me give you some official statistics which might help you open your eyes!

According to official surveys,

     # In India, 53.22% of children become victims of sexual abuse.

     # 90% of the times the perpetrator of the abuse is known to the child in the form of a neighbour, family member, teacher, caretaker in the household (maids/servants/helpers) etc.

     # Only 38% of the victims disclose their ordeal and most of the times it is many years later.

     # Children between the ages of 7 to 13 are most vulnerable to sexual abuse.

     # India has seen a 336% increase in Child Sexual Abuse cases from 2001 to 2011, and this is only with regards to the cases that were disclosed and registered.

CAN YOU IMAGINE THE GRAVITY OF THIS MENACE PLAGUING OUR SOCIETY?

Going by the findings of the research, 1 out of every 2 kids you see in your daily life, might have been sexually abused or is presently going through sexual abuse!
And that too, most probably, by someone they know!

And based on the statistics, there is a very high chance that many of the readers of this write-up, themselves, might have been victims of sexual abuse during their childhood!

So I hope that you are able to understand the seriousness of this taboo issue plaguing our society and accept the reality that this is happening around us more than we would like to accept!

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BUSTING A FEW MISCONCEPTIONS:

There are some misconceptions that many people harbor in their minds with regards to Child Sexual Abuse which I would like to correct:

Misconception No. 1:

“Family background matters”

Child Sexual Abuse is NOT dependent on family background. Period. Children from all kinds of backgrounds have been found to be sexually abused. Ranging from very well educated families upto the illiterate ones, from financially super rich class upto the poor class, from families living in posh localities upto the ones living in the slums, from highly religious families to completely non-religious families. Child sexual abuse incidents have been found in any and every societal classification and family background that you can think of! So the bottom line is, Family background or financial status or educational status, the religious status, the locality where you live or any other classification of this sort, does not matter and does not ensure protection of a child from sexual abuse!

Misconception No. 2:

“Boys are less prone to child sexual abuse”

This is a very common misconception. But the fact of the matter is that sexual abuse of young boys is extremely high. You would be surprised to know that statistically, although marginally, it is a little higher than that of the girl children. In the research conducted on child sexual abuse by Ministry of Women and Child Development, it was found that out of the children who were sexually abused, 52.94% were boys and 47.06% were girls! And an important finding of the research to note is that boys are more prone than the girls to not disclose their abuse. So, the bottom line is that the possibility or non-possibility of Sexual abuse of children is not at all dependent on the gender of the child.

Misconception No. 3:

“Generally men are the perpetrators of sexual abuse”

This misconception is one of the most rampant ones. The fact of the matter is that it has been found that there is no such distinction and that high numbers of women have also been found guilty of sexually abusing children.

Misconception No. 4:

“Girls are abused only by men and boys are abused only by women”

The fact is that there is no such umbrella classification. Women have been found guilty of abusing little boys as well as girls just as men have been found guilty of sexually abusing little girls as well as boys. So it is not true that men would only abuse little girls and that women would only abuse little boys.

Misconception No. 5:

“Child abuse perpetrators are generally the unmarried or single people”

Marital status of the perpetrators is definitely not a deciding factor whether a person could sexually abuse a child or not because many men and women who have been found guilty of child sexual abuse were in a relationship with adults of the opposite gender at the time of their abusing the child.

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SO NOW, if you have understood the graveness of this issue then, I believe that, immaterial of whether you are already a parent yourself or not, it is very important for each one of us to know some basic things about child sexual abuse. You never know how or when it could be useful to save some little child from this horrific ordeal.

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WHAT COMPRISES AS A SEXUAL ABUSE?

Child sexual abuse is broadly defined as “any sexual act with a child performed by an adult or a very older child”

Sexual abuse is of various forms. Sometimes it is done in subtle ways and sometimes it is very grave and extreme. So, first of all I would like to state and clarify what comprises as a clear-cut sexual abuse of a child.

Child sexual abuse includes a number of acts such as:

# Touching any part of a child’s body with sexual intentions, especially the private parts, immaterial of the child being clothed or not.

# Penetrative sex/intercourse with the child including penetration in the mouth.

# Encouraging or forcing a child to engage in a sexual activity including but not limited to masturbation.

# Intentionally engaging in sexual acts in front of a child.

# Using a child to create pornography or showing pornographic material to a child.

# A child being encouraged to have sexual relation or prostitution.

WHAT MIGHT NOT COMPRISE AS SEXUAL ABUSE?

It is a sore reality that, unless an act of sexual abuse is very grave in its nature or falls into any of the clear-cut mentioned categories of child sexual abuse, it is very difficult to lay out straight forward distinctions as to when an act could be labelled as sexual abuse and when not! I shall try to explain the ‘why’ behind this.

Many a times, growing children of same age or of a similar age group(similar age group meaning, in most cases, having an age difference of approximately 3 to 6 years) indulge in exploring each other’s physical selves. It is generally out of curiosity and a part of the developmental process. Also, sometimes, kids try to imitate what they watch on television or on other forms of media (which is so easily accessible now-a-days!)

And these incidences of exploration or imitation amongst kids could be between 2 boys or 2 girls or a boy and a girl or a group of boys and/or girls. And hence, although such incidences might not be categorized as sexual abuse, but it surely warrants for the parents/guardians to become alert if any such incident comes to their knowledge.

A balanced, rational and clear minded judgment of parents/guardians is required to assess whether some act could be sexual abuse or a harmless by-product of growing children.

For example: a 10 year old child exploring the physical self of a 7 year old child might not be sexual abuse but a 16 year old child exploring a 8 year old child’s private parts would, most probably, be sexual abuse.

And when it comes to adult abusers, as I mentioned before too, sexual abuse can be from very subtle upto the very extreme in its nature. And so, unless a child is sexually abused in extreme ways or falls into the clear cut categories as mentioned above, the line becomes quite blurred with respect to understanding whether the act was sexual abuse or not because, most of the times, the adult abusers are known to the child and family and secondly because the adult abusers act and do things under the guise of subtle acts similar to as normal people would behave!

And so, if ever in doubt, I would say that don’t just ignore or brush your doubt aside and do whatever you need to do to get your clarity because prevention and precaution is always better than regret!

WHAT ARE THE GOOD HABBITS TO HELP PREVENT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE?

First of all, please know that becoming paranoid is not the way out. Becoming paranoid is the other extreme of being completely naive about possibility of sexual abuse of children around you. So, balance and awareness is the key. Being aware that it is possible but at the same time not losing your rational state of mind is the approach that an adult is expected to take.

Secondly, I have to say that there are no black and white healthy rules, which if followed could guarantee the safety of a child. This is because the dynamics related to each family, each child’s upbringing, each child’s surroundings, each child’s emotional and mental growth and many other factors are very different. It varies from child to child, family to family and circumstance to circumstance. But, none the less, there are some general pointers which, if kept in mind and brought into practice by parents/guardians, could help in keeping a child safe and prevent any untoward incidents with the child.

So, some general good habits that can be inculcated are:

1) Having open lines of communication
The child should be made to feel completely secure that they can discuss anything and everything with their parents/guardians. They should know that questions of every kind are welcome and they should be made to feel confident that they would not be punished in any which way for asking or discussing about anything on their mind. Children should be taught at an early age that there are no secrets between children and their parents, and that they should feel comfortable talking with their parents about anything under the sun be it good, bad, fun, sad, easy or difficult.
Also, most often child sexual abuse is a slow and a gradual process and generally it is not simply a single big event. By learning from the early warning signs (mentioned ahead in this write-up) and having open & healthy lines of communication with the child, sexual abuse can be stopped before it reaches serious levels and a child is gravely harmed.

2) The reaction style of parents and guardians
It has been found that children, generally, do not disclose their ordeals straight away in one go. Most of the times they tend to give subtle and small hints a few times in the beginning and based on the reaction they get from their parents/guardians they decide whether they should disclose everything or not. So it is very important for the parents/guardians to be receptive and grab the subtle hints let out by kids. And, it also very important to not to overreact in front of the child when discussing sensitive issues and encourage the child in a positive way to speak out more. It is important that the child does not feel discouraged or discomfort in any which way during such discussions. Do not loose your cool, ever!

3) Discussion about Privacy.
The children should be taught at an early age what are known as the private parts. They should be taught that no one has the right to touch their private parts except their parents (and this exception is applicable only upto a certain age!) The kids should be taught that if someone requests to touch their private parts or see them naked or see their private parts, they should not allow. The child should be taught that even doctors or teachers shouldn’t be allowed to touch their private parts unless in the presence of a parent. The child should be aware that not only for the private parts, but they have a right to say no to ANYONE and EVERYONE touching them anywhere else too if they are not comfortable with the same. The child should be completely aware that his/her comfort with respect to being touched is the most important and they have a RIGHT TO SAY NO to anyone, be it family, friends, neighbours, helpers, teachers etc.

4) Be around.
As long as you feel that your child is not mentally/emotionally grown enough or trained enough to protect himself/herself from sexual abusers, BE AROUND! Many parents/guardians take this point of ‘being around’ a little lightly because of their misconception that a child is vulnerable only with respect to complete strangers, and so tend to be a bit careless. But, as the statistics clearly suggest that 90% of the times the abusers are people the child already knows and is most probably trustworthy too, it is important to be around and keep a check on a child at regular intervals. This habit of yours, of being around and keeping a check,  would also make the predators feel worried about getting caught and hence would be discouraged to indulge in sexual abuse of the child. If you feel that a child is well trained with respect to the good habits mentioned above, is grown enough mentally and has become matured enough to identify and protect himself or herself then the habit of being around would and should be phased out slowly.

WHAT ARE THE SIGNS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN CHILDREN?

(Many of the below mentioned signs and symptoms are also visible during other times and types of stress in the child’s environment and hence the signs mentioned below might not necessarily mean that the child is being subject to sexual abuse. But the presence of many of these symptoms appearing together could suggest and might mean that you should consider the possibility of sexual abuse and should begin to ask related questions to get clarity)

# Behaving in an inappropriate sexual way with toys, other things or people.

# Suddenly becoming extremely withdrawn or extremely clingy.

# Abnormal fear of certain places or people.

# Starting to wet their beds even though not being in that habit earlier.

# Usage of new adult words for body parts.

# Unexplainable possessions like money or gifts.

# Self harming activities (cutting, burning, etc).

# Remaining in abnormal isolation.

# Unexplainable nervousness in front of certain people.

# Unexplainable soreness or bruises around the genitals or mouth.

# Not wanting to be alone with certain people.

# Physical signs of possible sexual abuse:

= Unexplainable pain in the private parts.

= Unexplainable bleeding or other discharge in genitals, anus or mouth.

= Recurring pain during urination or bowel movements.

= Repeated soreness around the mouth or the private parts.

= Unexplainable difficulty in walking, sitting or other daily physical activities.

THE DAMAGE!

I would also like to help you know a few of the severely damaging future repercussions of Child Sexual Abuse on a victim.

I have mentioned some of the negative effects below, but please know that it is not limited to what is mentioned below:

# Substance abuse and Self destruction: alcoholism, drug abuse, other forms of self harming activities.

# Fear complexes: Deep fear of places, things, people with similar characteristics as the abuser, fear of relationships, fear of intimacy, fear of trusting, other forms of fear.

# Anger: towards the abuser, towards the adults who were unable to protect, towards the self for not being able to stop the abuser, towards the society at large.

# Views towards sex, marriage, physical intimacy, relationships and safety are altered into ways that could be termed as negative, dysfunctional and inappropriate.

# Extreme Personality shifts and disorders. Turning into extremely violent or timid or stubborn or submissive or such other kinds of personality types.

# Trust problems: Inability to trust anyone be it friends, family, teachers, etc

# Depression

# Poor self esteem

# Post traumatic stress syndrome

# Eating Disorders

# Hyper Sexuality

# Paranoia and Hyper-vigilance

# Re-victimization

The above mentioned effects on a victim of child sexual abuse are indicative and could be even more worse or lesser in intensity than what is mentioned above. The harshness and the intensity of the after-effects of abuse could be highly dependent on the graveness of the abuse, age of the child during the abuse, the identity of the perpetrator and the time span of the abuse.

It has been found that many survivors do not display any of the above mentioned negative effects. Many victims are able to cope very well on their own with the after effects of their abuse and continue to lead a normal life.

It has also been found that sooner the kids are put into counselling and the healing process; the lesser would be the future damage. Also, alongwith the child, it is very important that the parents/guardians of the child also go through professional counselling to be able to help themselves cope with the tragedy and also to help heal the child psychologically and emotionally.

In the case of the girl whose story I shared above, she had quite a few of the above mentioned issues for a long time after the ordeal had stopped. Whereas in the case of the two boys, about whom I mentioned, one of them had started leading a completely normal life in a very short span of time after he was victimized and the other boy did not have any grave repercussions as his ordeal could be categorized as a milder form of abuse and did not affect him much emotionally, mentally or physically.

So basically, it is very important for you to understand that a non trained person can never make a perfect judgment or assumption about what kind of effects would a child have based completely on the gravity or intensity of the abuse. It is possible that heavily abused kids might have no grave effects and vice versa. So a rule of thumb, to help reduce and minimize the bad effects on a child, is to seek professional counselling and help, immaterial of your own judgment about the graveness of the abuse!

WHAT TO DO IF YOU FIND OR DOUBT THAT A CHILD WAS SEXUALLY ABUSED?

This angle related to child sexual abuse is very sensitive and highly subjective.

In case you catch someone red handed in a grave form of sexual abuse or if a child complains to you of a grave form of abuse and the complain gets proven and confirmed, than I am of the opinion that you definitely should report to the police and start seeking professional help for the child.  AND DO YOUR BEST TO MAKE SURE THAT THE PERPETRATOR IS PUNISHED!

But, sometimes, when the way of abuse lays in the grey area causing confusion whether it was sexual abuse or not or when the abuse is comparatively milder in its form or when the perpetrator is someone close to the family alongwith the way of abuse being in the grey area, most adults do not know what to do! Societal backlash also plays an important role in the decision making process of the parents/guardians with regards to the line of action to be taken.

So, in such a scenario, the least you could do is not be biased and get to the bottom of the matter. Many parents/guardians take the route of just overlooking and choosing to believe that it couldn’t be sexual abuse as they themselves feel discomfort about the issue and do not wish to delve into thinking about it or because the possible perpetrator in question is someone very well known or close to the family. And that is the biggest and the most dangerous mistake an adult could make. So please, DO NOT JUST IGNORE OR THINK IN A BIASED WAY OR TAKE IT LIGHTLY OR JUST SWIPE IT OUT OF YOUR MIND! And do get to the bottom of the issue. And make sure the child stays away from the possible perpetrator until you get clarity. And in case your doubts are confirmed about there being a sexual abuse, then a good line of action would be to make sure that it is reported to the right authorities, the perpetrator is punished and you seek professional help for the child.

But, at the same time, I also have to mention that, many cases have been found wherein people were accused of child sexual abuse and later it was found that it was not true!

So, the bottomline is that, please do not just act on the basis of any biases or imbalanced thinking or irrational judgment, be it to accuse someone or not accuse someone!

And also, very importantly, PLEASE, do not let societal backlash affect your decision making process. Trust me, the future of a child would be more damaged than saved in case you do nothing due to the stigma attached to this issue.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, timely medical help including psychological counseling helps to control and minimize the negative effects on a child! So start with that as soon as possible!

To understand the Indian legal framework related to child sexual abuse, please click on the link and read the following document ==>> Protection of children from sexual offences act, 2012

ARE YOU A PEDOPHILE?

First of all it needs to be mentioned that Pedophilia is like an illness and any person can get this illness! And so just as every illness has a treatment to cure/control it, so does this illness!

So, in case you are someone who has sexually abused children in the past without getting caught or is presently abusing any child, then FIRST OF ALL STOP IT! You have already done enough damage to the child and to yourself too! And I am sure you don’t need to be told that it is a grave crime too! SO JUST STOP DOING IT!

If you are someone who has Pedophilic thoughts and havent yet acted on those thoughts, then that is really nice of you. DO NOT EVER ACT ON THOSE THOUGHTS! NEVER EVER!

Just like all other illnesses, this illness needs to be treated! So Get in touch with a professionally trained Psychologist/Psychiatrist and start with your treatment TODAY! Medical professionals are bound by their Oath of Secrecy and hence, other than your doctor, do not worry about anyone else coming to know about you suffering from Pedophilia.

Start with your treatment and fight against this illness! DO IT TODAY!!

THE BOTTOMLINE….

Every child can be protected if the parents/guardians remain a bit Cautious, Rational and Aware! PERIOD.

The issue of child sexual abuse had been on my mind since many years, since the time my friend shared her story with me. We remained in regular contact for many years and I did what I could, as a friend, to help her. Her parents also did their best to help their child overcome the trauma and its effects. Gradually, over a period of time, as our lives proceeded in different directions, the regularity of my contact with her became lesser. And eventually, I lost complete touch with her some years ago. But to give you a closure, she was able to overcome and heal most of her psychological issues by the time we started loosing touch. I know that she had a steady boyfriend during the time we started losing touch and I hope that today she would be happily married with a bunch of kids of her own! 🙂

To understand my friend’s state and to be able to help her as much as I could, I had done a lot of research on the subject during that time in my life. But I never got the thought to share any of my research & thoughts  with public at large. I never thought that this issue needs awareness! How silly of me!

A few weeks ago, a very good family friend of mine shared with me that her young girl just got saved from a potential sexual abuse. I wouldn’t be sharing her entire story here but I can tell you this that by god’s grace, the little girl was saved by a narrow margin!

And, this incident brought back to me the entire stories of my 3 friends about whom I mentioned above. And I realised that this subject definitely needs some awareness and understanding because most people are unaware and are biased in their thought process with regards to the presence of this menace in our society. And hence the birth of this write-up!

FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, I HOPE THAT,

# You do accept and understand that this issue is graver than most people think, 1 in every 2 children being victims of child sexual abuse is a ratio that can’t be overlooked

# You would be able inculcate the good habits mentioned above in yourself and the kids around you.

# You would be able to empathise (and NOT JUST SYMPATHISE!!) with the survivors of such horrific ordeals.

# You would not become paranoid and would continue to remain balanced and rational in your approach towards the subject.

AND, I URGE & REQUEST YOU TO:

# PLEASE DO SPREAD and SHARE this write-up! YOU NEVER KNOW HOW THIS ACT OF YOURS COULD HELP SAVE A CHILD!
The FACEBOOK, WHATSAPP & few other prominent social networking website sharing buttons are given below to help you share.

# Please do leave your comments, feedback or questions at the comments section below. Please know, your thoughts and questions are very valuable to me and to everyone who would read this write-up, so please do not hesitate!

# Alternatively, you could also email me your feedback, comments and questions at vishrut.parekh@gmail.com. (But I would, again, urge you to prefer sharing in the comments section below, because it could help other readers and it also helps the write-up reach out to more readers.)

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY……

If you are yourself a survivor of sexual abuse as a child, please know that you are not alone! And I can completely empathize with your ordeal my dear! Your strength, courage and your efforts to heal is an example of the indomitable nature of the Human Spirit!
And hence, you definitely deserve RESPECT & SALUTE for the same! Trust me, my dear, you are not alone in your fight and that your story of survival is a beacon of hope and inspiration for millions of others! 🙂

May the almighty bless everyone with the ability to heal and a never ending PEACE!

-Vishrut