Spotlight: A Hispanic Perspective on Abuse
As an immigrant and survivor, I know there is stigma that surrounds sexual abuse; the perspective in Hispanic communities is that we do not share our pain or talk about uncomfortable topics. Even now that I have disclosed what happened to me, I have always felt like the topic wants to be forgotten. In recent …
Portrait of a Perpetrator
What does a person who sexually abuses children look like? We hear all the time, “I could tell if he was a child molester.” The reality is that you can’t. Most child molesters aren’t creepy men in vans. They aren’t hardened criminals. They aren’t from one race, gender, or sexual orientation. Those who sexually abuse …
Emotional Trauma’s Surprising Effect on Children
Excerpt from clevelandclinic.org Traumatic events in children’s lives can have the same effect as head trauma, a new study says. The study, published recently in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, finds that emotional trauma at a young age may cause changes to the brain that are similar to head trauma. The connection between emotional trauma’s …
Taking On Child Sex Abuse In a Difficult Climate
Excerpt from “Letter to the Editor” on desmoinesregister.com State Sen. Janet Petersen deserves credit for taking on the issue of child sexual abuse in a difficult political climate, but the opposition she’s encountering shows how little this crime is understood even by lawmakers and others who should know better. This is especially true concerning the …