The Secret Life of Child Molestation
There’s been a lot of buzz lately about the movie, The Secret Life of Bees. Chances are, you’ve seen it or at least you’ve seen the television commercials.
Without going into a lot of details about the movie, let’s just say that two of the characters are living life on the run and there’s a secret they don’t want to get out.
Wow! I can definitely relate to this movie. One summer years ago, I packed my bags and ran all the way to Durham, North Carolina. Why? Because there were some things going down in Detroit, Michigan that I didn’t want to get out. However, just like for the characters in this movie, my problems followed me everywhere that I went.
Now that I think about it, I could probably pen a movie script myself based upon all of the secrets that I once kept and all the running that I did from my past. I know that I could write a movie from all of the letters, phone calls, and emails that I receive from people all over the world – sexual abuse victims – many of whom are on the run and keeping secrets about things that happened to them 10, 20, 30 and 40 years ago.
One of my friends, as I like to call those who reach out to me, recently ran all the way to Southern California. Another young lady that I met while traveling last month told me that she just had to leave the state of Georgia. It held too many bad memories for her. She didn’t know where she was going to go – but she was running somewhere.
Running and secrets…
Well, I decided that I had been running for far too long, and to be honest many of you have been too. People have been running, ducking, dodging, and avoiding dealing with some real serious issues in their lives… for far too long!
Well, it is time to stop running and keeping secrets!
I did a little research on bees and found out that there are thousands of known species of bees, but the actual number is unknown and perhaps much higher than recorded.
Well, just like the number of species of bees is unknown, so is the number of people that have been sexually abused. Some studies say that as many as 1 out 3 females and 1 out of 5 males are molested. However, because sexual abuse victims rarely report the abuse to anyone, the numbers could be higher, especially for males. Pause and think about that. One out of 3 females in your family. One out of out of 5 males in your workplace. One out 3 females on your block. One out 5 males in your church, in your school, in your neighborhood. One out of 5 males gathered together watching Monday night football. Wow. Selah (pause and think about that).
I also learned something else about bees. Although bee stings can be fatal, virtually all bee species are non-aggressive if they’re left undisturbed. I can’t help but to think about the life that I once lived; a life of drugs, alcohol abuse, low
self-esteem and sexual promiscuity, and many other issues. I can’t help but to think about the fact that 96% of teen prostitutes are child molestation victims. I think about the fact that over 65% of teen pregnancies and abortions are preceded by sexual assault. I think about the link between sexual abuse and male violence, sexual dysfunction, failed marriages, alcohol and drug abuse, as well as many other issues that people struggle with daily. I think about these things and the fact that things could be very different for these individuals, if
like the bees, they’d been left undisturbed.