You might want to read “How Does Abuse Happen?” to understand parts of this letter. She’s asking about a statement in that topic which says that the abused person of any age believes they are desperate, has given up their right to think, and believes they are powerless.
Q: What about young children that are sexually abused by a parent?
A: Those three things are very true for them, aren’t they?:
1) The are desperate (totally dependent on the “big people”).
2) They must give up their right to think (because they think adults know best, and are under their brainwashing control all of the time).
3) They are powerless against the adults.
For adults these three things are essentially choices… they Believe they are desperate, they Give Up their right to think, and they Believe they are powerless.
Even with adults, however, if they were trained in childhood to believe these awful things about themselves it can be very hard for them to believe otherwise. That’s where therapy can come in.
Q: At an early age do children know they have options?
A: Not at all! (Even the ones who blame themselves because they were Brainwashed into thinking that they “like” what’s going on, or that they were “bad” and they deserve the abuse, etc…)
I wonder: Were you sexually abused? Other abuse in childhood? Adult abuse? Were people you care about abused?
Q: Sorry for being such a pest about it. Just trying to get it clear in my own head.
A: Glad you read the topics closely.
Q: Sometimes I can be so dense.
A: You can think! [smiley face]
