Abuse

We're a well-thought-of family—we are considered bright and successful, with good mannered children who are a joy to have in class. But we have a terrible secret...

Something has tormented my soul for many a year. I tried to live by the adage that what happens in the family stays in the family...

When the people I was babysitting for returned and found me, they immediately called the police. But I felt more harassed than helped. Back in the 1960's, it was thought by many that women who were raped probably "asked for it"...

I remember feeling a constant sense of rage, always just under the surface of my every waking moment. I did not know where it came from – it was just there. I wanted to be a good mother, the perfect mother...

I walked unsteadily into the battered women's shelter with my baby in my arms...

It is difficult to feel loved, or believe the sentence "I love you" when it's heard from someone who may not be lucid, or will not be lucid in an hour or two...

The violence was initially physical, but being an ex anti-terrorist soldier, he was careful not to let anything show...yet the psychological was far harder, both to deal with and to prove...

Yes, maybe he IS a nice guy, a kind father, or the all-too-familiar attempt at justification “he was abused himself” - but this is not an answer and in no way changes the situation. The facts remain that he is an abuser.

My daughter asks difficult questions about why we divorced and if I hate her father. For now I lie, but it is only a matter of time until she learns the truth about our marriage.

Everything was quiet at last. The night before, the police had taken away my violent husband, who, in an alcoholic rage, had tried to end my life...

Imagine being stuck deep inside a long dark tunnel for many years. You appeal to numerous people on the outside for help but for some reason they are unable to...

To many, these laws appear extreme, over-reactive and unnecessary. A little 1st-grader can't hug her daddy's best friend? Two adult co-workers of the opposite sex can’t work alone in the office to finish an important project?

I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. I consider myself one of the lucky ones, as my abuser did not live in my home...

About 90 percent of child sexual abuse is committed by someone who has painstakingly built up a relationship of trust with the children, often someone within their community, school or camp.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to react. I didn't know who to tell...