The following thoughtful (and thought-provoking) comment was posted following Sunday’s Portland, Oregonian opinion piece by Jeannette Pai-Espinosa called “Too Man Girls, Young Women Keep Terrible Secret.” We repost it here on our blog because it speaks to the ongoing trauma of child sexual abuse victims who are silenced and ignored by society.
We’d like to thank this commenter for speaking up–and out–about changing intergenerational patterns of abuse.
Thank you Jeannette, for speaking on behalf of many of us who carry this secret behind the veil of functional, middle class lives. We are both men and women – girls and boys – rich and poor – who live next door to you. We sit across the table from you in meetings or serve you your meals — we are attorneys and plumbers and bar tenders and businesspeople, and yes, some of us are on welfare. I believe the reported statistics that have been quoted here are under counts. No one ever counted me because my grandfather was a doctor and my father a prominent businessman. They didn’t fit the common idea of who might do such awful things to a little girl. And I’m not asking for anyone’s sympathy or handouts — just your acknowledgement and your promise to help make sure that what happened to me doesn’t happen to any girl or woman you know.
From the Sunday Oregonian, a powerful piece by Jeannette Pai-Espinosa on the marginalizing of girls and young women who have been abused. Here’s a short excerpt:
Violence against girls and women is an epidemic in this country, and while we often demonstrate concern for the way women are treated in Third World countries, somehow the majority of Americans just don’t want to contemplate the same issue within our borders.
From the Working Mother magazine blog, here is an article written by The National Crittenton Foundation President, Jeannette Pai-Espinosa, about how young women and young mothers are silenced from speaking out about past abuse.
Lisa Belton, Executive Director of Florence Crittenton Programs of South Carolina, writes in yesterday’s Charleston Post and Courier about how “Precious” raises issues that need to be addressed in every community.
In this news story from last week, teen advocates from Crittenton Services of Greater Washington speak about the issues raised in “Precious,” and how they think greater visibility for these issues can help their peers.
A short post today: here’s a photo of former Crittenton client Charese and the director of the movie “Precious,” Lee Daniels. The two met at a recent screening of the movie in Washington, D.C., that featured a panel discussion afterwards. Charese’s compelling story is here; more about the movie is here.
From the Working Mother magazine blog, 
Lisa Belton, Executive Director of Florence Crittenton Programs of South Carolina, 
