I have no clue how to reply to some of the e-mails I have seen on this message board (this is my first time and I got lost, lol), but to all the victims of childhood abuse, my heart goes out to you because I was there to. Let me congradulate all the ones (one mother in particular I was trying to reply too whose nephew molested her daughter), who had the COURAGE to come foward and tell it like it is. It is sick, it is twisted and as a victim myself, it's about time we give it a voice. It will not erase the pain of being sexually abused, but maybe we can stand up and give it a voice and stop it from happening to any more innocent children. It really does sicken me, although I was not physically RAPED, just touched, my childhood, my innocence and my sence of self worth WERE all raped from me. As a little girl of eleven, I had no clue what was going on, and how can you tell someone when you don't even know what's happening or if anyone will believe you? So way to go all you brave souls who have given your pain the attention it deserves and may you have the peace to heal, as I have.
It is so amazing, though, that so many people aren't willing to speak up about their abuse for fear of being blamed, or worse, not believed. In my family, it was my stepfather, and people CLAIM, they believed me at first, but my mother (a victim of childhood sexual abuse herself) was so manipulated by this guy that he had her believing I was lying and so she went to move back in with him when I graduated and he did the same thing to my brother and sister. What pisses me off????? WELL, when all was aired everybody from the family told my mother, brother, sister and I to keep "hush hush" and that no one needed to know. NO ONE NEEDED TO KNOW??????!!!!!!!! How about if he DIDN"T commit suicide (which he did.... coward), then some other helpless soul would have been victimized because we had to keep it under our hat. It's the same thing with an uncle of mine. He didn't molest me (he soooooooooo gives me the creeps and I wont let my kids near him), but he molested my cousins and the whole side of the family had to keep quiet. Don't you feel it's your right to know your living near a pervert? But no, we were lied to and told to keep it hush hush. Then when his daughters got older he gets involved in a child pornography scandal. GROSS. I'm sorry (maybe not, maybe this is a good thing) but I CANNOT look at a child and see a sexually provocative creature. I see innocence. I see playfulness. I DO NOT see how someone can see how a child would want to be touched. I speak from experience, you feel dirty, gross... a whore and let me tell you, it takes a life time of God's love to get through it (note I said get Through it not OVER it, it is never something you get over). Sorry I was so long winded, but this is one thing that really gets my blood boiling! The kids don't have a choice and I will say that it is not fair to rape them of their God given gift of innocence and freedom.
(Original Air Date: 11/21/06) Do you have a secret that burns inside of you and you've been hanging onto it since you were a child? Dr. Phil speaks with three sisters whose lives and relationships have been gravely affected by their own childhood secret. Cathy and Micki say their stepfather abused them as children and they want nothing to do with him. But their half-sister, Hollie, says her father has changed and it's time they forgive and forget. Cathy and Micki speak out about what really happened to them as children and why Hollie needs to be concerned. Then, a message from their stepfather has Cathy and Micki outraged. Can these divided women heal their painful pasts and come together as sisters? Talk about the show here.
