The Continuing Impact of Sexual Abuse
My sexual abuse finally stopped when I was 12 1/2 years old. The enduring effects caused by physical, mental, sexual abuse and neglect would be with me for the rest of my life. The pedophile was not even charged. It was like looking at the world through shattered glass.
My life will be impacted until the day I die, but the pedophile received nothing; he wasn’t even arrested. It goes that way with many of us. It is so unjust legislators should be ashamed of themselves. The legislators need to remember who they work for and pass appropriate legislation to protect our children and rid the streets of active pedophiles.They destroy innocent lives every time they act on their perverted thoughts.
Abuse and neglect effect brain development in a negative way. It can cause chemical changes in the brain; as well as structural changes—which can be drastic.
Malnutrition also effects the way the brain develops and interactions in the brain. It is mind-boggling to see a healthy 3-year-old’s brain next to one that has experienced extreme neglect.
“It is now clear that what a child experiences in the first few years of life largely determines how his brain will develop and how he will interact with the world throughout his life.” Ounce of Prevention Fund, 1996
We can never reach our full potential because of the abuse and neglect. A very difficult fact to come to terms with and to live with that knowledge daily.
(The following excerpt has been reproduced with permission from www.childwelfare.gov)
Sexual abuse causes Dissociative Identity Disorder (once called Multiple Personality Disorder), where the child becomes motionless (freezing) and compliant and eventually dissociating (If I close my eyes tight enough, I go away”); this is often called the “surrender” response (Perry, Pollard, Blakely, Baker and Vigilante, 1995). People describe children in a dissociative (disconnect) state as numb, non-reactive, or “acting like they aren’t there.” DID is strictly a survival mechanism. Without integration (which is difficult and time consuming) DID remains with you for life.
Concluding, the victim will have a serious psychological disorder in most cases for the remainder of their life, and the pedophile often gets nothing—free to go and assault another child. Another life ruined. These are your babies I am speaking about.
These children are communicating non-verbally with us, and we need to learn the language and educate others who work with children who have been maltreated about this language (Perry, 1999). Children do not just “get over it.” As they attempt to cope, as their brains adapt to the negative environments, their true emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and social potential may be diminished (Perry, Pollard, Blakely, Baker and Vigilante, 1995).
Abuse victims go through the grieving process (for the person they could have been); have feelings of shame, humiliation, grief and low self-esteem. They feel helpless and hopeless. We go through failed relationships and marriages; our physical bodies are not as healthy as they could have been.
Later in life, abuse victims have increased chances of irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue, insomnia and our immune system is not what it should be. In the meantime, while we suffer—the pedophile could have assaulted 25 more children!
My irritable bowel syndrome started when I was in the first grade. For the entire school year, every time I saw the bus coming, I would vomit. School was already difficult for me and IBS made it even worse.
As a child, I was plagued with kidney infections and urinary tract infections and that came from the sexual abuse. I was afraid at school and always wanted to go home. That lasted through my grade school years, middle school, and into high school.
There is nothing in the life of survivors that has not been touched by the abuse. It’s a long, hard battle to try and fit all the pieces back together.
If prosecuted, pedophiles are sentenced to a few years in prison, or a slap on the wrist. Pedophiles cannot be rehabilitated. The only thing that will rehabilitate them is castration or death.
I will add RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, US Dept of Justice and SOMAP statistics below:
US DEPT OF JUSTICE
Child molesters, rapists, and sex offenders overall are far more likely than non-sex offenders to reoffend with a sexual crime. The sexual recidivism (rates of sex offenders range from about 3 percent after 3 years to approximately 24 percent after 15 years. The highest recidivism (relapse) rates have been found among child molesters who offend against boys.
• Overall: Sex offenders with a criminal history tend to have higher recidivism rates than those convicted for the first time.
• These statistics highlight the complexity of recidivism among sex offenders and the importance of understanding the specific types of offenses involved.
SAFEHOME
Rob Gabriele, Managing Editor and Home Security Expert
According to our analysis, 795,066 people are currently listed on sex offender registries across the U.S. (as of August 2024). This is about 8,000 more offenders than in 2023.
Of course, these numbers fluctuate throughout the year as people are added to and removed from registries. Since we began this research in 2019, this is the highest number of individuals listed on states’ registries; generally, at least 750,000 people are on the registries at any time.
Here are some key statistics related to pedophilia from RAINN:
• Over 42 million adult sexual abuse survivors exist in the U.S., with a significant number of these victims being children.
• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men have experienced sexual abuse before turning 18.
• 1 in 5 boys and 1 in 5 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18.
• 90% of child sexual abuse victims know the perpetrator in some way.
• 95% of sexual abuse is preventable through education.
These statistics highlight the prevalence of sexual abuse and the importance of education and awareness in preventing such crimes.
• The Vast Majority of Perpetrators Will Not Go to Jail or Prison
The Majority of Sexual Assaults Are Not Reported to the Police
• Only 310 out of every 1,000 sexual assaults are reported to police. That means more than 2 out of 3 go unreported.
