ONE IN SIX - KEY FACTS

I've borrowed these facts from the 1in6 website. It's very important that any boy or man who has been sexually abused reads and understands these key facts. Why, when someone is abused are they left with all the guilt and shame and tend to believe that, somehow, they are responsible for the abuse? We are not! The responsibility, the guilt, the shame belongs to the abuser, who perpetrated this vile crime. We need to give these back to the abuser, where they belong! Please check out the 1in6 website. There is lots of good information for victims and friends and families of victims. If you live in the USA, this is the website for you. Start your journey from 'victim' to 'survivor' to 'thriver' today and begin to take the power back! I'm not a fan of labels, they tends to dehumanise and depersonalise us but, hopefully, you get the idea. We are, actually, people like anyone else who just happen to be abused as children. We are just as capable as anyone else. In fact, by surviving such experiences we are stronger, more compassionate and more wiser than most! ************************************************************************************************************* KEY FACTS: • Boys and men can be sexually used or abused, and it has nothing to do with how masculine they are. • If a boy liked the attention he was getting, or got sexually aroused during abuse, or even sometimes wanted the attention or sexual contact, this does not mean he wanted or liked being manipulated or abused, or that any part of what happened, in any way, was his responsibility or fault. • Sexual abuse harms boys and girls in ways that are similar and different, but equally harmful. • The sexual abuse of boys has nothing to do with an abuser’s sexual orientation. • A boy abused by a male is not necessarily gay, nor was he abused because he’s gay, nor can the abuse make him gay. • Girls and women can sexually abuse boys. The boys are not “lucky,” but exploited and harmed. • Most boys who are sexually abused will not go on to sexually abuse others.