WTF?

Last night, here in Waukesha, Carroll University hosted Take Back the Night. For those of you who haven't heard about it, the organization, which began in the late 1970's, holds get-togethers where survivors of abuse can speak out in a safe place - some for the first time. It is generally geared towards women, but there were some men who spoke up about their abuse. It was so difficult to listen to people speak out about their abuse, especially my roommate. I hadn't really cried until she made it up there to share her story. I had thought about getting up to share my story and seeing my roommate's courage let me know it was alright to do so. I was so scared but it was so freeing to share with my classmates and other people in the community something that I've kept to myself until the last two years.

I've never gotten therapy for the things that happened to me as a child. No one in my family has. The only reason I bring up this point is because of shows like Showbiz Tonight and others who are trying to say that Mackenzie Phillips is either lying or should not have broadcast her story to the world, that she should be in therapy instead of bringing attention to what's happened to her. I feel ashamed of the fact that our society still cannot talk about this. What happened to Mackenzie wasn't any more her fault that it was mine. Most people who have been abused do not talk about what happened to them because they fear the kind of retribution that this brave woman is facing. Michelle Phillips, Mackenzie's stepmother, is making this process 110% harder for her stepdaughter than it should be.

I can't believe that, as a society, we can condemn sexual abuse and in the same breath call victims liars when we cannot verify the claims. This is a sad world we're living in and it's no surprise to me that so many of the victims of sexual abuse end up trying to commit suicide or keeping their stories to themselves forever.