The year 2017 is becoming an eye opener for many people about the pervasiveness of sexual abuse. It is now, finally, being widely and publicly acknowledged that 1) sexual abuse is common; 2) sexual abuse is often covered up and under-reported; 3) abusers often hide under a veneer of respectability, and 4) the power dynamic at the center of abuse enables abusers to continue to abuse and suppresses victims from speaking out – often for decades.
The recent cascade of reports from abuse survivors accusing men in power of taking advantage of women and children (of both genders) does not shock me, nor does the fact that the events in question often have been hidden far longer than most people can imagine. These dynamics are well known to survivors of early childhood abuse and to members of the DID community. As a psychiatrist who worked for many years on the impact on survivors of early childhood trauma, I feel compelled to comment in support of survivors speaking out. No matter how long ago the abuse happened, and no matter who the abuser was, these testimonies are critical for healing those attacked. They are critical for protecting others from harm right now as well as into the future.
Many of the same arguments used against these survivors of celebrity abuse have been made against early childhood abuse survivors with DID. Despite their lack of celebrity involvement, my clients’ histories of abuse are quite similar to those now being made public. Unfortunately, very few people pay attention when the attackers are non-celebrities who might be parents, siblings, doctors, clergy and others in the community, just as very few people pay attention when the victims are not celebrities. As Jane Fonda pointed out, people are paying attention now because the victims are celebrity white women now coming forward.
The loudest and most common ways survivors are attacked are by assertions that because the abuse happened so long ago, the report is unreliable; because it is a case of he said/she said, the report is unreliable; and because the abuser is a well-regarded person in the commuity, the report is unreliable or even fraudulent. These statements are the marks of actual ignorance, self-serving intentional ignorance, and/or participatory enabling.
I cannot speak for everyone, but I can certainly speak as to the survivors that were my clients, dealing as adults with their early life unprocessed trauma. Here it is: I have zero doubt about the fact that my clients had been abused. Zero doubt.
