Personal Touch

WHEN OUR CHILDREN ARE FIRST INTRODUCED INTO THE GENERAL PUBLIC, OUTSIDE OF THE FAMILY roof or homestead they are on their own and hope to be prepared to practice our training put as, "THIS IS MY PRIVATE AREA, DON'T TOUCH ME THERE." We teach them to JUST SAY NO. To some, that's a joke. To others, it may be an open invitation to the challenge to do just that; make more aggressive advances. Do that and a lifetime of agony from sexual aggression begins. With the onset of childhood trauma due to sexual abuse, simple unwarranted touching, the confusion of what is appropriate and what is not takes hold of much of a child or young adult's mind. Some people would total it up as an introduction to what the world has waiting for any and everyone taking a breath into their future life. It's "what the world is about." Recent court cases have focused heavily on the ascent of workplace sexual assault, abuse and rape pronounced, perhaps by the very widely publicized Anita Hill and Judge Clarence Thomas harassment case where he was promoted and went on to be held in high esteem and she was left to crawl under the humiliation of her accusations and pretenses. It was enough to start awareness campaigns. It is a more broadly surfacing event than most are willing to admit... so stated because of potential for loss of dignity, income from employment or business, loss of educational credulity, and the list goes on. In some situations, it can mean loss of freedoms or loss of life for those in third-world countries. With boundaries such as those just mentioned, what should be seen as a crisis becomes a joke and nightmare for onlookers and the person on the receiving end of the abuse. He or she becomes somewhat of a hostage until they can be helped to find a way out of the crisis they fell under.

Psychologists say that therapy for the victim is the one way out of such crisis. A custom-designed resolve to allow them distance from the assaultant (once it is determined that there is such crisis going on) wherein psychoanalysis to determine the rationale behind acceptance of the situation to be abated is begun. During the treatment the victim would need secure space away from their assaultant. Once treated, returning to the same environment may be discouraged in preference for starting over on a "clean slate."

The numbers are high and nearly on a parallel contention in regard to gender related trauma from sexual aggression... unwanted sexual contact. Both men and women are at risk of lifetime mental trauma for having been assaulted by strangers, and sadly enough, by a family member or loved one. Under all circumstances, where the victim does not react or overreact to the resolve a physical injury or a death occurs as a result of the victim's self defense against a situation; intervention is the best resort by first responders if necessary. It is that extreme self defense mechanism that inflates in the victims mind as his or her mode of escape from the sexual hostage position they may have, until then, tried to ignore or "put up with" for whatever reason.

In the face of several studies to determine the life effect of sexual harassment, assault, rape, and molestation by strangers or even among family members, it is my personal belief that the victim never recovers; rather they are left with some degree of paranoia... treatable or untreatable. As for the assulting individual with no intervention and with no aggressive response from their victim, a continued enjoyment of life at will is their inheritance.