I am a sexual abuse victim as a toddler. I am 60 and I still have cPTSD and need counseling. I cut off all local news to help with depression and anxiety and only read what I choose, yet in the past week there are literally over a dozen new cases with attempted kidnappings, peepers in bathrooms and showers, multiple rapes, CSAM from various religious organizations, and lawsuits going back decades. It seems like a pandemic of predators is happening.
Outrage-bait drives traffic. What you’re seeing is the same amount bad behavior over time being made much more visible by people who seek to profit from the misery, along with an overall increase in our willingness to discuss the issues
There has also been a cultural and legal shift such that family and community members are less likely to cover it up and more likely to report it than a few decades ago.
Exactly, back in the day you just had the neighbourhood pedo. Now people actually do something. Louis CK has a good bit about it.
I’m sorry this happened to you and that you still have to deal with this
Having said that, out of genuine curiosity, why is it that you’re still dealing with this 50 years later? I’m very sure I’m wrong here, but doesn’t there come a time you can give this a place and go on with life and be happy? Seriously not trying to flake or anything, really just curious how people get stuck in that.
The Wikipedia article on CPTSD would be a good place to start. It does not just go away after a long enough time.
The downvotes are unfair. There are no stupid questions, only stupid answers.
No, such things never go away. People can learn to to better deal with it, they can learn to cope better with the pain, they can learn skills to better handle anxiety/panic, they even can go through lenghty programs to learn to overall feel better.
But these traumas never go away, people can’t escape them. In the best case it is no around-the-clock hindrance anymore. The triggers stay, the nightmares stay. The memories stay.
Reading the mentioned article about ©PTSD might expand your view. Everyone should know, so we wouldn’t throw questions like this at survivors. As they all have, at least, PTSD. And often many illnesses more. Not only psychological.
There was DEFINITELY much more before. Look at the Catholic Church, in order for a young priest to get away with it, everyone above him must have gotten away with it or been involved in covering for someone they know.
Most has already been said, but i just want to add that it’s just a mixture of
A) the problem itself is way more “ok” to talk about today than it was 20-50 years ago. More people have acknowledged that it actually IS a problem. Even though we (as a society) still have ways to go. E.g. In germany there is a statutory limit of 10 year on it. So someone who got abused at 1, has his/her last chance to get legal justice with 11.
B) media has transformed from an informational source of events to a click-hungry sensationalism source. It sells better than good or other stories.
C) we have way more media and sources of knowledge and information than back then. 30yrs ago if it didn’t make it into “the big news” you never heard of it.
On a side-note: Hey random Internet-stranger and survivor. I’m proud of you that you managed to get here (place and time). And i wish you, that you manage to find some peace.
It’s more reported. The numbers are surely smaller than before due to deterrent effects from more people being caught.
It’s the same as the violent crime statistics from the FBI. The crime rate pre-1960’s was vastly under-reported. During the 70’s and 80’s cultural acceptance of violent crime declined so more crimes were reported.
An excellent example is pre-1950’s spousal and child abusers were rarely if ever reported. Most people considered it a husbands right to beat the shit out of their wife and kids. As acceptance of the behavior decreased, reporting increased.
The most recent one that has seen a huge change is rape. The highest rate of rape are in communities with the lowest reporting. For example, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Scientologist, baptist and anabaptist groups have horrendous rape victim shaming cultures.
There is still large sections of the U.S. population that are okay with rape. Say anyone wearing a MAGA hat. However this is changing with the younger generations. Acceptance is declining and serial rapist are beginning to be held accountable.
