storiesofsurvivors

[storiesofsurvivors]

At recruit training, all of us teenage girls got our periods at the same time. The army base bathrooms had no trashcans in the stalls so we resorted to throwing them in the main bathroom wastebasket. The female officers called us disgusting and punished us and eventually got us trashcans.

[storiesofsurvivors]

I'll Start:

At POLA training they didn't have real barracks for us. They were "open barracks" with no heat (until like day 3?!) in below 40 degree weather. I got moderate hypothermia and the officers got mad at us for having 2 to a bed when all we were trying to do was keep warm.

[storiesofsurvivors]

Accepting Sumbissions Anonymously or Otherwise!

[storiesofsurvivors]

Can we talk about how creepy it is our sexual abusers were so over the line obessed with us and other adults didn't see the issue with that? I work with kids all the time, and if I saw one adult

- Touching a kids hair all the time

- Following them around everywhere

- Trying to abscond with them alone ie: isolating them

- Signaling them out to be special

I'd find that weird and be immediately concerned. That isnt normal adult behavior.

[storiesofsurvivors]

One of the hardest things about being se*ually ab*sed in a youth organization is seeing your peers being celebrated and praised by the organization itself, or thriving in another aspect of their life. Hey, I wish them no ill but to see they have no residual effects from being in that organization that has affected their life and ruined their adolescence like me is... difficult to comprehend. Especially when one of the star kids from the organization is related to one of the adults who basked in their ignorance enough for me to be abused.

I'm the one who probably wont get married or have stable relationships.

I'm the one with PTSD

I'm the one who was emotionally and sex*ally ab*sed and physically assualted.

I'm the one they overlooked while celebrating literally anyone else.

I'm the one who had no freinds. Who didn't feel safe.

It will never ever sit right with me.

[storiesofsurvivors]

Idk if you guys watch The West Wing but

Having PTSD from CSA like...

Not my GIFS- credit to the creators

[storiesofsurvivors]

Sooo if...

The organisation didn't recognize a sexual abuser when they hired them/ granted them a volunteer leadership position...and the adults of the organization didnt see it either...

What the hell are the kids supossed to do? We never had a fighting chance.

[storiesofsurvivors]

Having the inability to recognise when a child is being sexually abused makes the adult a bystander!

- Even if they "weren't paying attention."

- Even if they "had no idea."

- Even if they "thought the system the organization had in place worked and kept out people like that."

- Even if "we never told them." It was happening.

They were the adults. We were the kids. They had the responsibility, not us. It is not our fault. Abuse is there if anyone cares enough to look for it.

[storiesofsurvivors]

RAINN | The nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization

[storiesofsurvivors]

Stewards of Children® - Darkness to Light