GUAM
Guam Synday Post
A Shot of Jac | Jacqueline Perry Guzman
If you have ever been a victim of sexual abuse you would understand the confusion, hurt, humiliation, shame, disgust and immeasurable other emotions and feelings you cannot explain. There is a part of you that wonders if you somehow asked for this or if you deserve it in some way. This is the reason I can understand victims not coming forward for decades, especially when their abusers are a part of the church— a place where they are taught to follow directions of the leaders because they are stewards of god himself.
Imagine the confusion of being hurt by someone your mother and father told you to listen to and respect regardless of the way they treat you behind closed doors.
After the 2016 Academy Awards announced its winner for Best Picture I was convinced I had to see “Spotlight” as soon as possible. The trailer was an already easy marker for me to know it was an incredible film but winning the Academy’s top bill made it a no-brainer.
The preface of hidden secret sex abuse in the church hit a gut-wrenching place in me. It was all too familiar in a dark, secret cloudy memory where in the schoolyard boys and girls would tease little boys for being touched on their privates by priests. Although none of it ever came about or to the attention of grown-ups, all the kids knew these things sometimes happened and the men of the cloth who we were taught to respect and listen to were doing all the time. To the point of schoolyard bullying? Twice the victimization?
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