Sins & Silence
Letters to the Editor
Most victims know their abusers

By Richard Vorwald
Telegraph Herald [Dubuque IA]
March 31, 2006

http://www.snap-greatplains.org/dubuque/My_Homepage_Files/Page5.html

[See the main page of the Sins & Silence series for links to all the articles and letters to the editor.]

Are kids safer, now that sex offenders inside and outside churches have been pinpointed? Studies indicate these cases are just the tip of the iceberg, that one in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.

Most of these abuse is done not by someone lurking in the shadows, but by relatives and acquaintances. This abuse varies from parental abuse of young children, to child pornography to date rape.

What can be done? Some possibilities include increased awareness of the relationship between sexual abuse,
homelessness, generational abuse, drug and alcohol abuse and the $8 billion porn industry.

It's as though the problem is too big for "the system" to handle, and individuals need to act as though both the perpetrators and victims are part of their own family.

Richard Vorwald
2921 Washington St.