Posted: 16 years ago
Recently a close friend confessed that she had been molested by a relative when she was a teen. It has been ages since the incidents and now she has moved on and is well settled in life.

She never told her family and wants to forget everything and keep moving on. A few friends feel she should confide with her parents because this is something people should know. She is hesitant because the molester is an elderly respected family member and she does not want to stir trouble.

In a situation like this what should people do. Is it time to leave the past behind and look at positive things in the future - or should one face the past and confess to protect other potential victims.

How would you react if a family member confided that they are/were being abused - specially if they accuse a respected family member? Without any specific evidence other than one persons word against another how should families handle situations.
Posted: 16 years ago

Sad to hear that, inlined in bold below.

Originally posted by return_to_hades


In a situation like this what should people do. Is it time to leave the past behind and look at positive things in the future - or should one face the past and confess to protect other potential victims.

Such dreadfull past is not forgetfull but will haunt ever after. Go for it, CONFRONT THE DEVIL, for her own sake, she might feel better, throw it out at him. Someone should tell him and make him realize, what an shamefull act he had done in past, what better then herself to be that someone.  

Originally posted by return_to_hades




How would you react if a family member confided that they are/were being abused - specially if they accuse a respected family member? Without any specific evidence other than one persons word against another how should families handle situations.

In this case or similar case, there is no need for evidence.No one full of character and values would confide for any meany reason. Would applaud the courage to come front exposing disgusting few in this world, no matter who. (reminds me of the hindi movie Monsoon Wedding, if you havn't then see it)Thats all I can say on this one

Edited by raj5000 - 16 years ago
Posted: 16 years ago

Originally posted by return_to_hades


Recently a close friend confessed that she had been molested by a relative when she was a teen. It has been ages since the incidents and now she has moved on and is well settled in life.

First of all I am really sorry your friend had to go thru this.  very very sad indeed.

If she has moved on by dealing with it the issue properly than I am happy for her. 

She never told her family and wants to forget everything and keep moving on. A few friends feel she should confide with her parents because this is something people should know. She is hesitant because the molester is an elderly respected family member and she does not want to stir trouble.

She definitely should share this with her parents  especially the abuser is within family-relatives.    She does not want this repeated to any other young girl or a boy 🤢  How does this molester keeps  relationship with family after doing something so bad??  I guess no shame 😔 ðŸ˜•

Most molesters are in family-relatives or parents friends 🤢. 

In a situation like this what should people do. Is it time to leave the past behind and look at positive things in the future - or should one face the past and confess to protect other potential victims.

One should face the past, deal with it and than move forward.  Remember past can always come back and haunt you.  This trauma is not only physical but emotional hurting the core of the person.  By not saying anything one is only promoting this behavior IMHO.  Expose the person and protect future victims.

How would you react if a family member confided that they are/were being abused - specially if they accuse a respected family member? Without any specific evidence other than one persons word against another how should families handle situations.

No evidence is needed.  One knows their child.  Why question the credibility??? If the person coming forward of abuse or molestation one can tell how true or genuine they are.   It would be a tough situation to handle.  Child probably already is blaming herself which she should not be.

 Apparently the so called "respected family member" is doing some disrespectful thing to a teenager for crying out loud. How can that person get away with it 😡

Besides immidiate family there are professional groups who can help the person with this type of trauma.  

Edited by Dabulls23 - 16 years ago
Posted: 16 years ago
i agree with raj and varsha. nothing more left to say here.

sareena, i feel sorry your friend has to go thru this horror. i hope she finds peace of mind and gets justice as well. for that, she'll have to expose this devil.
Posted: 16 years ago
I don't know if you have watched Monsoon Wedding. There was a similar situation in it, and another young girl was saved the horror because the character played by Shefali Shah decided to come out and speak about it. Your friend needs to realise how many others she will protect by this one action of hers.

As for what I would do - I would go for the jugular! 😡
Posted: 16 years ago
Thanks for all the support, your responses make me feel better that I am right in encouraging her to open up and face it instead of trying to forget about it.

It was very shocking when we found out. She has been bearing this burden for so many years without telling anybody. After meeting a coworker who was also a victim of child abuse, she finally realized she was not alone and felt ready to share her sad past with her friends.

She is still struggling to find courage to tell her parents. The person who molested her is her father's uncle and very close to her father. Her father almost regards him as a mentor....so she feels terrible about revealing everything. She knows her father will believe her but will have a hard time accepting that someone so close to him could do something like that. Which is why she wants to move on. She feels that if she shut it out so many years, she can shut it out for more.

All of us who know keep encouraging her and supporting her to finally tell her family everything. She seems currently overwhelmed and emotional over finally revealing and seems stubborn on the moving on thing so we are trying to be gentle and give her some space to think.

She at least is considering confiding in her older brother with whom she is close. Maybe thats a step. Perhaps he can give her that encouragement to finally reveal the truth to the family.   
Posted: 16 years ago
Ppl around survivors of abuse should reinforce the fact that the they are not be blamed for what happened to them...sometimes this is the one thing that keeps bothering them as to what did they do wrong to have deserved it..
Posted: 16 years ago

Originally posted by TallyHo


Ppl around survivors of abuse should reinforce the fact that the they are not be blamed for what happened to them...sometimes this is the one thing that keeps bothering them as to what did they do wrong to have deserved it..

Bingo!!!!  Most of the time the victim is somehow made to feel responsible.  😳

Posted: 16 years ago
Your topic reminded me of my friend who too was molested... in this case it was her step dad. Her mom was a widow so she married a guy who was much younger than her, my friend was 16 yrs and her step dad was 25 her mom in her forties. My friend one fine day ran away to Bombay no one knew why...later we found out she told her mom about her step dad molesting her, and was shocked to know that her mom did not believe what she said she felt her daughter was making up stories, she broke all ties with her mom became a total recluse....after 2 yrs her step dad walked out of the marriage, he fell in love with someone else. Now her mom is in desperate help.. she needs her daughter back...but it's no use ...cos the time when she needed her mom the most in her crucial teens, she had no support.

I would suggest that your friend should expose the person whoever it is to some family member who she trust. I feel no one should suffer in silence, cos someday or the other it does haunt you. If your friend keeps thinking about this incident it could also lead to depression.
Posted: 16 years ago
Originally posted by return_to_hades


Recently a close friend confessed that she had been molested by a relative when she was a teen. It has been ages since the incidents and now she has moved on and is well settled in life.

She never told her family and wants to forget everything and keep moving on. A few friends feel she should confide with her parents because this is something people should know. She is hesitant because the molester is an elderly respected family member and she does not want to stir trouble. In a situation like this what should people do. Is it time to leave the past behind and look at positive things in the future - or should one face the past and confess to protect other potential victims. [/quote]

To save other potential victims yes it is the right thing to do. Doing the right thing, however, isn't always easy. Despite drudging up memories like this being unpleasant, one never knows how the rest of the family would feel. Some people don't even want to report if a stranger molests them. The fear of social backlash is high and this being a family member that molested her it's even worse. How will everyone else in the family treat her when she brings this up? and is she ready/willing to face the worst that can happen out of this?

Without proof, I'm afraid it's not easy to believe someone especially when they're accusing a fellow family member who is dearly cherished and there isn't much the police can do about it either. There is no best course of action without proof, IMO, and everyone would take the news differently. If all we have is one's word for it then those who are close to one would probably believe one while those who are close to the molester would probably take their word for it.

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