About six months ago those who follow child sexual abuse (CSA) time lines were alarmed to read that a prominent victim and supporter of victims of CSA had been taken ill, there were some tantalizingly vague tweets about her state of health and loads of good will messages. In time it was whispered to be a failed suicide attempt but not to worry the crisis was over and the victim was feeling much better. All good healthy stuff. Or was it.
This past week there has been a kind of coup one forum of CSA victim supporters has recreated itself installed new members, dismissed its chairman and created a new one. It has apparently been a very nasty, hurtful process, and guess what? One of its leading movers and shakers is the poor woman who attempted suicide and who in shoving all opposition aside has shown the kind of ruthless streak few of us would have believed possible in one so wounded.
A failed suicide who apparently works whilst being on Twitter virtually 24/7 I’m impressed. Or I would be if I believed a word of it.
She may have attempted suicide how could I know? What can I say I can’t be sure she did or that she even wrote any tweets. I hope she is an intelligent, capable woman because I do believe she may be what the media love to refer to as a useful idiot.
She has made a number of allegations and on this I do believe her which doesn’t mean I believe the allegations will get as far as official charges never mind a trial. All too often allegations of child sexual abuse fail not because they are not true but because there is a lack of physical evidence. Its very sad for everyone and for the victims of child sexual abuse it must be agonising
Its a pity then that all the angst and suffering of the many genuine victims of child sexual abuse including her is added to by the apparently never ending hate fest going on between different factions of victims supporters groups on Twitter, maybe its someones shrill and silly idea to keep the subject in the public arena, but if it is its in grave danger of turning people against the real victims of child sexual abuse and I do sometimes wonder if that and other matters could be the real reasons.
One of the other matters is funding, there is a lot of money to be made supporting and counselling victims of abuse. Grants are available from local authority, government and public charities. In order to apply for grants you need to establish a group, you need counselors and most important of all you need victims.
The third reason maybe a need for some form of celebrity some people long to be famous and respected I think its a mistake to under estimate the need some people have to feel respected and even admired I can think of few things more unhealthy to a recovering victim of CSA than to be burdened with the un-attained ambitions of another.
I’ve mentioned these subjects before both on blog and on Twitter I believe these silly and often contrived disputes endanger the whole search for justice for victims of child sexual abuse.
For now my sympathies are with the victims of the latest bout of undignified, unmerciful infighting. If, that is any of it is true.
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