FROM THE GUARDIAN - SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR SPEAKS OUT

EXCERPT FROM THE GUARDIAN.COM

‘For many family members of survivors, everything suddenly makes sense to
them once the victim discloses that abuse.’ Image features actors: Alamy Stock Photo

August 28, 2016  'Like a spider that keeps building its web': family of sexual abuse survivor speaks out

When Meg was 12, her mother, Annie, found herself unable to look at her. Seeing her daughter made Annie feel unsettled, at times almost angry. At first, she couldn’t figure out why.

“And then, Meg turned 13 and suddenly, everything slid into place for me,” Annie says.

“I found myself thinking, ‘She’s so tiny. She is so little.’ And I realised I was actually talking about myself, not her.

“It felt like something just broke. It was something big and ugly, and it just broke.”

Annie was 13 in 1987 when an Anglican priest began sexually abusing her, over a period of eight to 10 months. Seeing her daughter turn the same age was a trigger that not only bring back memories of the abuse, but that also helped her to comprehend just how small and innocent she would have been.

He was in his mid 30s, and used Annie’s vulnerability after the acrimonious divorce of her parents and his knowledge that she had been sexually abused by a family member to his advantage. READ FULL GUARDIAN ARTICLE