April is sexual awareness month

April is sexual awareness month

Since this is near and dear to my heart and with the conviction of Bill Cosby yesterday, I wanted to give everybody some staggering facts about sexual abuse.

* Approximately OLNY 30% of sexual assault cases are reported to authorities.

* 962,939 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in 2012. 

* There was a 56% decline in physical abuse and a 62% decline in sexual abuse.

* On average, there are 321,500 victims (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States.

*Ages 12-34 are the highest risk years for rape and sexual assault.

*As of 1998, an estimated 17.7 million American women had been victims of attempted or completed rape.

These are some chilling statistics and this is happening each and every day. This has or will happen to someone you know and love, how eye opening is that?

I have always been a huge advocate of speaking out about rape and now with this documentary that I was blessed to be part of, we are opening people's eyes about what the "victims" lool like, what we go through and how years later, this still effects our lives.

With Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and even our President getting exposed we are finally seeing some type of conversation about this terrible crime.

Doing this documentary, I've come to realize that this does not only happen to women, it happens to children, to men, to everyone no matter of age, race, demographics, religion, it effects everyone.

I was also shocked to realize that most people don't tell until later on in their lives and only 30% of victims tell at all.
What?? We should be outrage at that fact alone.

My girlfriend said last night "Well, why didn't these women step up sooner? How can you believe them 30 years later?"

I can tell you from personal experience I thought it was my fault, I thought because I knew him, took a ride with him, smoked a joint with him, it was some how my fault. That when I said no, when I screamed no, when I kicked and scratched at him screaming NO! and he still raped me that some how it was my fault.

Society makes us feel that way, well he didn't jump out from a dark alley, you must have dressed a certain way, said something for him to think it was okay, did something to turn him on?

We don't think we will ever get justice and if we are lucky enough to get to court, we are then dragged through the mud, our sexual history, our lives are taken apart and analyzed to victimize us yet again.

Maybe it was a family member and you are afraid what it will do to your family, it might be a father, uncle, grandfather and your afraid of the things they told you they would do to you or your family. Maybe these women of Bill Cosby didn't think anyone would believe them over a well loved celebrity.

There are so many reasons we are afraid to speak up but to victimize us again makes you as bad as the perpetrators.

This is about having the courage to step forward knowing people will judge you for a crime you had nothing to do with. Letting the world into our pain, to rip off that bandaid that is sometimes holding us together, to expose ourselves yet again.To relive the memories that haunt us when we sleep and bring them out into the daylight to haunt us there as well.

Yes, there are many reasons we keep silent but keeping silent only makes more victims, most abusers abuse over and over again to more than one person. If you don't tell it will happen to another person, guaranteed.

We need to talk about this, we need to post about it on social media, we need to make more documentaries like this one, talk about it in schools, in our churches, at the dinner table, it needs to come out of the dark and we need to shine a bright light on it.

Maybe just maybe with this conviction of Bill Cosby, we will get the ball rolling not just on rich, famous,  privileged men out there doing this but every day Joe's who are praying on our children, destroying lives out here each and every day.

So today my friends please watch our documentary, follow us on social media @thisisseries

Repost our YouTube videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyJ_Pok09y1miS0kmdUeoMA

Speak out, get help, contact me and I will put you in contact with some amazing groups to help you heal.
Let your voice be heard!
All of our voices together can and will change this...

"Be the change you want to see"
 
"And just when the caterpillar thought his life over...he turned into a beautiful butterfly"

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