#MeToo Plus a LOT More

I cannot keep up with all that's going now, bearing fruit from the seeds planted twenty-five years ago!  I find it totally exhilarating, empowering, yet exhausting as I look back and ask why it has taken so long. On the other hand, I am in awe at what's happened in ONLY 25 YEARS.  Considering the centuries of groundwork done to keep patriarchy so entrenched that the evil of sexual abuse still remains so awkward and taboo in so many circles to even speak about. 

 Many times I've asked myself why this should be so awkward, and always I find the same answer after searching the "data base" of my soul and experience. I'm totally convinced it's because we see this problem as SEXUAL abuse, rather than sexual ABUSE.  Same as we see DOMESTIC abuse rather than Domestic ABUSE.  

 I keep going back to the illustration Rev. Elizabeth Stellas gave in a retreat I attended to help women work thru the trauma of whatever type of sexual violation had been experienced by a faith leader in the church.  She asked:  "If you came into my kitchen and I hit you over the head with an iron skillet, would it be a cooking incident?"  She paused before answering her own question.  "Of course not. It would be assault. The skilled would be the potentially-lethal instrument.  So why do we equate abuse that occurs in the church as a sexual crime?" 

 Of course, this can also be true when we are speaking of abuse by an educator.

 SESAME is an organization organized in the mid-90's to address sexual abuse by educators. It was the brainchild of a mother bear, named Mary Ann Werner, who told me in 1998 that it was my 1993 book, How Little We Knew, that was a primary motivator. As a result, we have the phrase "passing the trash" with a whole new generation of mothers and other activists bringing the message forward. There are 4 segments of this important, educational Dr. Oz Show. Please take time to digest them all.

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