I would like to ask a very serious question. Please vote, if you feel comfortable.

[lildreamer316]

Poll question: I would like to ask a very serious question. Please vote, if you feel comfortable.

I have come to the realization that it seems the majority of people I have encountered in my life show signs of having been abused, often sexually, in their childhood. (BTW, most of the people I am referencing are NOT the ladies I work with! Really!!). This post is not about how bad that is, or to draw out any huge long, heavy, and probably flame-laden discussion about this issue; I would just like to know if my perception (that this is FAR more common than I had heretofore believed) is pretty valid, or if maybe it is the company I am keeping.

I hope that voting in this does not make anyone unduly uncomfortable or upset. Please accept my apologies now if it does, in any way.

I have realized, time and time again, that I was blessed with one of the most wonderful childhoods anyone could ever expect. Bless my parents for giving me the world; even if sometimes they kept me in ignorance of the true nature of it. Hence, my curiosity here - and my lack of understandingl that I am trying to remedy.

Thanks for your honesty and your time. I have love for each and every one of you.

So,the question is:

Were you made to suffer in this way in childhood?

I am talking mostly physical AND/OR sexual abuse. I am not trying to say that NON-physical is any less horrible, but right now want to know more about the preponderance of physical and sexual specifically.

[Phillycat]

1. I wish you had a "yes, and it's happened to many people I know too" option.

[redqueen]

2. Agreed.

[lildreamer316]

5. Done! Thanks for your input.

SOrry...again, I am very naeive when it comes to this.

[Mike03]

16. Agreed also.

My childhood was very fortunate, but abuse is more common than I ever knew, and certainly I have known many people who were either physically or sexually abused.

This is an interesting topic and thank you for raising it.

[MrCoffee]

3. are you talking sexual abuse specifically, or general abuse?

[SteppingRazor]

4. Seconded. And even then, can we define physical abuse?

I mean, my dad smacked me around with a belt when I was a kid, but I certainly never expected DCF to show up on our doorstep.

[lildreamer316]

8. See, I think

it's probably a personal matter. Sometimes a gray area. Do you feel, now, that he was abusive about it, or just giving due punishment? (you don't have to answer, just saying that's how I would interpret it). My mother spanked me, but it was not ever, in my opinion, abuse. I don't feel damaged from it in any way. However, some people I have talked to told me that she was emotionally/verbally abusive in a way. Maybe, but again, it is not an issue for me.:shrug:

Just trying to get a basic read on the prevelance of this..

[SteppingRazor]

11. I understand that.

My dad used to kind of whup on my brother and I if we did something bad, but I'm sure I haven't suffered any long-term emotional scars from it -- I can laugh about it today. So, I guess gray areas like this are in the eye of the beholder. That said, there are, of course black-and-white cases as well -- even if a kid who was chained to the toilet for 6 years grows up into a perfectly well-adjusted adult, he was still a victim of abuse.

[lildreamer316]

6. OP edited to answer.

Thanks..sometimes I don't think clearly.

[MrCoffee]

7. Thank you for clarifying.

i voted yes.

[lildreamer316]

9. ...and thank YOU

for answering.

I really appreciate it.

[MrCoffee]

12. no worries. i made my peace with it.

[grace0418]

10. Oops. Answered too soon. Didn't see the last answer.

It happened in my family and in several others I knew. So for your own records you can remove one Yes vote and change it too "Yes, and it's happened to many I've known also."

[lildreamer316]

14. Sure. And thanks..

for answering. :hug:

[kwassa]

13. Abuse is abuse

Psychological abuse can be just as damaging as sexual or physical abuse (which also can be forms of psychological abuse).

[lildreamer316]

15. I agree. To clarify why I said that:

Sexual abuse seems to leave the people that experience it with a certain type of _______. I see similarites in the way that the people I know who have experienced it act, versus those who have acknowledged mostly or all phsychological abuse - in the majority of MY experience only, of course. I was more aware of psychological abuse and it's effects day-to-day and human to human than I have been of sexual and physical abuse, which I am just now becoming more aware of how it manifests itself. (run on sentence, sorry)

I hope that explains my thought processes a bit when I asked the question.