Anyone who stops to think about the problem for even a second can see why the abusers are by far most common in religious groups.
The abuse almost exclusively requires leaving your child alone with the abuser, there obviously is abuse that doesn’t but that’s not the type of thing that we’re talking about when things hit the news. They’re not going to abuse a random child openly in public. And there is not much of a reason to leave your child alone at a drag queen event.
When you get to religious events however, children are left alone with religious leaders and volunteers all the time. So many religious individuals seem to trust that just because someone says they’re religious, they are inherently more trustworthy. That somehow simply being in the group is a vetting process of some sort. When you add on the extremely common focus on having those children do whatever their elders say, without any second-guessing, and you have created a group of victims ready to abuse. Organized religions like Christianity create an atmosphere perfect for an abuser to target and abuse while hiding in plain site. And even if the child tries to tell their parents, they often aren’t believed, because “children lie”.
Saw this exact thing happen to one of my neighbor’s girls. She was abused for almost 5 years from the age of 4 while the family ignored what she tried to tell them. He was abusing several children, and it only ended because he happened to get caught in the act at an event.
it only ended because he happened to get caught in the act at an event.
Always. Always. Always.
I’m not huge on holding people legally accountable for the actions of others; but I do think that adults who ignore children telling they’re being abused are also guilty on some level of abuse.
My former bully had been creating deepfakes with social media and photos he’d taken at youth events. Probably would have gone on much longer but he tried to catfish them and was caught.
Oh yeah, extreme creepy weirdness that often goes all the way into sexual harassment, sexual abuse, grooming or worse… just absolutely endemic with youth group pastors in the US.
But its hugely underreported, partially because, well, uh, religious indoctrination just is a form of grooming in and of itself… and then yeah, as you’ve described more thoroughly, its basically a perfect storm of every factor you’d need to encourage and then supress reporting of sexual abuse.
But, of course, this kind of thing is so socially normalized that… religious people rarely stop and just think about it.
My way to improve it would be to add two more panels to it. One would of tRUMP sneakily putting the mask back on the maga’s, the next panel would be of him saying “why are we still talking about Epstein, you bunch of weaklings”
The only way to improve this meme would be to replace his scarf with a bejeweled cross.
Recently found out that the guy who bullied me as a kid just got convicted of sex crimes while he worked as a church youth leader.
It’s never a drag queen.
Anyone who stops to think about the problem for even a second can see why the abusers are by far most common in religious groups.
The abuse almost exclusively requires leaving your child alone with the abuser, there obviously is abuse that doesn’t but that’s not the type of thing that we’re talking about when things hit the news. They’re not going to abuse a random child openly in public. And there is not much of a reason to leave your child alone at a drag queen event.
When you get to religious events however, children are left alone with religious leaders and volunteers all the time. So many religious individuals seem to trust that just because someone says they’re religious, they are inherently more trustworthy. That somehow simply being in the group is a vetting process of some sort. When you add on the extremely common focus on having those children do whatever their elders say, without any second-guessing, and you have created a group of victims ready to abuse. Organized religions like Christianity create an atmosphere perfect for an abuser to target and abuse while hiding in plain site. And even if the child tries to tell their parents, they often aren’t believed, because “children lie”.
Saw this exact thing happen to one of my neighbor’s girls. She was abused for almost 5 years from the age of 4 while the family ignored what she tried to tell them. He was abusing several children, and it only ended because he happened to get caught in the act at an event.
Always. Always. Always.
I’m not huge on holding people legally accountable for the actions of others; but I do think that adults who ignore children telling they’re being abused are also guilty on some level of abuse.
My former bully had been creating deepfakes with social media and photos he’d taken at youth events. Probably would have gone on much longer but he tried to catfish them and was caught.
Oh yeah, extreme creepy weirdness that often goes all the way into sexual harassment, sexual abuse, grooming or worse… just absolutely endemic with youth group pastors in the US.
But its hugely underreported, partially because, well, uh, religious indoctrination just is a form of grooming in and of itself… and then yeah, as you’ve described more thoroughly, its basically a perfect storm of every factor you’d need to encourage and then supress reporting of sexual abuse.
But, of course, this kind of thing is so socially normalized that… religious people rarely stop and just think about it.
Repeat it louder for the folks at the back!
[Whisper Yelling]:
SSSSHHHHHH!
The pastor is praying! Shut up!
My way to improve it would be to add two more panels to it. One would of tRUMP sneakily putting the mask back on the maga’s, the next panel would be of him saying “why are we still talking about Epstein, you bunch of weaklings”