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Am I being OTT? Concerning paedophilia.

39 replies

AmIOTTconcerned · 20/01/2019 13:49

To put it simply, I won't allow my DC to be babysat by my brothers, DP's grandad, any male basically (not that anyone has offered! It's just from conversations with my DP, he knows my feelings and thinks I have an issue). Now I am prepared to be told that I am OTT so please can I just add that my father was a paedophile (now deceased). He abused my stepsister. This obviously contributes towards my lack of trust. I just want to protect my DC.

If I have an issue please talk to me. Make me see why. Thank you.

OP posts:
90percentvodka10percenthuman · 20/01/2019 15:21

My dm was sexually abused as a child. She made sure I knew so that I understood why she put restrictions on me. I’ve always known that she was protecting me. Except, on the occasions that things happened in my childhood when I felt I needed protection from grown men, I wasn’t able to tell her. I just knew it would crush her and that she would feel like she failed.

What I’m clumsily trying to say is please get counselling and help to overcome this as you will project your fears into your dc.

AmIOTTconcerned · 20/01/2019 15:38

Thank you to recent posters for your thoughts. It's nice to know I'm not being completely irrational. I will look into therapy although I feel I will always have an issue with it. I'm not sure therapy could change that... It's still worth a try because I know it has gone too far.

Ultimately I need to work on how this is coming across to my DC. I guess the best thing to do is not project my fear onto them, but also educate them on knowing what isn't okay and giving them the confidence to open up to me. It's hard.

Truth be told, I'm terrified of the inevitable sleepover invitations. I truly am.

Bizarrely, I remember my dad asking me if there would be any men present at a sleepover I was going to when I was 12. I told him her mum was single and there were no adult men living there. He warned me that uncles etc. could still turn up and basically warned me of potential abuse. Very clear why now as he was one himself.

OP posts:
Cheesycheesytwist · 20/01/2019 15:44

I'm with you OP, I have never left DC with a lone male other than DH. And as for it giving them issues, how so? We spend lots of time with men (extended family and friends) and I've never had to actively say no as it's never really come up. I would think a friend or male relative trying to spend time alone with my young DC would be odd. It's a case of minimising risk for me. Of course not all men are paedophiles, but some are. As for teachers and present school staff, we'll they would never be alone with an individual child because of safeguarding so it's not an issue.

I'm aware I am in the minority but I don't care, we all make parenting choices as we see fit.

Cheesycheesytwist · 20/01/2019 15:48

Yes counselling would be good to help you come to terms with your past experiences and how you discuss/deal with it with your DDs, but I don't think pp telling you that you are unreasonable is helpful, like I said I have no experience of SA at all but I still wouldn't leave my Dcs in a vulnerable position. Don't be too hard on yourself OP x

cdtaylornats · 20/01/2019 15:59

"Women can abuse too" but statistically they are much, much less likely to.

You missed the end off "be caught".

Hedgehogblues · 20/01/2019 16:12

Considering what men do to women and children I think it's a good idea to be wary of them and to not automatically trust them

Pissedoffdotcom · 20/01/2019 16:15

You shouldn't 'automatically' trust anybody.

LostInShoebiz · 20/01/2019 16:15

What about when the girls are adults? They’re more likely to be abused in some way by partner. I’m really surprised you’re only now saying some sort of professional help might assist. It sounds like you’ve had a terrible time and you need significant help to deal with it as best you can and hopefully one day allow your children to have positive relationships with all of their family members.

minisoksmakehardwork · 20/01/2019 16:38

Op has rightly said she will seek help. But I will put this out there for everyone else:

By teaching your children only to be wary or afraid of men, what are you going to do in the current climate of self identification where a man can dress as a stereotypical woman, say they are a woman and indeed are expected to be treated as women.

What then do you do with your children who have been told women are safe and men are not to be trusted.

It is better for op to get help for her own personal issues surrounding men - note the abuse was to her step sister, not her, although the perpetrator was her father.

It is better for her daughters to grow up in a healthy environment where men and woman can both break the law rather than men always being seen as in the wrong whereas women are safe. It's too simplistic a view of the world.

howtobehuman · 20/01/2019 20:48

Agree with others about working on yourself, so important for your children. As they're still toddlers you have a bit of time to think about how you will educate them and guide them about the issue. The goal obviously is to be well informed and assertive but not unnecessarily fearful, tricky for the best of us! But there at a lot of good resources. I read a book called the underpants rule to my son and there's the nspcc 'pantasaurus' song too. For now I'd say do what your comfortable with but if there is a male family member who rationally you know is trust worthy, try to encourage him spending with your girls, even if it's supervised to try and build their relationship and your trust. Good luck!

ISmellBabies · 21/01/2019 14:30

Cdtaylornats no I didn't. Even if you don't believe the overwhelming statistics, personal experience shows men are much more likely perpetrators of sexual assault. I've lost count of how many times I've been groped (and worse), touched without consent, had someone attempt to pressure me into sex I don't want to have with them, had someone make inappropriate sexual comments. It's always 100% of the time been men. Never ever once has a woman done any of this to me. It's not about who gets caught. In general, it's men that do this shit much, much, much more than women do.

Lemoneeza · 21/01/2019 14:37

You are right to be wary. you can't un know what you know. being vigilant is exhausting though, so counselling could help you cope.

Slurpy · 21/01/2019 14:53

Yes, you are being irrational, but clearly there's a very valid reason that you're being so. I'm really glad to see that you're open to getting help. Your daughters could learn that men are to be feared and frankly, you might be robbing them of some great male role models - (some) men can be great fun with kids. Good luck in dealing with this Flowers

WesternMeadowlark · 21/01/2019 15:40

Apologies to you OP, for this, as it's a bit of a derail, but too important not to address:

It really doesn't take much digging to find out how common sexual abuse by women is and why it gets overlooked.

Trigger warning for discussion of sexual violence.

"We also pooled four years of the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data and found that 35 percent of male victims who experienced rape or sexual assault reported at least one female perpetrator. Among those who were raped or sexually assaulted by a woman, 58 percent of male victims and 41 percent of female victims reported that the incident involved a violent attack, meaning the female perpetrator hit, knocked down or otherwise attacked the victim, many of whom reported injuries."

"Stephanie Trilling, manager of community awareness and prevention services at the Boston Area Rape Crisis (BARCC), observes that for her queer female clients who have been assaulted by women, the first hurdle is simply understanding the assault as rape. Since this scenario is rarely portrayed in the media or in educational programming, 'it can be especially challenging to identify their experience as violence,' she says. 'Many people have a difficult time believing that a woman could be capable of inflicting violence on another person.' [...] Survivors are trapped in a cycle that delegitimizes their experience: first by downplaying the likelihood that it could happen at all, then by not validating it once it happens, and finally by not analyzing the data—and therefore creating awareness—after it does."

"One report found that women were responsible in 20% of US abuse cases between 1973 and 1987, but states report their data differently, and not all divide abusers by gender. And Philby's research indicates that people may not want hard data on female sexual abusers. Anonymous sources in the British justice system told her, 'they just aren't being given the tools they need to address this issue, or even being made aware that it is an issue at all.' And Zoe Hilton, a policy advisor at the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, said, 'Professionals in all areas of the system tend to be disbelieving of cases of female sexual abuse.'"

And they're not the best sources, only what less than a minute's searching turned up.

I'm always stunned by how quick people are to use percentages to dismiss concerns about children being abused by women, too. "Only 5%", and other such statements. Firstly, the contemptible implication is that those victims can therefore be written off, as if everything they've been through simply matters less, if it matters at all. And secondly, given the number of abusers out there, even if 5% or less were female, that's still a hell of a lot of abusive women.

I'm glad you're giving this so much thought, OP. I'm very sorry that this has come up for you, and I hope you find more peace with every day that passes.

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