I grew up in a very rural part of Ireland (the back of the back of beyond).
I was born in the 1960s and when I was growing up Teachers, priests and doctors wielded a lot of power.
My mother(now deceased) was born in the 1930s and back then the power wielded by Teachers, priests and doctors was much, much greater.
When I was a child I remember my mother telling me stories about the teacher(Male) in her primary school which were pretty shocking. These were mainly about the corporal punishment that was administered by this teacher.
However the one that sticks most in my memory is the story about how this teacher used to check the children's underwear to see if it was clean.
My mother never specifically said whether or not she was subjected to this abuse.
She never went into any details about what it involved or where it happened but I think it happened in front of the whole class.
I think at the time I was told about this I didn't know what a paedophile was and didn't realise what sort of gross abuse this was.
I often thought that my mother was a detached, emotionally stunted person and I now wonder if she suffered some sort of trauma as a result of this abuse at school.
I'm not sure what the point of this post is as this teacher is long dead and I don't live there anymore. I have had therapy for trauma which I believe was a result of my mothers inability to show any emotional or physical intimacy.
I suppose it might highlight to others struggling with similar trauma, the impact that abuse can have over multiple generations.