| Child sexual abuse, a high profile crime prevalent in most parts of the world, yet, it stands in need of attention even in the 21st century. Childhood being the most important phase of a child’s development, when crushed under the debilitating effects of abuse, leaves an incessant effect that one carries for years. To the child, the abuse might seem as clear as the daylight, yet as dark as a gloomy night, being stuck in the inescapable stark and inexorable bout of sufferings caused due to oppression from various forms perpetrated against him/her by a close and trusted person. It seems obscure until the child becomes conscious about what exactly is happening, but once aware, this consciousness brings with itself an all-encompassing and overpowering feeling of fear, guilt and angst, which the child vents on himself/herself, causing self-harm in numerous ways, becoming evasive, and questioning self-worth. The unbearable pain of accepting what has happened and the gut wrenching feeling of not being able to disclose the abuse to anyone, fearing embarrassment, aggravates, resulting in a series of arduous yet futile attempts at camouflaging the scars and staying nonchalant as if nothing ever happened.
No doubt it alleviates the suffering for some time but there is no assurance, god forbid, that the brunt of the maelstrom is not going to recur again in the form of reality or as a nightmare or, and if it happens, it embarks the appalling phase of reclusion, forcing the victim to suffer in silence, cursing self for the tragedy that the child was not at all responsible for, slowly walking towards darkness and gradually becoming an enemy to oneself. Little did the child know that the internal havoc and suffering of all-consuming humiliation and misery is more detrimental than the effects of taking a stand for the self. The overwhelming feeling when the mind continuously ponders and laments over the question, “WHY ME?”, crumbles the heart into a million pieces, and, shattered and lifeless, the innocent child is forced to carry the imbued image of self, making the child aggressive and hysteric, lowering morale and going further down on the path of dejection. A feeling of being lost, hopeless, d |
