Once a taboo

always a taboo

I am mad, really mad about the ever-present, consistent denial of both flagrant and subtle sexual abuse of girls and boys as well as young women and men that lurks not only in the deepest darkness of depravity but also in the socially acceptable light of day.

On what planet, at what time, is it okay to violate another person for personal sexual pleasure; to force one’s twisted, selfish self onto those who cannot push back or protect themselves?

A survivor myself, my blood boils.

Predators exist on so many levels — too many— abusing, subjugating, and marginalizing others under the guise of racial, ethnic, and social justifications. Unacceptable on any level. Yet here they are.

Here we are.

Today, in this post, I am taking aim at the cultural norms that trap victims, like the beloved women trapped in vicious Epstein cycles of abuse. They were not victims until others chose to degrade them. Reducing them to mere fodder for cavernous cravings of corrupted power in both the highest and the lowest among us.

But it’s not just the predator who tosses the sexually abused away like trash. He or she, or rings of them in human trafficking clubs, rarely work in a vacuum. They are aided by the firmament of societies around the world that wants nothing to do with the devastating fallout, and take no responsibility for fostering, through denial and neglect, this rotting-at-the-core of humanity. They would rather ‘not know about it’ or pretend not to see.

Is this you? Is this me? Is this us?

Is This What It Means To Be A Bombshell? is a poem I recently wrote and recorded as a call to wake up, smell the coffee, and uncover deeply carved caves of sexual abuse hidden within the tunnels that travel through our cultural norms. Trip-wired like landmines, they require just the slightest pressure to erupt with results that cause devastation for us all.

Can there be remedies for this societal disease? No; not until we uncover truths buried in the shadows of our humanity. There, in a mulch of greed that is power lust and secrecy, they will continue to consume all around them until - and unless - we bring this predatory virus out into the open where it can be seen for what it is. Then treated accordingly.

So, I ask you, for the sake of the abused among us everywhere, please shed light upon this malevolence wherever you find it. This important step can start, as well as continue, the healing process for victims who have always - and will always - deserve our best care and attention.

Thank you.