Childhood sexual abuse is never an easy thing to talk about, especiallyif you are a man. Therefore, I was interested to see the press attentionpaid to John Peel's autobiography in which he described the sexual abuseand rape he experienced as a boy.
On a positive note, the NSPCC came out and said that if more celebritiestalked about their experiences it would be easier for children to talkabout it too. But one newspaper seemed to doubt his word and intervieweda range of ex public schoolboys to ask if it had happened to them. Theyall played it down as being part of the school experience.
I was sad to read this as it undermined the courage it took John Peel totalk about this issue. The awful truth is that it does happen - butwe're still not ready to deal with it.
Look at support services for boys and men who have been abused - theyare few and far between. It used to be thought that these things onlyhappened to girls and young women, so why put resources into support formen?
Recently the number of men I know who were sexually abused as boys hasgrown. Some are now in their fifties and have just begun to try to makesense of what happened. For one man, a lifetime of keeping quiet led tohim having a heart attack. He is now questioning everything around himas he strives to become a "proper adult". Another is on long-term sickleave from his job; he unexpectedly had the memories return and becamedepressed.
A woman on a training course I ran disclosed that her 27-year-old sonhad been raped at the age of 12 and had only just told her.
There certainly weren't any services around when those blokes werechildren.
Imagine the difference it would have made to their lives, and thosearound them, if there had been.
In this outcomes-led climate, let's not forget the bravery of John Peeland all the other male survivors. Let's make sure that when we'retalking about being healthy and staying safe that we include the boystoo. We owe it to the next generation of men to make sure we do.
