TW: Mention Child Sexual Abuse
I'm not able to really talk about this to others, so I am going to just get some of this out on here.
Not sure if any of you know who the Duggars are, but the oldest son was recently arrested for possessing images of CSA. In the past he also molested some of his sisters when he was a teen.
I remember when the abuse against his sisters came out. It was one of the first times I thought my own abuse was valid. My brother, when he was around 14 would sexually abuse me, in a similar way. I never told anyway for years. However when I went into treatment for my ED, the trauma came out. The hurt I felt when my parents didn't believe me/didn't want to acknowledge what happened was one of the hardest things I had to go through. I was fortunate that when I did say I no longer wanted to live at home because he still lived there, my older sister took me in for the next year (I moved away to college after that). We never really addressed it, and to be honest, I still feel a lot pain and bitterness towards my family because of it.
Seeing others come out about similar stories of a sibling or family member abusing them has made me feel so less alone. Even more so when I see the support from others, even if it is just an "I'm so sorry you had to go through that." Sometimes that's all we really need.
I'm sharing a bit of my story, so that hopefully someone else can feel less alone, too. The world can be so cruel sometimes, but it can get better.
You matter and your story is valid!