WE SHALL NO LONGER BE SILENT (1988)

I’m inserting a scanned copy of an article I wrote in 1988. So little seems to have changed …

Response and reactions to this would be very welcome.
I have so many unanswered questions:
What happened to Radical Psychiatry and the feminist therapy movement?
Is the taboo barrier even stronger now than it was then?
Are tortured kids getting the help they need?
How is the legal system now, compared to the 80s?

Abuse and use

Words are important. They can be used to clarify, and they can be abused to confuse, mystify, divert.

I’ve been thinking a lot about  “sexual abuse” of children. The word “abuse” seems to imply that it’s OK to use children sexually,  if done in the right way, whatever that may be.

I have rejected the word “abuse” in this context. From now on I’m going to use “use”.

Misbruk og bruk

Ord er viktige. De kan brukes til å klarlegge begreper … og de kan misbrukes til å tåkelegge, forvirre, avlede.

I det siste har jeg tenkt mye på ordet “misbruk” når det gjelder barn. “Seksuell misbruk” … det synes å innebære at barn er bruksgjenstander, at det er OK å bruke barn seksuelt, hvis det bare foregår på rett måte, hva nå enn det kan være.

Heretter kommer jeg til å bruke ordet “bruk” i stedet.