"You have nothing to feel ashamed of. I want you to know you didn't do anything wrong. Please know..."

"You have nothing to feel ashamed of. I want you to know you didn't do anything wrong. Please know that you were chosen by a monster. It's not your fault. You didn't ask for it and, most of all, you didn't deserve it."

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Writer-director Tyler Perry • In an open letter, published by The Daily Beast, to an 11-year-old alleged victim in the Jerry Sandusky case. "Do you know that at the young age of 11 you had more courage than all the adults who let you down?" he writes. "All of the ones who didn't go to the proper authorities, all of the ones who were worried about their careers, reputations, or livelihoods. All of the ones who didn't want to get involved. Or even the ones who tried to convince your mother not to fight. You are stronger than them all! I wonder what they would have done if it were their own child." You rock, Tyler. (via shortformblog)

Tyler Perry for the GODDAMN WIN!

(via blackamazon)

I wonder, however, how often do we see public support for young male survivors of molestation? To me, it seems like the culture of hyper-masculinity/homophobia often makes it hard for male victims of sexual assault to come forward and only enforces silence and shame. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but I rarely see other men reach out to other male sexual assault survivors in that way before.

Or am I mis-interpreting what you're saying? Can someone make sense of what I'm trying to say?

(via newwavefeminism)

First of all, this whole open letter is fucking beautiful. So, I suggest that everyone read it. 

I do wish that there were more articles and open letters that were as full of support for ALL sexual assault survivors as this one is. I know that I could really use this kind of validation and support in this form from time to time. But, the reality of the Penn State situation is that it looks like the majority of the people involved (students, supporters of Penn State's football program, the entire Penn State administration involved in the cover up) were trying to silence these young boys because they care more about a game than what was done to these boys. In this particular situation, there is a noticeably public lack of support for these young boys coming from so many people. If they are paying any attention to the news and media surrounding the Penn State injustices, it must be incredibly damaging for them to see that hundreds (even thousands) of people who should be OUTRAGED about what happened at Penn State to so many young boys and who should care about the survivors are siding with the people who let it happen. And on top of all of that, newwavefeminism is completely correct. Hyper masculinity and homophobia can make it extremely difficult for male survivors of sexual assault to come forward about their abuse and the crimes committed against them. The network of support for male survivors of sexual assault may be more extensive than I'm aware of from my own research when I was seeking help for myself as a female survivor, but if it is, those resources for male survivors are not very highly publicized. 

The rioting and the angry Penn State fans who would rather support a coach that let something horrible happen to these young boys has been all too public. All people seem to be talking about are Penn State football, Joe Paterno, what this means for the season, angry fans, and a lot of terrible people who value a sport over these boys' suffering. What needs to be made the most public to drown out all of that other noise about things that ultimately don't matter is support for these young survivors. That's what they need to hear and read and see right now. And, I think that's what Tyler Perry's letter is trying to do. These kids need to know that what happened was not their fault, and that all of the people who were angry at the riots or who tried to cover up their abuse are wrong. They need to know that there are people out there who support them and who understand exactly what they're going through. They should know that they are not alone. And, Tyler Perry conveyed all of those things in that beautiful letter. As helpful as a super general open letter would be for all sexual assault survivors, sometimes the best help comes directly from somebody who has been through something similar. These boys have had enough of people ignoring them and choosing to prioritize other less important things over them. It is wonderful that this letter addresses them directly when it seems like the rest of the world doesn't care to recognize them.

(via she-hulk-smash)