We must reassure victims of domestic violence

This letter is in response to the letter "We need to talk about domestic violence, too," by Maureen McGuire. I strongly agree with what she said. The fact of the matter is that the percentage of women and men affected by sexual abuse has come to staggering numbers all over the world.

However, we need to also address the reason many won't come forward.

Society has created a negative image for those who come forward after being sexually abused, especially if the assaulter held some position of power.

People will say terrible things to them such as you shouldn't have been dressed that way or you probably led them on.

Some people even completely ignore the fact that the person has been assaulted and say something like you're lying.

While many don't see just how much of this can actually be said, things like this do happen. When these thing are said to a person, they don't want to openly admit to what they've been through.

They'd rather go on and pretend like it never happened. They smile at everyone happily during the day and sob quietly into their pillow every night, letting no one know the truth.

Before we encourage people to come forward, we need to be sure they will feel supported and understood after doing so.

We need to stop placing the blame on the victim and place it on their assaulter.

We need to let them know that there are people who share their pain and others who want to help them overcome what they've been through.

Until society learns to stop shaming women as well as men for being sexually assaulted, we will not be able to fully help them.

Tea' Lowe

Des Plaines