No, I wholeheartedly disagree. Sexual abuse is far, far worse. Next to murder it is singularly the most destructive thing one person can do to another, more especially a child - even worse than physical abuse. Now, in my mind, physical abuse and verbal abuse are interchangeable, but not sexual abuse, which is a form of murder. The most damaged people I know are those who were sexually abused in childhood. Abuse is abuse, beit mental or physical. It's all abuse, it's all bad. I not sure if I can say one is worse than the other when the end result is basically the same. Lives shattered by anothers horrible actions. What this article underscores is that verbal abuse is just as destructive, and no visible outward scars are evident. That's almost like saying death by gunshot is worse than death by being hit by a car. The end result is the same, you are still dead. Verbal abuse is also hard for a child to prove.... Say your father hits you, you bruise, you can show your teacher, but say he calls you horrible things, there is no proof, you're called a liar as your daddy seems like a nice man... You learn to be silent, you learn to hold it in... Whether you come from a home with just verbal abuse, or all kinds of abuse, it all just kills you. Napster, I was thinking along the same lines, you have a good point. michellezm, let's look at it this way, there is no way of quantifying a hurt from others point of view, so this author makes a good point of emphasizing the results of verbal abuse. This does not diminish the sexual abuse at all. The point I think I failed to put across is that verbal abuse, as damaging as it is, can at a later stage in one's life, be challenged by reason. In other words we can challenge the veracity of the negative statements thereby diminishing the effects. But sexual abuse is a 'fixed' act. There is no 'challenging' a physical deed. There is no rationalizing it away. (I draw this conclusion from my own experience of verbal and physical abuse, and those of a number of close friends who were sexually abused. They have all claimed that the sexual abuse (especially incest) they endured in childhood has been, in the long term, the most profoundly damaging aspect of their lives. But, hurt is indee... But, hurt is indeed hurt. I long for a world where children and animals are free from fear, pain and sadness. One day .....Amen. |
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