Raped at Fourteen by Anonymous

Note From Cletis ~ This account is from a long time friend. I have not edited this in any respect ...  

It was the fall of 1975, I was 14 years old.  I had spent my whole summer babysitting for two little boys while their parents worked.  These were friends of my parents.  I continued to babysit whenever I was needed.

One rainy Saturday afternoon I was watching them while their parents went grocery shopping. When they returned, the father offered to drive me home so I wouldn't have to walk in the rain.

Once we were going down the road, he drove right past my parent’s house and continued to take me to a remote wooded spot. He stopped the car and raped me. I will not go into detail, but when he was finished, he told me I couldn't tell my parents because my dad would kill him and end up going to prison and then my family would lose everything without him.

In addition he would say I was lying and no one would believe me. So I kept my mouth shut.

After he dropped me off, I ran a hot bath, soaked and cried. I had been betrayed in the worst possible way.  Someone that I trusted, that my parents trusted took advantage of the situation.  In 1975, girls of 14 did not dress like they do today; I still wore my hair in ponytails and no makeup.  In addition, I was a tom-boy so I was very self-conscious of my changing body and opted to wear long baggy flannel shirts that would hide my development.  My future relationships with men were to say the least slightly skewed because of this. 

I write this not because I want your sympathy but because in light of the recent sexual assaults in the Air force and in Cleveland, it brought back with a rush, all those old feelings I had when I was 14. I can’t imagine what those poor girls in Cleveland will suffer mentally in their futures, nor the women who reported their assaults in the Air Force.  But I do know that until our society starts with how victims of sexual assault are treated during the whole process of bringing the offenders to justice, many more rapes will go unreported due to fear, self-loathing and a twisted belief that somehow, they asked for it.

There is nothing worse, I know.  Especially the betrayal of people you trusted, whose care you were in that should have ensured your safety.

Give a voice to those whose voice has been taken away.