Dr. John A. King describes 14 years of childhood sexual abuse and trafficking from age two to 16, perpetrated by both men and women. Without a reference point for normal, the abuse shaped his entire sense of self and what safety meant.
In 2008, I had recall of being sexually abused by the people who raised me. It was the women who— they're the ones who sexually abused me, and we would call that trafficking now. It wasn't just women who abused me. I was an equal opportunity victim, for want of a better term. It was both male and female. And so that happened for about 14 years until I was at the age of 16. And I sort of locked that away and locked it down and didn't really know who I was. And And, you know, it's funny, when you grow up in an environment like that, you don't have anything to compare it with. So that's your normal.
