Indifference Breeds Contempt ...

I originally posted this back in October of 2005, but since April is Child Abuse Awareness Month, I decided that I would re-post it.
Abuse.
Rape.
Molestation.
They kinda all go hand in hand.


According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one in three females will be sexually molested before the age of 18.

Wrap your mind around that for a minute.
Go on, take your time.

One in THREE.
How many women do you know that have been sexually molested?
It's astounding.
It's outrageous.
It's sickening.

Why is it still cloaked under a veil of shame?
Why have we been scorned by family, friends and neighbors?
Why have we been called liar, con-artist, deceiver, perjurer, fabricator?
Why have we been treated as criminals when we did speak out against our attackers?
Why have we had our personal lives put on trial for further brutalization by "the system"?
Why were we never looked at the same again?

Now women are faced with an even more dangerous and galling reaction.
Apathy.
Sexual molestation happens so frequently that it doesn't even elicit a response from the majority of people anymore.
Some offer a half-assed apology.
Some just shrug.
The worst is, "the look".
It's a vacant, incredulous look in a persons eyes when you even mention the words rape, molested, abused.
They try and disguise their disdain and detachment, but such attempts only make it more glaringly obvious.

When did we go from being indignant to indifferent?