Revealing Flashback

Revealing Flashback

Syntaxed

Registrant
This could probably just as well have been posted under the Grooming topic, but I chose to do it this way instead. I hope it's okay.

I am 39 years old and for 27 years I have felt shame because I trusted this guy and asked him a question about the size of my genitals(I'd had a lot of anxiety in the locker room at school). He, of course, asked me to show it to him (how he could restrain his glee, I'll never know) and I did. He said they all looked the same flacid and he'd need to see it hard, and the show began. Well, for my entire adult life, I have remembered being complicit at this. Feeling pleasure and willingingly participating in it.

Several weeks ago, as I mentioned in other posts elsewhere, my mental health hopped on a whole new roller coaster with flashbacks occuring for the first time.

Tonight, maybe as a gift from some benevolent being, I had a flashback of the entire first incident. My memories were accurate up until the point I showed him my penis, but then, you know how you have a memory of something as a child and don't remember everything so you fill in the blanks and then relatives or friends tell you, "No, that's not the way it happened," and it's all because your mind tried to fill in the blanks? Well, if my flashback is correct (and so far they've been spot on), he really fucked with my head (I know, nobody here is surprised).

He stimulated me to get me erect, put it in his mouth, and then asked me if I ever jerked off? I had never heard it called this, but I said um, maybe, sometimes, and he said, well, that's okay, that's all we're doing here. He finished me quickly into a handkerchief he had handy and I pulled up my shorts and said I needed to leave. He then said to me, wait, you don't want to get in trouble do you? This is perfectly normal what we've done, guys do it all the time, but they have to keep it a secret. Then he physically pushed me down onto the couch and unzipped his pants and pulled himself out. He said, here, you do the same for me and we'll be even. It will be our little secret. So, I tentatively copied his movements and then he asked me to put it in my mouth and I did, but didn't move or anything and he pushed it into the back of my mouth and I gagged, so he took it out. He placed my hand back on him, and wrapped his own hand around mine and started stroking until he finished into the trusty handkerchief. Then, with me feeling sick and ashamed and afraid of getting in trouble and unsure of this new dynamic in the relationship with the "father figure" I'd known for the past few months, he sat down next to me and said, "Hey, this is fine, don't worry about it. Guys do this kind of thing all the time, and since we've done it together, no one needs to know. And, we can do this from time to time to have some fun, when we don't have anything else to do." Of course, from time to time became every time.

So, this fucker planted in my head that I had initiated everything, he'd gone along and if I took care of him, he wouldn't tell on me. Complete role reversal! I can call my memoirs, "I was a Male Lolita."

Now, for 25 to 27 years, I have held onto this belief that I had initiated the sex, that I had led him on by showing him my genitals.

I don't know how I'll process this new memory, but I'm pissed. I can't believe how long I've held onto this guilt and shame. He was a fucking pro, wasn't he?

There. I just wanted to share.

Chris
 
Chris,

I'm also pissed. These bastards are experts, they know exactly what they are doing and they do it with malicious intent. Just know that you are not alone. There are many of us here who have stories like yours.

Love ya

Darrel
 
The strongest tool in the abuser's arsenal is guilt. We pile on the shame ourselves. Welcome to the club. Glad the healing has started. Put the guilt where it lies - on him.
Paul
 
Chris,

Your story illustrates perfectly a basic truth about child abuse: it can NEVER be the kid's fault! His tricks were a lot of the usual ones, and in order to keep things going he simply made it look like it had all been your idea from the start.

Don't blame yourself for falling for these tricks. It's incredibly powerful stuff for a boy to suddenly be accosted like this, and I remember clearly how I responded. I froze, cried, and did what I was told. It's just not something a kid can handle.

The flashback has given you some new and shocking memories, but the trick now is what you do with this information. Take it easy on yourself, and I hope you will continue to use and post on the site. Talking about these things really does help.

Much love,
Larry
 
Hi Chris. Hey one of the things that I've done to keep myself from taking the blame is writing to my parents. And, I have some questions for you:

1. Where was your Mom?

2. Why was she not asking where you were or who you
were "hanging out" with?

It was your Mom's responsibility to not assume that the world was safe for a 12 year old boy.

Yes, your perp has the majority share in guilt for hurting you, but your Mom never should have let you get in that position in the first place either.

As for myself, I'm more mad at my parents than my perp, because if they would have fulfilled their parental responsibilities (knowing who I was with, where I was etc.) this never would have happened!
 
Wow...that's truly terrible. I'm so sorry this happened. At least you're able to confront the incident honestly now.
 
Chris,

they are experts at keeping kids from telling, and he sure proved it.
Put the guilt and shame where it belongs, on the perp,

ste
 
Originally posted by Hauser:


1. Where was your Mom?
Mom was not really the "mom" type. She beat the living shit out of my older brother (with her fists), so, at the time, I was happy to be ignored by her. I have, like you, come to blame here for what I call "pre-grooming" me by getting me ready for the abuser through neglect, mental abuse, and the realization that if I embarassed her in any way (you do, of course, realize how embarassing a police investigation would be?) I would be in for a thrashing. I also blame my grandfather because he had the opportunity to become a father figure to me (he only lived a few miles away) and instead treated me like I didn't exist. When I would go to him in his workshop he would tell me to "go inside with the women." So, naturally, I pretty much blame and hate him as well.

Originally posted by Hauser:

2. Why was she not asking where you were or who you were "hanging out" with?
See above. But, how 'bout this? She KNEW I was spending a great deal of time with an older man who bought me things and took me places. So, as I said above, I assign quite a bit of blame to her.

Originally posted by Hauser:
It was your Mom's responsibility to not assume that the world was safe for a 12 year old boy.
Mom was not exactly the "Mom" type.

Originally posted by Hauser:
Yes, your perp has the majority share in guilt for hurting you, but your Mom never should have let you get in that position in the first place either.
Agreed. Years later, when I told her what had happened, she said to me, "Well, I always suspected something was happening, but I figured you knew what you were doing." I was 12 fucking years old! And I knew what I was doing! Mom, she wasn't exactly the "Mom" type. A little more of the "abusive bitch" type.

Originally posted by Hauser:
As for myself, I'm more mad at my parents than my perp, because if they would have fulfilled their parental responsibilities (knowing who I was with, where I was etc.) this never would have happened!
I absolutely couldn't possibly agree with you more. This world is full of predators and most parents don't know where the fuck their kids are. In my neigborhood, there are at least 45 kids (ranging in age from 6 to 16) whose parents are never home, never know where they are or who they're with and have no clue about sexual abuse. My 13 year old gives me shit all the time, because we won't let him go with his friends through the neigborhood, but I don't care. I'd rather he like me at age 23, when he's never been abused, then at 13, when he has the chance of being abused.

A few weeks ago I watched a 7 year old little boy walk off with a complete stranger to "look for his puppy" while the boy's mother was asleep in her apartment. I went apeshit, shot out of the house and dragged the boy home to his mother and called the cops. They collared the guy a few streets over talking to another kid about his fucking puppy.

We are shepherds with our precious little sheep wondering around in a field full of wolves and most of the fucking shepherds are asleep or drunk or just don't care.

I like your style, Hauser. I really do.
 
Originally posted by roadrunner:
Don't blame yourself for falling for these tricks. It's incredibly powerful stuff for a boy to suddenly be accosted like this, and I remember clearly how I responded. I froze, cried, and did what I was told. It's just not something a kid can handle.
Thank you for your kind words Larry. I'm coming to terms with the fact that the abuser was a monster, but what I can't understand is why I kept going back for more. I realize that I desperately needed a father figure, but surely I could have interviewed other candidates after anal rape, right?

This is the part I'm really, really struggling with, the going back for more aspect.
 
Chris,

This is the part I'm really, really struggling with, the going back for more aspect.
That part gets to a lot of survivors, since the implication is that even if the abuse wasn't our fault to begin with, eventually we were "in on it".

Two perspectives here might help you with this. One is that as a boy is abused over and over again his self-esteem just disintegrates. He feels more and more ashamed, confused, alone and afraid, and as he asks why this is happening he hits on the answer that he really is THAT worthless. As he spirals down into this terrible place it just doesn't matter what happens to him anymore.

I remember it well Chris. The man who abused me would pull up beside me in his car and tell me to get in, and I did. Then I would just stand there at his front door, waiting for him to put his car in the garage. I would go upstairs and wait for him on the bed. I just went into zombie mode and dissociated, and after that, well, nothing mattered. I just didn't care any more.

Another aspect of this has to do with the family background you refer to. It sounds like you were a kid who wasn't getting a lot of attention and affection at home. That's terrible for a kid, since a boy NEEDS these things. If he doesn't feel wanted, important, needed and appreciated at home, he will begin to feel starved and empty emotionally.

Kids like this are easy targets for predators. They come along and pretend to care about the boy; they show him attention and make him feel important and wanted. As the kid is being tricked and groomed into trusting the abuser anyway, he will easily fall for the lies and honeyed words. All those things are things he has been needing to hear all along!

As the abuse continues, Chris, the boy may feel guilty and afraid about what is happening to him, but he still NEEDS the attention. He wants it so badly that he continues to trust the abuser, hoping the lies are true.

What you should see in this kind of thing is the clear proof it offers of how defenseless and innocent the child victims of abuse are. You kept going back to him, like so many of us did, because you were groomed and betrayed so totally, not because you were bad, or because you "wanted it", or because you "enjoyed it". Those are all part of the kit bag of cruel and vicious lies that predators use to trap kids in the first place.

Much love,
Larry
 
chris sor to here this i was abused by my mom and i did not tell my dad till i was 25 yrs old life may be ar right now the thing that hapen to me is i get flash backs after i was sexually assulted it january o 2006/ it has taken me month to flnal decided to get help do u tink i waited to long?
 
Randy,

I think we all come to the healing process when it's time. I was in a men's survivor group a few years ago and it seemed that there was a natural progression to the healing, with phases occurring at around the same ages (I would love to see someone do research on this).

Do I think you waited too long, Randy? No, I don't. The important thing is that you do get help. I have found the posts on this board to be very helpful, but without a therapist to bounce my flashbacks off of, I would be drifting aimlessly.

That said, it was hard (for me, anyway) to find a therapist. Maybe someone else on here has better advice, but I finally found someone who had experience with both sexual abuse and PTSD, and that has made all the difference. For years I was treated for depression, when the post traumatic stress disorder was the real problem.

I hope you find a good therapist, Randy. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll reach a place of peace.

My healing just began accelerating with the flashbacks, and everyone tells me that the flashbacks lead to healing, so have hope.

Again, I am new to this site, so does anyone else have some advice for Randy?
 
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