I Was On Oprah

by James W.
(Dowagiac, Michigan, USA)

Twenty years ago, I was part of a group of men who were among the first to speak openly about our sexually abusive childhoods. Mike Lew, a foremost specialist in the field, had managed to get a spot on the Oprah Show when she was still on WLS.

Mike, and several men he had helped in therapy, flew in from the east coast to be on the panel. Our Chicago group phone-blitzed the studio to ensure the show would air, and were invited to be in the audience.

I was the first to speak from the audience, and would have been a substitute panellist if someone got cold feet. We all felt strongly that boys were further isolated by the media distortion of 'incest' as the ultimate form of male oppression of women.

Even at that time, experts in the field had documented cases of maternal abuse against sons, as well as daughters. They also had significant evidence that in many cases the mother knows and often allows the abuse to occur.

And the result of our effort...Oprah forgot.

Several years later, she had a man on a panel of child sexual abuse survivors. She commented that she felt abuse of boys was a truly important issue, and as far as she knew, that was 'the first time ever to deal with it on national T.V.'

What were we? Chopped liver? And if it was so important, why have I never seen the issue discussed since then?

Misandry and ratings, that's why!

Oprah and her protege Dr. Phil, know full well that the sooner a child understands what happened to him, the sooner he can begin to heal. They also say that if you see a wrong, and don't try to stop it, you are equally as responsible for the crime.

The majority of sex offenders were abused themselves. That's no excuse, but it is a fact. Rather than being pro-active, Oprah continues to distort the facts about the breadth, depravity and coercive subtlety of chid sexual abuse.

Rather than help all children, Oprah consciously lets boys suffer in silence and refuses to deal with the larger issue of maternal child abuse. She does this fully aware that a small percentage of those boys will grow up to re-offend.

She has literally waited twenty years to reap what she's sown. I'm sure her wall of sex offenders and the hefty $100,000 prize for turning one in gets great ratings, in a "you got a car! You got a car!" kind of way.

In her silence, she helped create those monsters. Whether conscious denial for the sake of ratings, or a subconscious denial because she can't deal with her own mother, Oprah has perverted the issue.

The result... Chris Hansen and perverted justice.

Oprah should take her own advice and 'admit she's got a problem.'

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