Date Posted: 5/06/08 11:00:51am Author: Peter Eveleigh Subject: cold water thrown over sex abuse victim - why? In reply to:
Barbara
's message, "The biggest wanker" on 4/06/08 1:57:02pm
>The biggest wanker of them all was the one who ordered
>cold water to be thrown at one of the sisters who had
>suffered sexual abuse from her father as a child and
>could not bring herself to pray to God as "Father God"
>as ordered to in dicipline by the elder. She was
>mopping up the bed when I walked in, and I didn't stay
>in the JA long after that little incident.
Barbara, you have referred to this a few times. Please could you clarify the reasons for what happened? I must say that I should have thought that many people I knew back then would have been as upset as we are here about what you describe.
Was it that she received this abusive treatment BECAUSE she was an abuse survivor, or was what happened to her not actually directly relevant to the fact that she had survived abuse from others before she was in the JA?
Why did the person who "ordered" the water throwing do so; what were the circumstances. Could it for instance have been construed as a game - something like that. I mean, for instance, our room had water fights.
I am not casting aspersions here....just wondering if there could be an innocent explanation unconnected with a lack of sympathy or sensitivity for someone who had suffered sexual abuse.
I see what you say about her not being able to refer to God as father, but why would that have been the reason for the water thing? How would that have been felt to address the problem? You see, I have known of all sorts of disciplines in the fellowship but not really what you would call punishments, not of this sort.
Is it possible that this was not done by an elder but by an immature and spiteful sister who had just lost patience with someone who couldn't just fit in because of her awful past?
