a message to oprah

yes, i admit it. i watch oprah. its on the tivo and the dvr and sometimes i fall asleep to it. i stumbled upon this week's episode. it was a follow up on the mackenzie phillips incest story.

i watched with curiousity and fascination to see if the show would (a) call incest abuse and (b) provide resources. although indirectly done, it did call incest abuse. but no resources were provided. the women (and their books) featured were found through oprah's website and message boards. after the episode ended, rather than going to sleep, i logged in.

this is what i wrote:

I watched with great interest your follow up show on incest. Center for Disease Control states the best way to end sexual child abuse is by public awareness campaigns. Your courage in airing such episodes is commendable.



However, I fear you left an important element out of this show: what viewers can do to stop & report abuse. Your next follow up show should highlight these agencies. At the Baltimore Child Abuse Center, we are one of 600 children’s advocacy centers giving voices to children when abuse is suspected. We work with police, social services, and families to give a voice to end abuse as well as provide treatment and prevention. As this episode aired, 150 of us were meeting in Denver to discuss how to best continue this battle. We make investigations better, we empower families, we even save taxpayer dollars, and we can do more.


The fight against sexual child abuse- which is incest, molestation and "consensual" intercourse within families- and providing help to families who need it continues. We must get word out that we are here working as a team to help. Ample resources are available and I was hoping your episode would provide numbers or web addresses. For those interested, help can be found at www.baltimorechildabusecenter.org and nationalchildrensalliance.org. We are here to help.


- Adam Rosenberg, Executive Director, Baltimore Child Abuse Center

the episode is here http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20091008-tows-incest-survivor-rena watch it. tell me what you think. does this help us, hurt us, make the issue more tangible or more unthinkable. tell me your comments.
 
oprah links to RAINN which is a great resource - but can we give more? can we and oprah who get millions of viewers (empathetic to the cause and some victims themselves) to understand how we are here to help?
 
oprah - if you are out there, we want in - we want to be a part of the dialogue and to help end abuse.

what if we advertised the same way?

just saw an excellent ad for the humane society of north america. dozens of grusome pictures of dogs crammed into crate like cages, horses being led to slaughter, cats with maimed legs - all filmed in grainy dim color with dark music. horrific statistics about the number of dogs forced to fight, slaughtered for meat, terrible stuff. and for just $19 a month you can stop it (cut to scene with acress and adorable healthy puppy).

imagine if the child abuse community posted the same ad? images of abused children, kids with horrible bruises, children terrified in beds with adults? the outcry would be deafening.

i think its one of the major stumbling blocks we face as a community to get our message out there that for the same $19 you can stop child abuse.

this is not meant to knock animal abuse - i love my dog, we got him from the SPCA. its a great and important organization. but the fact that substantially more money goes to animal causes versus people causes is mind blowing.

captions such as what did i do wrong? why did they abandon me? will i die today? every day 1000s of animals throughout america are tortured and killed. couldn't we say the same thing about children?

the add concludes with "if these animals could talk they'd tell you they desparately need you to save them right now." couldn't we make the same claim for children - except even worse, they do talk, and we don't listen.

how do we begin to make the sea change and get people to notice, and more importantly, act to keep children safe from abuse?

what are your thoughts on this?