A reader writes:
Your female reader's submission brings me to write the following. For many years I was married to a very good and wonderful woman who was repeatedly sodomized, raped, and beaten by a priest in her parish when she was 10-12 years old. We were together many years, and while I would not say that her past abuses were the cause for our parting, they played a very heavy role in our relationship. I was there when her memories returned and shared in a good deal of them.
While I would not compare the effect on me in any way to the sufferings experienced by her or any of the victims, I do believe there is a strong psychological toll born by those who love and empathize for the victims. Consider for a moment what it's like to repeatedly have images of the person you most love being subjected to these tortures and rapes as a child. There is an enormous sense of pain compounded by powerlessness. It fucks you up.