LadyLee said: But my step father was different. My mother made sure we knew we could not manage if he was gone. She made sure we knew she would take his side if told about the abuse.
This is what disgusts me more than anything: a woman who would knowingly take the abuser's side over her own children, just for the sake of appearances and finances. This is what happened to my grandmother. When she was 10 years old her step father (who used to be a Bible Student until 1914, surprise, surprise) attempted to molest her and when grandma told her mother about it her mother beat her for saying "such lies". Utterly deplorable and women who knowingly expose their children to these abusers deserve the same damn punishment as the abuser themselves.