by Rags 56 Replies latest watchtower scandals
I know this may sound lame, but I just didnt realise how widespread it was amongst JWs!!
I remember children being beaten at our hall too. I also know one girl whose father used to regularly beat them and make them stand in the corner for hours - He was an elder. He got DF'd about 10 years later for adultery, but when I saw him recently he was saying how "great" the JWs are and how he'd like to go back. yuk.
Sirona
Billygoat
I feel for you and I know your situation is not unique amongst Jdubs. My dad although he was not a dub at the time beat me and my brother a few times. I don't think he knew how to be a good father because he only knew one way of discipline. There was no such thing as positive reinforcement in my upbringing. Everything was negative and the dubs didn't help matters.
I recall a Jdub family that would faithfully come to the KH and sit in the front row. They had 2 daughters and they would never miss the meetings. I don't know what their father was like at home but my guess was he was very strict with them because they the girls would not flinch during the meetings. That was 30 years ago and you know neither one of those girl are dubs now. They don't want anything to do with it and I can't blame them. However to this day their parents still are thumping on doors trying to tell others how to raise their children. What a joke...
Will
"I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's."
Mark Twain
(((((((Andi)))))))) (blue for calm & peace, btw)
For as far back as I could remember, my father "spanked" (more like beat or whipped) me totally naked. He always made me strip down to absolutely nothing and give me dozens of hits with a leather belt. It didn't matter if I was on my period or not. I can't tell you how many times I had bloody welts on me from my calves up to the middle of my back.From all that I've read - and I've read about this crap for years....your father was using his power to humiliate you - but, most likely, just as strong or more - he was making a sexual situation "happen" for him. Through the beatings with the belt (my father used them too), stripping you down naked, you're laying down for him, his complete authority over you, even your humiliation as a young sexual woman, all were designed to make him more sexual & powerful.
It's also of interest that your welts could be hidden by normal clothing by you. Another trick that beaters use - and victims fall prey to - hide the evidence. Seems that men/women/parents who use weapons know precisely where to hit so that the welts & bruises can be covered. Perhaps their parents taught them?
That was beastly of him - and you have a complete right to your righteous anger. I'm glad you expressed it to him, even though it cost you dearly. At least you have the memory of standing up to the bastard. Congratulations.
Your father had no right to treat you that way, no matter what his beliefs. It was wrong of him. To be in a religion that quasi-encouraged him to "discipline in righteousness" however he felt appropriate just happened to be your bad luck in time. Born to the wrong man. But you survived marvelously.
waiting
....> my artwork.
Yep, I remember the KH meetings... either you be quite or you got dragged out and beating bad. What I remember most is the way her face would screw up into this horrible mask. An eyes would be hard as flint as she dealt out the punishment. Have you ever heard this threat..
" IF you don't stop crying I will really give you something to REALLY cry about!" Like the beating she gave you was not enough.
I think it was mostly anger from the parents. We embarrassed them and their "image" as a good dub. Tarnish everthing else but No ONE messes with the DOO. Oh yea and you better have your answer right when answering questions at the KH. Or they will publicly rip you apart. Like you were the most stupid of all the Simpletons.
Edited by - xandria on 27 June 2002 3:19:13
Edited by - xandria on 27 June 2002 15:46:7
Deleted for redundancy. But the point was made.
Edited by - Farkel on 27 June 2002 0:36:4
Edited by - LyinEyes on 27 June 2002 1:9:19
(((Andi))),
Sorry to hear of your experience. I was also beaten with a leather belt, but Dad was kind enough to allow us to wear clothes. The belt was used for everything, motivation to attend meetings, motivation to slave away marketing the cult from door to door, motivation to study cult propaganda. My Dad's "loving" manner of discipline was prevalent throughout the org, I remember "witnessing" extreme beatings with belts, wooden spoons, rods, paddles, etc. at the circuit and district assemblies. Within 15 minutes or so of the start of any meeting at our kingdom hall, you would see parents dragging their kids to the back to beat them, on kingdom hall property. I don't recall the elders ever doing anything to prevent the "kingdom hall" from being just a "beating hall." Instead, the elders promoted this conduct with continual references to "spare the rod, spoil the child."
As another poster mentioned, this problem is far more widespread than the molestation problem, and it gets sweeped under the rug as normal parental discipline. To all those who posted in this thread in an effort to characterize this situation as isolated or normal to society, pull your heads out of your asses. There is nothing normal about beating children to make sure they sit still for hours of boring, mindless programming spewed from the platform by assholes who purport to preach the word of god, or to make sure they slave away pushing cult propaganda on folks who overwhelmingly reject the message of the JW cult. Any so-called religion that promotes this child abuse cannot be characterized as anything other than a cult.
