Bill Bowen has acurately brought out that Bethel has known for years about the large numbers of sexual abuse survivors among the r&f. The Awake articles that appeared on sexual abuse were originally planed to be a series, if memory serves me right only two were printed. Why? Bethel was flooded with mail with gratitude for the info and requests for more specific info. The person (s) assigned to the task of writing were drawing from the experiences of JW victims. One woman who contributed her story was the daughter of a missionary couple, she was ritually abused. The person(s) doing the writing were very empathetic to the victims and they are one camp of liberals who have a sincere desire to write articles on psych topics. The other camp of hardliners have opposed the liberals and have viewed them with suspicion.
One member of the governing body is married to a woman who was sexually abused and still suffers from it. He was once lobbied by a personal friend who was my client. The appeal was to take notice aknowledge the problem and let those who needed professional help get it without the criticisms from the hardliners. I even volunteered to go to Bethel and explain the seriousness of the problem. I had some 15 JWs write personal testimonies of how they were being harassed by the elders for seeking therapy. Bill Bowen I think submitted 5,000 and the reality is if 50,000 victims came forward it would not make a difference. The governing body is culpable for the lack of attention to this problem and for its tyranny against those who speak up. It only cares about it's financial interests and its power. As Ray Franz wrote their philosophy is that directions and mandates flow only from the top down and never from the bottom up.
Few are they that look through their own eyes and feel with their own heart. A Einstein