So familiar and for all the same reasons.
The Amish Keep to Themselves. And They’re Hiding a Horrifying Secret...
Incest, Rape and Abuse in the Amish World
by cofty 7 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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cofty
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Simon
Any closed community seems to suffer the same fate.
Things can be bad enough in the regular, open, common world. Lock everything away and give control to a small group and it's a recipe for abuse.
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dubstepped
Yep. I know someone that works in the community to try to make change. She says that there is a segment of the older women in the community that have had enough and there is something afoot. They have a hard time getting people to take them seriously at times from the outside because people romanticize their way of life and don't want to see the realities. I hope there is change coming. The situation is really sad.
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Thetruthhurts
What's really sad and ironic about this is the special effort, language classes, and groups that are forming to convert the amish to jw. They are devoting years to building these relationships. This may be something they would be quick to sympathize with in an effort to convert them. Makes me ill. From one cult to another..:(
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cofty
'Virtually every Amish victim I spoke to—mostly women but also several men—told me they were dissuaded by their family or church leaders from reporting their abuse to police or had been conditioned not to seek outside help (as Sadie put it, she knew she’d just be “mocked or blamed”). Some victims said they were intimidated and threatened with excommunication. Their stories describe a widespread, decentralized cover-up of child sexual abuse by Amish clergy.'
This is also the reality in the Watchtower. They now state that victims have the right to go to the police but every JW is 'conditioned' not to do so. Especially if the perpetrator is in good standing in the cult.
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LoveUniHateExams
This is terrible. The authorities definitely need to get on this.
It seems that groups which isolate themselves from wider society have similar problems.
There is one thing that the Amish have that the WTS doesn't. It's called rumspringa (Standard German: herumspringen - literal meaning is 'jumping around'). Apparently, teen Amish are allowed to run around and act like teenagers - parties, alcohol, teen sex, as long as they keep it on the down low, don't cause problems, use contraceptives, etc.
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waton
the Amish have that the WTS doesn't. It's called rumspringa
Luhe: Do not know the details, but that could be part of the cover up strategy, takes the edge of the abuse, eliminates the accusation of lost innocence, the feeling that off the rails behaviour is at times ok, for some. does the practise applies to the girls too?
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carla
Waton, yes, Amish girls can go wild too. Just like the boys. Then they make a decision to stay in Amish life or join the outside world. Not all the teens do rumspringa, some never do the wild thing but dedicate themselves to all things Amish, get married, kids, etc....