My whole childhood and teenage years were horrible. My parents set me up to be teased and bullied and delighted in it. Other kids in the same congregation as me and in the same school would even tease me because I had to be the model JW obedient child and they didn't. I was very pretty but my Mom tried to make me as homely and dowdy as possible. The kids called me fleabags.
I wasn't allowed to play with any of the other JW children as they were never theocratic enough. I was an only child and it was lonely. When I was 9 in 1958 (oh that dates me lol) we moved to where the need was great to a town with NO JW's. My parents worked hard and in a few years we had a congregation of newly hatched converts. BUT all the kids were not theocratic enough to associate with me so I was still on my own and I had no friends at school because I was so different. In those days living in a small town, you just couldn't be different in anyway. Summer holidays were spent going from door to door everyday as my parents were pioneers and went to unassigned territory. Fun was having a picnic lunch beside a lake but no time to swim. I could go on and on but I am sure I wasn't the only one. My parents were very extreme compared to other JW parents and made the whole thing seem like a prison sentence. My Mom kept having nervous breakdowns and spending weeks holded up in her bedroom. I was expected to do the housework and cleaning starting at the age of 11.
My Dad was the Elder (Congregation servant then) in control and he let that power go to his head. He was constantly beating me with a belt, pulling my hair and pounding the table screaming at me. I wasn't living up to his expectations of bible scholar. I vowed to leave even though I was terrified I would die at Armageddon which was coming soon. I left at 18, so messed up, shunned, no friends and so naive. I clung to anyone that would pay me attention, I constantly cried and was emotionally messed up because I still believed it was the truth but would rather die than live such a dull boring life. I made up for all the dullness by becoming a wild child and a party animal. I eventually settled down but it affected me greatly. I still suffer from low self esteem.