Child sexual abuse is a scary and unbelievable reality of modern times, and nobody seems is really safe in this world. The reality of this ironic situation became all the more evident when recently at the Women in the World Summit held in New York, one of India’s most famous journalists Barkha Dutt, disclosed her experience as a survivor of child sexual abuse.
Speaking about her terrible experience here is what she mentioned,
“It feels like yesterday, even sitting here today. I’m 44 years old, but I feel like I’m eight years old again. I can see that man’s face in my head every time I talk about it.”
The situation in India is all the more grim as coming out in public and disclosing that one was sexually abused is seen as a taboo by the society and in such a situation Barkha Dutt made a brave choice by coming out in public and speaking about it.
Dutt has also shared this experience in her recent book, This Unquiet Land. About choosing to speak openly about it, she mentioned that,
“I cannot with any honesty write about feminism, call myself a feminist, or talk about the need to lift the veil of silence and the conspiracy of silence around sexual violence and abuse, if I’m not ready to break the silence in my own life.”
Barkha Dutt did not only survive sexual abuse as a child but also was beaten by a man she was dating in college. But, when she decided to take action against the BF, a lawyer told her that it will consume 25 years of her life due to the judicial mechanism.
This discouraged her from taking legal action against that man, and as per her own statement, she regrets not taking action against this. Here is the whole video in which she has spoken about her experience.
Video Courtesy: Women in the World