Sixth article in Secular Woman’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month series
by Elsa Roberts, follow her on twitter
Rapists are monsters, evil. Child rapists are the king of that monster pack.
They never tell you that those monsters are good friends, a nice neighbor, someone with a good sense of humor, a person who will help a stranger fix a flat. Nobody tells you that.
They don’t tell you that they’re the person you fell in love with, your uncle, your brother, your father. Nobody tells you that.
These rapists, these monsters are someone else, not these people.
That child molester is someone else, not my father.
But he is my father. My father, who told me my feet smelled like roses; my father, who his nieces loved; my father, who taught me how swimming is like floating on air; my father, who bullied my brother; who shouted at my mother; my father, who raped my sister.
My father wasn’t a monster; flawed, yes, but not a monster.
But my father is that monster. Nobody tells you that.
Nobody told me, and now it’s too late.