And it's not because "...imagine if she were your sister or daughter." No, everyone should read Ms. Farrow's letter because women are the key to our future. In many ways, of course, but what I'm referring to here is the most basic biological one: we are the ones who bear children.

If we know that 1 in 4 girls* will be sexually abused by their 18th birthday, we can be confident in saying that childhood sexual abuse is an epidemic. It's certainly a trauma that will affect that girl for the rest of her life and it can, affect her own children, if she has any**. And what if she opts not to have children because of her past abuse?*** Whether she worries she might become an abuser herself, she doesn't trust her body, anticipated challenges during pregnancy, childbirth & postpartum, or anything else, doesn't really matter. Everyone should read Dylan Farrow's letter because every woman deserves to have the choice of whether or not to have children AND have that choice be uninfluenced by doubts, fears or worries about themselves and their ability to have a child. When those choices are taken away, either because of abuse or politics, we venture into a slippery slope that starts to sound a bit too close to Big Brother's voice for most of us.

*1 in 6 boys.

** CSA survivors often struggle with infertility issues.

***While I haven't found any solid evidence to support my theory that CSA survivors may decide not to have children simply because they were abused themselves, it seems like this would ring quite true for some.

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment below.

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