To the editor:

I am appalled by the sheer cold-heartedness and cruelty of some conservative-Republicans in forcing victims/survivors of incest to give birth to the children of their evil predators. I guess they feel that these women and girls have not suffered enough and have not been damaged enough. For five years, my heart ached as I listened to the most disgusting and despicable acts that were committed against them by the men in their lives who should have loved them and protected them, but instead made it impossible for them to ever trust a man. As one victim/survivor said to me, “If you can’t trust your own father, then how can you ever trust any man?”

I asked the therapists and counselors who had a lot more experience than the five years that I had as a therapist and counselor working in the field of alcoholism, drug addiction and mental health if they have ever heard of an incest victim/survivor who had a happy, successful, long-lasting romantic relationship. Every one of them said, “No. Never.”

There was a therapist who was an incest victim/survivor. A lot of the clients/patients/consumers would ask me, “Why does ____ always smile even when there is nothing for her to smile about?” So I asked the more experienced therapists/counselors about this because I had noticed this myself and didn’t understand it. They told me that it is common for some victims/survivors to constantly smile, and that it is a way for them to try to hide and cover up how dirty they feel inside, and how much that they hate themselves and how unhappy and miserable that they feel inside.

These conservative-Republicans who are doing this should be ashamed of themselves.

Sincerely,

Stewart B. Epstein

Rochester