I Don’t Know My Body Count and I Am Unbothered
I couldn’t care less about yours either
You’ve probably heard of Elizabeth Smart. When Ms. Smart was just 14 years old, she was abducted from her family’s home. As if this event wasn’t traumatic enough, she was repeatedly raped on a daily basis. After nine brutal months, she was finally rescued.
Elizabeth acknowledges she probably had several escape opportunities. But she didn’t take them. One of the reasons she cited is her abstinence only miseducation. She had been taught at a tender age that having premarital sex would render her worthless. As worthless as “an old piece of gum” she was told.
After being victimized by a sick child rapist, she thought her family wouldn’t love her anymore. She feared her value was gone and she would be rejected.
“I’m that chewed-up piece of gum.’ Nobody re-chews a piece of gum. You throw it away. And that’s how easy it is to feel you no longer have worth. Your life no longer has value.” ~Elizabeth Smart at a Johns Hopkins University panel in 2013
While my experiences were not as horrific as Ms. Smart’s, I can relate more than I care to acknowledge. When I was 14 years old, my first boyfriend raped me. I, too, was a victim of my former religion’s twisted abstinence only curriculum of falsehoods. In my case, my manipulators showed…
