He went on to sadly share that the same man told him he'd rather abuse someone else's children rather than his own, which leads to the phenomena of male abusers who seek out single women with children in order to get close to the woman and eventually abuse her daughters or sons. "There is a whole segment of males that hunt women to get to their kids," Mr. Jackson said, going on to say that when he started hearing such stories, he had to stop work on the documentary in order to process the information and how it indicated the great magnitude to which this "sickness" is in play in the Black community. He is now considering even a third part to his film series to focus on Black males who are sexual abusers.
Stopping the cycle
The cycle of sexual abuse is devastating for individuals, families and the society at large and even though not every child who is abused will turn into an abuser, it is commonly accepted that all abusers were victims of abuse at some time. Mr. Jackson only sees one hope for stopping the cycle of abuse, emotional scarring and damaged lives. "Disclosure," he said. "The cycle has to stop but it has to stop with that person who was sexually abused, [for them] to consciously say, I'm not gonna do this."
Roadblocks lie in the way, however, in the hesitancy of many Black men to come forward and acknowledge or disclose their abuse and, compounding the issue, Mr. Jackson explains, are the long held stereotypes that hold Black males up as perpetrators of violent acts and not as victims. "If we have been deemed, as African American males, as the predator, we are the raper, we rape women, we rape. So who do we tell when we've been violated?" he said. "When you are a six foot African American male, when you are a very masculine male, who is going to believe you as you disclose?" Given this dilemma, Mr. Jackson points out the sad fact that few, if any, resources and helpful services exist to help Black men through the process of healing from child sexual abuse.
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