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In Reply to: Re: I don't get JoJo posted by Farmer on November 11, 2005 at 04:05:49:
I got out in end of 82. I was in Germany shortly before that and in Germany for four years- over time. I am keenly aware that FFing was occurring big time in Germany in the late seventies and early eighties- up to the point that I left. Widespread.
BUT at THAT TIME I also do not remember ever seeing a child molested while there(in Germany) at that time period.
I do know that it would not be uncommon for a child to wake up and see mommy or daddy or other family member in bed with whomever. Still, I never saw a "Communion" there during that time or anyone even considering performing sexual acts with children in spite of what Berg advocated.
Although the Davidito book was out, it wasn't read aloud where I was and it was like the elephant in the room that everyone pretended was not there. Uncomfortable but ignored.
I do know from talking to others after getting out of the family though that in many higher leadership places, child sexual abuse was occurring during that time period. More prevalently in places like "Music With Meaning" and Berg's household, probably where higher up and more trusted leadership were rather than in private homes where parents or those closer took "advantage".
Still, I would not doubt this occurred elsewhere since it was advocated in the Davidito Book and in Berg letters around that time.
In the early eighties, I was in Switzerland and still did not see it but am aware(after getting out) that the latter occurred with a sick step parent who had no problem "following the letters" with at least one stepdaughter.
I was also aware that while in Germany, VS's came through a home I was at (Oldenburg) and had the children there dance together like little adults. I remember how odd that felt. It was like warm up for what was to come. They were modeling for us what we should be doing, a sort of inspiration to include children and encourage them to act like little ladies and gentlemen, but no one did it afterwards because we all thought it was weird.
The oldest children around at that time that I remember meeting were young elementary age or younger. Oldenburg was an "out of it" home.
This dancing was not sexual but it was slow dancing like adults would do in a 1950's movie. Just not what children would do at all.
I think one of the hardest things with looking at the past is to realize things we may have dissociated that WERE OCCURRING even if they were NOt occurring in the family homes we were in or widespread at that time or location. The adocacy for it was there but the practice was not widespread yet. Not in Germany anyway. At least not that I was aware of but then again, i was a resistant and "out of it" person. The VS's wanted to send me to Turkey with a guy and my three kids to hitchhike there and pioneer! It was punishment for my resistance and when I refused, which was a horrifying experience, I was abandoned with them in Germany and the home was turned over to some heroin addicts and we were kicked out in the winter. That's a story I have already told.
I don't want to discount your experience, but if you think about it you may at least remember hearing about someone who "shared" with a child. I remember hearing about it,(besides the Davidito book) but the people I heard about were not in Germany.
In 81 and 82 there started to be more control first with district or regional get togethers. This was the time that letters like The Marry Time Dream and about going to India and such were coming out, and about starting schools or camps and considering children adults at 12 yrs old.
I was aware when I left that children were being groomed to be sexually abused and used though at the time I thought I was weak and this was the norm to come that I should be accepting! It was a trigger for me getting out in the face of God killing us all. Just couldn't imagine it.
Those videos of children dancing I did not see until I saw a news show after leaving the family but wonder if they weren't made while i was still in as Berg was having videos sent to him of women dancing. I remember seeing someone German doing a video for Berg. (adult).
So I don't discount your experience in Germany. Your experience in India with the 15 yr old though, I was just watching a news show about a man in Florida who is a registered sex offender that was having a sexual affair with a 15 yr old and when her father found out he pressed charges. The man has to register as an offender until at least 2018 even if he wins an appeal to be taken off a list of offenders.
He says himself that he did the crime and the time but doesn't feel it is right to be categorized with those who rape younger children and even have killed them. His report does not differentiate his crime from others.
Even though this girl flirted with him and initiated the relationship, he was in his early thirties and she was just 15. He should have treated her come on as a cause for concern rather than jumping into it. By law, he knew he was playing with fire even though he avoided asking her age.
The bad thing about the family is that other cultures were used to normalize abuse for those of us who were in the Family. For instance age limitations in Asia are quite different as they are in Mexico for girls, children to marry. That was one way Berg did the mind warp game. He used professionals and other cultures to rationalize his doctrines to in turn keep his supply of fresh victims on hand.
Sadly, it seems those closest to him either left or became the worst of perpetrators, many still in. They will never come to an exer site and talk about what they did.
