I fight this fight because I was once the child no one listened to.

I fight this fight because I was once the child no one listened to. The child who knew something was wrong but had no words to explain it. The child who was told what to believe, who to trust, who to love, and what to forget.

I was taught how to forget the abuse. Not through healing, but through silence. I was taught to forgive a man who hurt me, because protecting his image mattered more than protecting me. And when I dared to speak, I was shunned. When I remembered, I was punished. When I asked for safety, I was told to be quiet.

My mother stayed.

The courts looked away.

And I was left to carry the weight of pretending everything was fine.

That is why I fight now. Because I know what it feels like to be gaslit as a child. To be made complicit in your own erasure. To be told your pain is inconvenient.

So no, I will not stop. And I will not let anyone call my advocacy “harmful” to children. Because I know firsthand what real harm looks like, and this is the opposite.

This is what children need to see:

Courage.

Truth.

Someone who refuses to stay silent, no matter who it threatens or who threatens them.