I just wanted to say that if parents, and especially mothers, were more responsible by warning their children at a very young age about possible situations and how to get out of them, many of them could be spared the abuse. I'd like to share my own personal experience here as an example. As a young girl, I was particularly pretty and my mother, being as protective and as clever as she was (an tough!), had warned me many times over about the possible dangers lurking, not only about strangers in the streets and at schools, but to also beware of family members, especially male relatives. As I grew up surrounded by 14 uncles and 2 grandpas, I was over the years, accosted by at least 5 of them. I successfully put an early stop to the advances of 4 of them by simply telling them to back off with their disgusting ways. However, one in particular, had started grooming me without me even noticing (he was the worst threat of them all), by buying me what my parents wouldn't : soft drinks and candy, and by taking my little brother and I on rides, in the countryside. He had never directly made an advance up until two to three years later, when asking me uncomfortable questions about boys and how and if I felt the urge to 'do stuff' with them. I'll never forget how vulnerable a position I was in when he made his advance for we were alone, in a car, about 2 hours away from home, in the countryside on our way to my grandparents. I asked him to stop talking about this, that I didn't like it, but he wouldn't. He kept pressing on. And I remember how afraid I had become when he said: "I don't know if I can control myself, this is too tempting, you're too tempting". And then my mother's own words came back to me and I yelled them out with growing fear: "I will tell my mother! I will tell my father! And if you touch me, they will kill you! Think about what you're saying! I'm you're niece, this is wrong! I will tell them!" And then he stopped, told me to wait for him in the car while he went out into the woods to take a 'long piss'. When he came back, he said: "Ok, lets go" and that was that. We went to my grandparents and I told my mom as soon as I arrived there, secretly, over the phone. She promised me she wouldn't tell anyone, not even my dad and told me that I was a very smart and brave girl. Of course, she found an excuse to come and fetch me and that was the last time I was left alone with that particular uncle. When I recall this today, I can't help but admire her and be grateful for being so protective and helping me out by giving me a weapon against such advances. She had also warned me not to believe anyone that said they would hurt my family members because it was a total bluff. To always respond that I will tell. However, there was another way to get out of dangerous situations with strangers and, that one was to scream at the top of my lungs, to fight and bite and run away. Today, I have 4 children of my own, including 2 daughters. I have warned each and everyone of them and am making sure that they know how to protect and defend themselves, as my mother did more than 30 years ago. I hope to God they never have to face this kind of danger and if they do, that they will find the courage and strength and wits to get out of it unscathed. Again, I can't emphasise enough, how important the parents' role becomes in situations such as this. I also hope I didn't offend any abuse victim, or anyone who wasn't as lucky as I was and who had to go through some terrible experience under different circumstances. My goal here is solely to put an emphasis on how important a role parents play in their children's lives as protectors and defenders, and that by warning them from an early age about such situations can have a very positive effect.