An adult survivor of child abuse said he supports Channel 4′s recent broadcast of the Michael Jackson Leaving Neverland documentary – despite it being triggering for some victims – because it increases public empathy and understanding for people in his position.
Peter Saunders, 62 from London, was sexually abused by a man outside his immediate family between the ages of eight and 13, and went on to found NAPAC, the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, to support other victims.
Despite public interest in the Jackson case – and the testimonies of victims Wade Robson, 36, and James Safechuck, 41 – Saunders believes that society does not reserve a lot of empathy for adult survivors.
[Read More: Leaving Neverland: Everything You Need To Know About The Controversial Michael Jackson Documentary]
″If you go out on the street and have one person on one side collecting money for a donkey charity and another collecting for adult survivors of sex abuse, all the money all goes in the donkey tin,” Saunders told HuffPost UK.
On Wednesday Boris Johnson was criticised for saying police money being spent on investigating historic child abuse has been “spaffed up the wall”. He added: “What on earth is that going to do to protect the public now?”
Saunders says this lack of compassion is problematic for adult survivors because they receive very little moral or financial support. In fact the problem is so bad that NAPAC, which was founded 20 years ago, has nearly closed on several occasions because of a lack of funding. “We have between 60-70 people who donate regularly to us while a child protection charity like the NSPCC has about 600,000 who donate regularly,” he says.
For the last four years NAPAC have been kept afloat by the funding from the Home Office and the National Lottery, which contribute two thirds of its running costs. Saunders credits recent funding injections to the charity to the publicity surrounding the posthumous revelations of Jimmy Saville’s child abuse.
“From a financial point of view, the Jimmy Saville scandal was the best thing that happened for NAPAC because we became flavour of the month and won our second lot of lottery funding,” he says. “We may not have got the second lot without Saville.”
“It was good these men were bold enough to speak out about something they’d get hatred for."”
- Peter Saunders, NAPAC
Saunders believes there is a disconnect in the public’s mind between “little children and adult survivors”. They think: ‘Oh you look fine, you’ve got a job and a sports car and now you’re six foot tall. You don’t need help. You have come out the other side,’” he explains. “But I’m still the little boy who is hurting inside.”
He still goes to therapy once a week to deal with the emotional damage his abuse caused. “But in between times I seem fine so don’t elicit much sympathy from someone if I rattle a tin.”
While it’s too early to know if publicity from the Michael Jackson documentary will have a similar impact on funding as the Saville case, Saunders says in terms of funding support, publicity for NAPAC’s cause is helpful.
However, he has spoken to survivors who have found the documentary triggering. “Some victims have told me in the last week they were horrified by the revelations as they always thought [Jackson] was the bees knees,” he says. “Others said they had to turn off and couldn’t watch because it was too distressing. It was too close to home. It taps into your own experience.”
But Saunders says the general feeling among those he works with and experts in his field was that the film marked a positive step. “It was good that someone was bold enough to make this and good these men were bold enough to speak out about something they’d get hatred for,” he says.
Despite well-publicised protests by Jackson fans outside screenings of Leaving Neverland, Saunders believes the public is more willing to believe child victims now than they were 20 years ago – “the world’s eyes are slowly being prised open to the unpalatable truth” – but that if we are intent on tackling child abuse, survivors’ stories must be kept in the spotlight.
If you want to talk about what you experienced in childhood and how it is affecting you now, you can call the NAPAC support line on 0808 801 0331 for free from landlines and mobiles from 10am-9pm Mon-Thu & 10am-6pm Fri. Calls will not show on your bill.
Useful websites and helplines:
- Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393
- Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill.)
- The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email: help@themix.org.uk
- Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0300 5000 927 (open Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on www.rethink.org.