Exchanging the Lie

If society fails to acknowledge powerlessness, it has to assume that the victims of emotional rape are weak, lack intelligence, or somehow chose what happened to them. And there is a subconscious agreement to exchange the lie that we are all in control, which is a dangerous state of affairs.

First, we have no power to resist the HALF factors (Health, Achievement, Love, and Faith), but in believing that we do, we are bound to be off guard if any of these factors is exploited.
Second, as long as we believe we are in control, we tend to feel we are wholly responsible for what happens to us. This is only one step away from believing there's no such thing as emotional rape, and it is denying the existence of emotional rape that helps make it possible.

If we believe we are able to control everything that happens in our lives, instead of seeing emotional rape for what it is - the self-serving misuse of the best instinctive human qualities, such as love an trust - we see it as a natural and unavoidable aspect of life.

There is absolutely no reason why we should accept this as a valid view; it obviously isn't accepted as valid when applied to other areas of human behavior.

We would never suggest that child molestation is natural and unavoidable. Instead, we accept that children are powerless, and that the child molester is evil. The only reason we do not apply the same logical process to consideration of emotional rape is because we believe the silent lie that we are strong and in control.

Society does not appreciate the full range of powerlessness. We need to acknowledge our powerlessness to resist the HALF factors in the same way that we concede the inherent vulnerability of a child.