Virginia needs to step up to protect victims of child rape

The CDC tells us that one in four girls and one in 13 boys are, right know, as you read this, victims of sexual abuse – basically, let’s just call it what it is, child rape. Do the math, and it’s not good – we’re talking about 14 million girls, 3 million boys. Let that sink in: 17 million kids, in this country, our kids, raped. We only know about a fraction of these cases, because 90 percent of child-rape cases involve a perpetrator who is known to the victim – a parent, close family member, family friend – who either manipulates the victim into silence, or worse, threatens or uses violence to keep the secret. I can sense that you’re uncomfortable. Nobody likes talking about child rape, which is a big reason why we have the problem we have.