His biggest fear of coming forward was being labeled as gay because he had sexual contact with a guy. Macho 1970s to 1980s Michigan culture was not friendly towards kids with that label. Say it happened quickly and it was super awkward... I can’t imagine how awkward it might be for someone to be placed in that situation... certainly some people would react violently... but others may not...

That was just one of the many reasons he gave why it was hard to not come forward.

Other reasons included the fact that some of these victims are keeping it secret in hopes of reward or special treatment from the perpetrator, ie: if you keep this a secret I’ll get you front row seats or money or status or privilege.

Then there’s fear of retribution or revenge or not being believed. That also is a reason some people don’t report it or fight it when it happens.

And sadly there’s some victims that kind of like what happens to them at first but once they process it they realize they were taken advantage of by someone in a position of authority that’s when it can really take a toll and realization are made. It’s really complicated. And there’s nothing to gain by blaming victims for what happened. It’s almost always not their fault that something happened to them. We need to blame the perpetrators. I know you know that. We can wonder all day why victims didn’t fight off their attackers or process the situation the way we would.