As a therapist who works primarily with male survivors of sexual abuse, I am grateful for the conversations that Leaving Neverland has sparked. As a society, we have still yet to fully understand or recognise how boys and men experience sexual assault and/or abuse.
The reality is that one in six boys will experience sexual abuse before the age of sixteen. Although much research has shown that girls tend to be sexually abused more frequently than boys, the rate at which men experience sexual victimisation during childhood is not insignificant. The sexual abuse of boys is common, underreported, unrecognised, and under-treated.
These are the needed conversations that Leaving Neverland is sparking, drawing back the curtain on the realities of male sexual abuse.