Stop Child Abuse Now (SCAN) - 3136

Tonight's special guest is Keeper Catran-Whitney from Woodland Hills, California, a child abuse activist. Keeper is the author of a soon-to-be-released book 'HELPLESSNESS: The Hidden Trauma Brother Experience After We Learn Our Sisters Have Been Sexually Abused By Our Parent', the first of a three book series, Helplessness, Hopefulness and Happiness. In 1977, his family made Billboard Magazine's Top 100 for both an album and a single. After years of living in poverty, they could see their way out when Motown Records called. "Days before we were to sign our contract, my brothers and I learned a dark family secret. My stepfather had been sexually abusing my four sisters for years, and my mother knew all along!" It took years for Keeper talk to them because his oldest sister had said to her four innocent brothers, 'It didn't happen to you boys. It only happened to us girls. You can't talk about it - EVER!'" The brothers needed to talk to someone, but the people they needed to speak to the most - their sisters - wanted nothing to do with the four boys. Keeper points out that there are no books and no articles about a brothers' torment, guilt and shame. "We can and must become allies with our sisters in the fight against child sexual abuse." Without this alliance, an invisible, unspoken wedge exists between sisters and brothers. "There are no support groups or even a one-step program. There is currently no outlet for brothers. There is no support system." He concludes, "We can and must become allies with our sisters in the fight against child sexual abuse. Brothers need a voice in the child sexual abuse space."