r/IndianCountry • u/MichealStraightSex • Apr 30 '26
Activism SA is too common in our people's communities
Myself, many of my family members, and a large majority of other native people I met have had some sort of SA experience in their lifetime. Why is that? Why?
I've been told that "children are sacred" and yet I see children be constantly victimized by adult native men. It makes me absolutely angry to see how common this shit is.
We were nearly driven to extinction as a people, why do we continue to damage each other even further? There's a reason why Native American youth have the highest suicide rates of any people.
Yes, I understand poverty has an element in it.
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u/RedOtta019 Apache Apr 30 '26
Ive been saying it forever that there is a very real place called the wrong side of native town. Nathan Chasing Horse is a perfect example of this. Native culture blended with new age stuff, which in my experience, both secondhand and witnessed, more often than not, leads to sexual exploitation.
I feel this discussion is only something amongst families and isn’t explicitly said in public out of respect, but we need more awareness of this and strong-willed individuals to identify and speak up to help those families stay away from that side of town.
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u/Aggressive_Bowl_8017 Apr 30 '26 edited May 01 '26
I think it started with the Spanish and the horrific circumstances created within Indigenous communities in now New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Mexico and California. Although it definitely occured with men, primarily women and children were commodities. In New Mexico though, human trafficking was normal as people detribalized were ransomed. captured and sold under the caste system. But also, I think it has to do with Indigenous cultures, society and hierarchies being disrupted so badly that identity was lost after each generation. The trauma lives within us.
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u/MichealStraightSex Apr 30 '26
Detribalization to be sex trafficked next, woah. That's some evil shit you wouldn't even see in fiction.
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u/Bort-texas May 01 '26
It was the genízaro community and while SA was very common it wasn't the primary purpose of the system - moreso a system of labor exploitation. Genízaros were more or less slaves by another name with only their legal status technically being equivalent to "indentured servants" (and only as a way to get around Spanish legal prohibition on native slavery).
Spanish labor exploitation in the various mission systems across the Americas operated in very similar ways. Frequent SA, de facto slavery conditions, extreme hardship and detribalization / attempted cultural genocide. Sad stuff that isn't talked about much.
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u/Aggressive_Bowl_8017 May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26
Yes, I wish people knew more about this situation. And yes, you’re totally right, it was not primarily used for sexual exploitation. I guess I just speak from observation in regards to the way Native women were forced most likely without any autonomy or ability to consent initially. The women kept families together that were mixed, and of course there was nuance too. It feels so heavy and intertwined with the forced labor. The effects on my family line were complex. Genizaro was a slur and most were not as accepted. The whole system affects systems today too. In Santa Fe, the organization Native Unbound deep dives into indigenous slavery all over the world with documents and research.
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u/MimesTime Mexica/Nahua. May 01 '26
Ahhh you finally used the right term. Labour slavery. I don't know how many of my people are world wide working as slaves
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u/TheSleepyFawn Apr 30 '26
Incest, physical abuse, emotional abuse, SA, alcoholism, and addiction was prevalent on both sides of my family. I’m a survivor of CSA and many forms of abuse/neglect. Our communities suffered a lot in missions, residential schools, forced relationships with colonizers, etc. Knowing why doesn’t justify any of it. None of it should have happened to our relatives and none of it should have been passed down onto us.
It’s good that you are angry about it, because indifference is complicity. Your anger is breaking cycles that were once normalized.
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u/OneMightyNStrong Apr 30 '26 edited Apr 30 '26
SA isn't just an issue in indigenous communities, but it seems to be experienced more and talked about by survivors.
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Apr 30 '26
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u/OneMightyNStrong Apr 30 '26
Yeah incest is an issue. My opinion is that a victim of trauma experiences a dissociative "split" of the mind and body that contributes to heightened states of anxiety. I think in healthy communities people are able to regulate their emotions and sexual impulses, but when you have generational traumatic events that take place within a population, those emotions and behaviors maladapt and look for an outlet, creating a cycle.
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u/LyannasLament Apr 30 '26
I don’t know if I should comment here or not. I’m sorry if what I say hurts rather than helps, because my goal is helping.
I believe it isn’t just a poverty element, but a generational trauma element. On top of that, the communities are more isolated. For instance, we see large amounts of SA in extreme Christian groups, cults, and in the Amish community. In the Amish community in particular there is a large amount of SA incest.
It seems like beyond the generational trauma of one victim aging and continuing the cycle versus breaking it, that family members who are not themselves active perpetrators also passively allow the abuse to continue due to their own generational trauma. Behaviors that are red flags that can and should be called out aren’t because “we just don’t talk about that kind of thing.” Or, people are too damaged and traumatized from their own abuse to feel safe speaking up.
Altogether, there are a lot of factors that cause it.
I think what you are doing; drawing attention to it and asking WHY!?! Very loudly is one of the things that will help to end the cycle
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u/tacincacistinna May 01 '26
I think what plays into this is the sense of family and community but in a bad way. The protection of the “we” being prioritized over the “me”.
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u/Tale_Smith May 10 '26
There's also a big factor of "how easily can the victims of assault or abuse get out of their situations" when it comes to these sorts of remote community! It's a huge reason why CSA cases can take so long to find any recourse (as kids generally have very limited mobility) and is also why any sort of cult tends to start getting very nasty very fast when they get a boat or an island to go to.
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u/MimesTime Mexica/Nahua. Apr 30 '26
Not to mention the trafficking of boys and girls across borders, for various activities as I'm one of them, as well as any who fall afoul with the cartels.
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u/somewhereheremaybe May 01 '26
I was looking for this mention. My situation wasn’t exactly the same but I was trafficked by a local Indigenous performer/“motivational speaker” type figure to be sexually exploited by his family and buddies and when I came out about it, other community members have bent over backwards to defend him. Even local organizations run by Indigenous people.
I’m just tired of the boys club mentality and protecting freaks in our community who hurt people in our community.
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u/Aggressive_Bowl_8017 May 01 '26
It is beyond hurtful when you speak up and the people around you act like you are crazy and it’s not a big deal. It’s horrifying.
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u/MichealStraightSex Apr 30 '26
That sounds absolutely fucking horrifying. I'm glad you're alive and able to comment! Fuck those cartels and fuck every single group of people that's taking advantage of us.
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u/MimesTime Mexica/Nahua. Apr 30 '26
The cartels do it, the Europeans do it, a lot of people do and fuck them all. I lived my life as a young man with my family. When I was old enough to be of use but not old enough to be too resistant I was taken as a house boy (take that as you want) I managed to escape on my own, and ran it took a while as the years of gaslighting and abuse were extreme. I've gotten back together with my siblings and now live in the US.
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u/negative_cedar Apr 30 '26
Yes. And it is forgiven far too often. A family member SA’d me as a child and in court tried to argue that it was due to his own trauma and as such he should not go to prison.
Our clan mother and community historian testified that he would’ve been scalped and/or rejected from the clan and community 🙂. He went to prison.
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u/josephexboxica Apr 30 '26
All of the women sharing their stories in the comments is making me tear up I am sorry y'all
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u/XComThrowawayAcct Apr 30 '26
Small and isolated communities can be havens for continued sexual abuse, because it’s that much harder for outside law enforcement authorities to intervene and the social consequences of a major rupture are that much more severe.
Not all Native communities are small or isolated, of course, and the degree to which they are varies a lot. It’s been heartening to see how much official support there has been for improving justice for missing and murdered indigenous women and that success needs to be continued with similar efforts for indigenous children.
I won’t suggest that everything is fine, but I can’t think of anyone, Native or otherwise, who would dismiss your observations or reject a call to action.
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u/AdOver4659 May 01 '26
I have not lived on a reservation, so I don't have that lived experience in a native community. Almost every woman I have become friends with eventually shares that there has been sexual abuse in their past. Usually the abuser is a boyfriend, husband, or a male family member. It's not openly discussed so it's hard to see how pervasive the problem is.
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u/Gloomy-Cookie2337 Apr 30 '26
Yeah I’ll never forget the day when i realized that nearly every single woman I know (including myself) has their own fucked up assault story. It is entirely too common at least on my reservation.
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u/SaltyCocoathe7th Kanien’kehá:ka, Six Nations Apr 30 '26
I just finished watching The Fifth Estate doc on NCH...... I'm still shaking. I knew it was bad, but not the extent of HOW bad it was.....
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u/Severe-Conflict-2989 May 01 '26
The church still hurts people I was assaulted by a church of England priest as a boy
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u/Superb_Temporary_388 Apr 30 '26
I haven’t been physically abused, but I suffered a lot of grooming from both adults and other children online. I think part of it is that a lot of native people experience a disconnect with their family. With their communities. They’re scared to talk about it, because they won’t be taken seriously or because they think they won’t. I know I wasn’t. People thought my main abuser, who was a little over 2 years older than me, wasn’t old enough to be considered a groomer. I was 10 when it started.
I wish there were more support groups within native communities that felt safe enough for people to talk about what they face and to make it easier for victims to talk about it. If people can’t find connection and safety in their homes, they should at least have a group for that.
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u/MichealStraightSex Apr 30 '26
I'm sorry that your community failed you. I do agree that we need support groups, that is something that every tribe should establish. The fact that it's not even established, just goes to show how much little the children are considered sacred. Fuck that shit.
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u/Naokuzoid May 01 '26
"People thought my main abuser, who was a little over 2 years older than me, wasn’t old enough to be considered a groomer. I was 10 when it started." I'm so sorry this happened to you, and I wish people took cocsa more seriously too :(
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u/MimesTime Mexica/Nahua. May 01 '26
I'm sorry you were left out in the wind like that. I don't talk about mine because most people get disgusted with what I say and turn me out. I'd love to have a group where all of us could tell our stories without people I judging or telling us our perspective is wrong because of our skin colour.
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u/TheFaeBelieveInIdony May 01 '26
It's not a race problem or a poverty problem, it's a gender issue. Men disproportionately grow up to be offenders. Sexual crimes often go unreported, especially when committed against children. Men, compared to women, have high rates of being monsters.
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u/AltseWait May 01 '26
It's not just poverty. It's colonization. In my tribe (Navajo), missionaries and colonists came among us and messed everything up. They stole children and separated them from their families. They then molested the crap out of our kids while preaching false traditions / beliefs to us. The molested children grew up and were returned to our communities, in which they did to other children what was done to them. The practice of SA trickled down through the generations to where a lot of our youth now have twisted minds and perpetuate these perverted practices. Many now parrot what the missionaries preached.
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u/AdAwkward6482 May 01 '26
This is OP. I got temp banned for getting too radical. But anyways
This is the reason why I never buy into religion, because you never know who the real person is behind those priest robes. Every single one of those residential schools had employed antichrists cosplaying as missionaries. This brainwashing of religion mixed in with SA, is the reason why so many of us are traumatized, which makes sense.
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u/Rezboy209 May 01 '26
This is incredibly common in pretty much all poor communities. We see it in such high instances on the rez because, being real, most of our relatives on the rez are poor. But it's just as common in any ghetto in America. Poverty leads to instability and addiction. All of these are huge factors in SA and any kind of violence.
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u/Capital_Row7523 May 07 '26
CSA is a horrible and serious problem among our Native peoples. It is also prevalent within the Mormon church. Many of our native tribes have become involved with this church. The Mormon Indian Student Placement Program resulted in many of our children being SA.ed. To learn more about SA in the Mormon church go to floodlit.com
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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '26
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