Title: The Bad Touch
Author: Payal Shah Karwa
Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Hay House Publishers (2014)
Genre: Non-Fiction
Read: Paperback
Stars: ****/5
Buy On: Amazon | FlipKart
Summary: (Goodreads)
Real-life stories of victims of child sex abuse who emerged victorious!
Harish Iyer is a survivor nay he is a thriver of child sex abuse. He is an award winning social activist who first shared his disturbing story of his sexual abuse on the television show Satyamev Jayate and who gave voice to the issue when most would be silent.
There are others: noted film director Anurag Khashyap, a victim of incest and sexual abuse, not once but many times over; Jai, living in a Mumbai high rise suffers abuse and a now 34 year old mother who suffered sexual abuse as a 12 year old.
The stories in The Bad Touch will shock, horrify, sadden, repulse and numb the reader. But underlying them is the small ray of hope that if the immediate family is sensitive enough to the signals a child may send out, he or she may be rescued from being victimized.
This book is a mission: to help ebb the trauma of survivors and inspire them with stories like Harishs and to create awareness of the issue of child sex abuse amongst parents/guardians.
My Review:
Note: Thanks Payal Shah Karwa for offering me your book to read and review :)
Cover: The background image has a blue tinge and is not clear. But the name pops out!
Paper and font: Paper and font is good.
Readability, language: Simple language.
Why did I choose this book: Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) is an issue close to my heart. I was abused as a child and I know the trauma first hand. So, when I heard from Karwa's team to review the book, there's no way I'd say no.
'The Bad Touch' is a book packed with information. The backbone of the book is the story of Harish Iyer, who was brutally abused as a child. It is a hard hitting story of how cruel and traumatic CSA can be on a child.
Harish Iyer's childhood is gruesome (it made me squirm) but he has survived his ordeal and is now a social activist. Through Harish's story Karwa lays the foundations of what is CSA and it's brutality.
There are further stories of both men and women who have been abused as children. Most of them are aliases but one noted name is Anurag Kyashap.
The stories are all varied and chilling but the common thread through them all is that these are the stories of people who have gotten over their pasts and are thriving today.
Reading these stories makes you realise that there are so many untold stories in the world of people who lost the fight or are still struggling with their pasts.
Child Sex Abuse can happen to any child, it doesn't matter how much care the parents take. The more sure method of preventing it is educating your child and building a bond of trust with your child, so the child tells you when it happens.
Apart from the stories 'The Bad Touch' gives insight into the trauma of victims, what they thought and felt as children and the various healing processes they followed.
It also has information about organisations working in the CSA space, how to deal with Child Sexual Abuse, tips for parents, how abusers work, and more. Karwa also gives a history and explains The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act of 2012 in detail.
Karwa has done a good job with incorporating all the various aspects of Child Sexual Abuse in 'The Bad Touch'. This is a book I'd recommend to all parents, not just to read but to keep handy, just in case.
About the Author:
After 6 years in marketing communications Payal Shah Karwa is now a content writer pursuing her mission of being actively involved in social causes through her writing. She can be found on Twitter at @payalshahkarwa
Buy On: Amazon | FlipKart
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