Downloadable large format portrait of Mark Douglass:

Downloadable small format portrait of Mark Douglass:

Downloadable book cover:

Suggested line of questioning for a radio interview:

SUMMARY

Eagle Scout, honor student, “most likely to succeed”, high school class president, Harvard graduate, captain of college varsity rifle team, married man and father of two children, Minnesota attorney Mark Douglass suffered childhood sexual abuse at the hands of a trusted family friend for many years.

In 2004, while traveling in Europe with his twelve-year-old child, they were almost killed as they accidentally stumbled into the middle of a gangland kidnapping.

After the incident Mr. Douglass began suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Upon returning home to Minneapolis, he sought psychological counseling with a psychologist who was a retired police officer. With the therapist’s help, Mr. Douglass began to see parallels between the street crime in Europe and the sexual abuse of his childhood in the USA.

The narrow brush with death, coupled with the author’s growing awareness of his own mortality, proved to be a valuable gift as he worked his way through the pain and confusion of his past with the help of his therapist.

His book Flashbacks of Abuse: How a machine gun toting sociopath freed me from the chains of my childhood is the story of his journey away from the ravages of childhood sexual abuse and its isolation, back to health and back into society at large.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

1. You and your twelve-year-old daughter were nearly murdered while traveling in Europe in March, 2004. Can you briefly describe that incident?

2. Your book talks about how this incident “freed you from the chains of your childhood.”

What happened when you were a child?

3. What were the parallels between this street crime and your childhood sexual abuse?

Shock/ Confusion

Delayed reaction

Shutting down of feelings

Violence/ The threat of violence

Two sociopaths--one with a powerful phallic symbol--the other with a phallus.

My abuse beginning at age twelve/ My daughter being twelve years old.

My parents misreading the situation in 1963.

My misreading the situation in 2004.

The decision to disclose to authorities.

Living with fear after the disclosure.

Good triumphing over evil.

MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT MALE SEXUAL ABUSE

1. MYTH: Boys and men cannot be victims.

Why didn’t you fight back?

Why didn’t you leave?

Why didn’t you tell?

2. MYTH: Most sexual abuse of boys is perpetrated by homosexual males.

Are you gay?

How long have you been married?

Was your perpetrator gay?

Was he ever married?

Do you have sexual fantasies involving men?

3. MYTH: If a boy experiences sexual arousal or orgasm from abuse, this means he was a willing participant or enjoyed it.

Were you aroused?

Did you enjoy it?

4. MYTH: Boys are less traumatized by the abuse experience than girls.

How were you traumatized?

Why didn’t you tell anyone?

How long were you silent about the issue?

5. MYTH: Boys abused by males are or will become homosexual.

Your relationship with your perpetrator was same sex---but you don’t call it homosexual?

Have you ever had any gay friends?

Have you ever been sexual with another man?

6. MYTH: Boys who are sexually abused will become abusers. (Sometimes referred to as the “cycle of abuse” or the “vampire syndrome.”)

So often when a man is sentenced at a criminal trial for criminal sexual conduct, his attorney will seek leniency from the judge because the defendant was sexually abused as a child. What about it?

Aren’t you afraid you will become an abuser?

What about other men?

7. MYTH: If the perpetrator is female, the boy or adolescent should consider himself fortunate to have been initiated into heterosexual activity.

Just about any teen-aged guy would like to have sex with the beautiful, hot, young, female teacher.

How is the boy in any way damaged by having sex with an older, more experienced woman?

WHERE CAN MEN GET HELP IF THEY WERE SEXUALLY ABUSED AS CHILDREN OR RAPED AS AN ADULT?

They can go to my website www.FlashbacksOfAbuse.com. Then click on LINKS for some internet resources for male survivors of sexual abuse.

BOOK AVAILABILITY

The book Flashbacks of Abuse: How a machine gun toting sociopath freed me from the chains of my childhood is available through Mr. Douglass’ website:

www.FlashbacksOfAbuse.com