In this episode, Shari Karney delves into HBO's Docuseries Allen v. Farrow Season 1.
THE SECRET.
The secrets that surround incest and child sexual abuse, especially when it occurs in the family.
Shari Karney is the victim of father-daughter incest. She understands what the child victim feels and the predatory obsession of the perpetrator. She understands Dylan Farrow's confusion, self-blame, sadness, depression, denial, guilt, and trauma. And how trauma compounds trauma. She also understands the mindset of predators, perpetrators, and incest aggressors. How they groom their victim, the community, the public. How the perpetrators can mask as 'caring fathers', excuse their obsessive inappropriate behavior toward the child as 'loving' their child victim too much. How the victim feels confusion, guilt, and pain, both physical and mental. Dylan Farrow, Woody Allen's adopted daughter with Mia Farrow, alleges that Woody Allen sexually abused her when she was 6 years old. She also details Allen's uncomfortable, unrelenting obsession with her.
This episode delves into alleged incest and the shame and secrets surrounding it. We see firsthand, the grooming process that predators use to prepare the family, community, professionals, and even, as a celebrity, the media, for the sexual assault to come. Dylan “He was always ‘hunting’ me.” Neighbors, members of the family, multiple family friends reported Allen was intensely obsessed with Dylan. One time, Dylan remembers in this episode that Allen told her to “suck his thumb.” In time, it became clear that Allen put incredible focus on her. “He didn’t want to see the other kids. He wanted to see only me,” Dylan said. We learn that all victims are groomed. Grooming is subtle, hiding in the shadows, often invisible to victims.