Live on air, newsreader accuses his relatives of child abuse

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The newsreader behind the desk looked straight into the camera and said, “This is the beginning of another program.”

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“I told you a lot of stories,” said Juan Pedro Aleart, co-host of the news program From 12 to 14 in Rosario, Argentina, said in Spanish. “This is the first time I’ve told you mine.”

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For nearly half an hour last week live on air, Aleart told viewers about a nightmare within his family: allegations of an abusive father who terrorized him and of a member of his extended family who sexually abused him since he was six. Nobody did anything. to stop it, he said.

“I know what it feels like: it’s humiliating, it’s shameful,” he said, addressing male survivors of sexual abuse. “I know many haven’t told their wives, their children, their friends, their psychologists.”

“I want to say that the only way to healing is to put it into words, to talk about it, to expose it,” he added.

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In text messages to The Washington PostAleart, 36, said he was “terrified” before he made the broadcast, but has since felt “light and free.” He had received thousands of messages of support, he added.

Aleart’s siblings denounced the fact that he shared their personal information on air, saying in a joint statement that they had been “revictimized,” according to local media.

Silvia Roxana Piceda, co-founder of the Argentine support and advocacy group Adults for Children’s Rights, said that for the first time after Aleart’s broadcast, the organization had received an increase in calls from people seeking help. Argentina.

“We believe that silence about this type of abuse is to the advantage of the abuser,” she said through an interpreter, emphasizing that tackling child sexual abuse was a global problem.

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According to the World Health Organization, one in five women and one in thirteen men worldwide report having been sexually abused before the age of 18.

Sebastián Cuattromo, Piceda’s husband and co-founder of the group, and a survivor of child sexual abuse, said it can be especially difficult for men to talk about their experiences because of stereotypes about male roles in society, which he called “machismo.” . .”

“There is a sense of guilt and shame that can be very difficult to process,” he said through an interpreter.

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He recalled reporting that mocked male victims of an Argentine celebrity accused of abuse, even as he himself faced abuse.

But Piceda added that “a culture change is happening,” led by survivors speaking out.

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Aleart said his father committed suicide after a criminal complaint was filed against him. Aleart sought to prosecute the family member he accused of sexual abuse, but a judge ruled the statute of limitations had expired, he added.

“There was a positive response to the presentation of my story,” he said. “(But) I feel like society in general – around the world – is trying to sweep these things under the rug because it doesn’t look good for the family, for the city, etc.”

He credited therapy and a close circle of supporters with helping him deal with depression. “The fear is gone, and it was as soon as I started talking,” he said.

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