Sexual abuse is everyone's business: How many times do I have to say it?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-leo/mackenzie-phillips-rape-i_b_295545.html

I was never into the Mamas and the Papas, but I read the article about Mackenzie Phillips being sexually abused by her father for over a decade.

I congratulate Ms. Phillips on her courage to tell her story as a survivor. And I also abhor the fact that People magazine and the media use it as the weekly Hollywood shocker instead of starting a real discourse about incest and victimization.

As to claims that the relationship "became consensual," I agree with Alex Leo that even though she was of legal age to give consent, a sexual relationship between father and daughter is not really about sex at all, but represents a power differential that remains in place no matter how old the daughter is. In Texas, it would have been illegal for anyone to have sex with her when she was so heavily intoxicated.

All these stories cropping up about sexual victimization (Jaycee Dugard, Mackenzie Phillips, Roman Polanski) should wake people up to the fact that rape happens. And not usually by strangers either. Often victims not only know but trust their abusers. This is an issue that should not remain quiet anymore.