An Ontario teen on why his ‘voice matters’ after being victim of sex abuse | 24CA News
For Christian Routenburg-Evans, 18, the primary 12 months of highschool was not the carefree studying expertise he’d anticipated. Within the primary semester, he mentioned a fellow pupil began harassing and sexually assaulting him.
By the second semester, the Owen Sound teen says the sexual assault solely received worse and included the scholar cornering him within the boys’ rest room on a number of events.
He says the expertise and what occurred after he spoke out formed his highschool expertise. He is talking about it now in hopes it helps different college students and enacts change inside the faculty system, a system he mentioned failed him by not holding his assailant to account.
“I didn’t tell anybody because I was embarrassed, and it’s something that I also didn’t realize that it’s not a normal thing until I really thought about it,” Routenburg-Evans says.
“I was a 90-plus student when I entered high school, and then I was struggling to get credit and hardly passing classes. My mental health was declining. I suffer from depression, PTSD and anxiety from that situation, and it’s also changed me in ways that I am not even sure about to this day.”
Routenburg-Evans turned his story about his sexual assault right into a speech that received the Royal Canadian Legion’s provincial public talking contest for the senior division 2023, but it surely’s taken him some time to get to some extent the place he feels comfy speaking about it.
Christian Routenburg-Evans’, 18, received the Royal Canadian Legion’s provincial public talking contest for the senior division 2023.
Supplied by Jody-Lynn Routenburg-Evans
Reporting the assault
“It was a week or two after the fact that he sexually assaulted me. We were at a parent-teacher meeting, and my teacher was questioning why I wasn’t staying on track and not focusing in class. I said because I was staying away from this certain student, and I was afraid that he was going to continue touching me,” Routenburg-Evans says.
After admitting what had occurred to his dad and mom and faculty directors, Routenburg-Evans says they reported the incident to high school directors and the police.
Routenburg-Evans mentioned the assault was disregarded by faculty directors with a minimal response.
He says the scholar assault him no less than two extra occasions after it was reported to high school directors.
The director of training for the Bruce-Grey Catholic District School Board congratulated Routenburg-Evans for his award however mentioned it couldn’t remark particularly on the incident.
“We take the safety of all students and staff seriously and we follow our student discipline and police protocols. We are not able to speak specifically about a specific incident, its investigation or results, because they involve the personal information of students,” mentioned Gary O’Donnel.
Routenburg-Evans says his household would finally drop expenses in opposition to the scholar as a substitute of going by a prolonged court docket course of to make sure a peace bond may very well be put in place requiring the scholar to maintain a sure distance from him.
“I couldn’t concentrate in school, and I was always worrying about what was going to happen to me in between classes or after school. I wasn’t sure if people were going to follow me and try to hurt me because I spoke up about something that happened,” he says.
Bullied for talking out
Routenburg-Evans says that as a result of the varsity’s motion in direction of the scholar was minimal, lots of his classmates doubted that something had occurred to him.
“Peers would verbally harass me in many ways and sometimes physically.”
He says college students began rumours that what occurred was “a gay encounter” or simply unusual boy behaviour, not sexual assault.
“When I was sexually assaulted in the continuous years after the fact, I would beat myself up inside because I didn’t defend myself because I was frozen in place. It’s just so hard to get around that mental factor that I couldn’t do anything,” he says.
The Canadian Centre for Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse estimates one in six males have skilled some type of sexual abuse throughout their lifetime.
The company notes on its web site that it’s troublesome for males who had been sexually abused as a baby to come back ahead and that restricted assets can be found that particularly deal with the problems males face in these conditions.
“Sexual assault with boys is seen as something that happens in the locker room, it’s supposed to be normal, and it’s not something that is talked about enough for people to realize that they’ve been in these certain situations and it experience sexual assault they just don’t know it because it’s just a normal thing to happen.”
Sharing the expertise to assist others
Routenburg-Evans says he has labored onerous to not really feel ashamed about what occurred to him.
“I’m hoping to start speaking at many school boards in Ontario because they need to change the way they deal with sexual assault. I feel like a lot of it’s brushed under the carpet and is not as widely talked about at all in schools.”
He hopes that his talking out makes it simpler for victims, particularly males, to really feel comfy reaching out for assist.
“The main point is it’s not your fault. You have to go and tell somebody and talk to a close family member or friend, just to let them know how you’re doing because this could be affecting you inside, and it’s just going to get worse (as) you get older.”
After performing his speech within the Legion’s competitors, Routenburg-Evans says a number of males approached him to share their very own tales of sexual abuse.
“I think that students need to know that they all deserve a safe school environment and shouldn’t be scared of who’s coming behind them or what’s going to happen to them if they speak out about this stuff,” he says.
“You are stronger than you realize, and your voice matters.”
Victims of sexual assault can discover assist by the Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868, the Victim Support Line 1-888-579-2888, or Male Survivors of Sexual Abuse Provincial Crisis and Support Line 1-866-887-0015.
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