“He’s such a great guy.”

“Innocent until proven guilty.”

“There’s no way he would ever do something like that.”

Those words hit like a punch to the gut—because I’ve heard them before. About my abuser. About the people who hurt me.

And I didn’t just hear them whispered—I saw them splashed across Reddit threads and Facebook groups, entire conversations filled with strangers confidently dissecting my story, my credibility, my character. People who have never met me, never sat with me, never listened—spinning theories from behind a screen, acting as if they know my life better than I do. All while I was just trying to survive and heal.

Holidays are hard. That’s just the truth—for many survivors, including myself. As someone who lived through family-controlled human trafficking and ritual abuse, I know what it feels like to dread the arrival of certain dates on the calendar. Easter is one of those times…

Words Matter: The Danger of Inappropriate Language in Anti-Trafficking Work
By Kait Gannon, Survivor Leader with Mezzo Allies

When I first began to speak out about surviving family-controlled human trafficking, I never imagined how often I would have to correct the words people use when talking about abuse — especially the abuse of children.

It might seem like a small thing. A word here, a phrase there. But language holds power.