So glad this excellent article writes about the 12 step organizations of AA and NA.
A Gathering Place for Predators
Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous
Are you shocked yet? Undoubtedly, if you’ve been around NA a while, you know his name, but chances are you won’t say it, due to that darn anonymity crap, which is evidently just another loophole for the sick and demented to be able to get away with this kind of stuff. Alcoholics Anonymous is no different. “I wasn’t so much a newcomer anymore but had one man approach me who seemed very nice at first. I wasn’t very trusting of anyone, but somehow he convinced me that I could trust him and we built what I thought would end up being a solid friendship. I confided in him, and he in me, and then things went south. He started making crude comments to me and at first I laughed it off, but when I asked him to stop, it continued. It didn’t stop and one day I became very angry and decided to let him know, in no uncertain terms, that I’d had enough, and he better stop. The end result was horrendous. I ended up losing several friends whom by all accounts, I needed in my fellowship, and he accused me of ‘playing victim’. He said he’d done nothing wrong and that my not saying anything to him at first was me giving him permission to treat me that way. That’s no different than telling a woman she deserved to be raped because she wore a dress and not pants. It was only after I started talking about it to others that I had other women in the program tell me that everyone knew he was a predator and that I really needed to be careful. Everyone knew, apparently, and gossiped about it all, but no one said anything to me to alert me to how this guy works until I started making his disgusting behavior public knowledge. After it was all said and done, I realized that this man had even gone to such an extent to get close to me, that he offered to be a sponsor to one of my family members who was also in the program. That’s pretty sick,” said an anonymous AA member. Port Orange NA and AA Meetings in Volusia County, Florida.
The World Boards of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous both have no position on this issue apparently. AA members have seen men come in drunk into meetings and be asked to leave, but the predators are allowed to stay. Naturally, the women who come in drunk are welcomed with open arms. Perhaps that shouldn’t be such a surprise however, as the founder of AA, Bill Wilson, was an incredible womanizer himself. He was so bad, apparently, that he had to have others keep watch over him in meetings and functions and when he’d get that familiar gleam in his eye, the other members would distract him.In fact, one woman named Helen Wynn, who was one of his mistresses, received payments from his estate. The money was distributed by World Services after being collected from sales of books Bill wrote, as Bill requested, and to this day, no one has produced legitimate evidence that Wynn’s estate is no longer benefiting from his will. Both of these facts are common place knowledge but it’s become part of the unspoken code. What does that tell you? It really isn’t surprising that evil lurks. Bill did, after all, write the 12 Steps of AA with the help of a ouija board and that is no secret either. Incidentally, the NA program was modeled after the AA program with a slight tweaking of the steps that members follow. Orlando NA Meetings.
As a side note, men aren’t the only predators in the programs, as women have been noted to 13th step men too, but it is rare and the destruction caused by men is unparalleled. Women have died at the hands of male predators in the programs. Google ‘predators in AA‘ or ‘predators in NA‘. The results will make you sick to your stomach, and yet, even the old-timers who have watched it happen for decades simply turn a blind eye. They know which ones are sick, and yet do nothing. Women who feel uncomfortable in the rooms need to come forward, and they need to come forward in droves and demand that this criminal behavior not be tolerated any longer. It needs to be stopped, and it needs to be stopped now. Those who ignore this issue are as bad as the predators themselves. Perhaps a few lawsuits would set the World Boards straight?
Writers note: There is a documentary type film being made on this issue, which I have no direct connection to, but found online while talking to others and researching this topic. It is called “The 13th Step” and the Facebook page can be seen here:https://www.facebook.com/pages/13stepping/469973469749422. If you’d like to view preview trailer on the film, there are several links on the Facebook page, this one included:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YlfIdCwzYQ&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D_YlfIdCwzYQ&app=desktop.
http://voices.yahoo.com/a-gathering-place-predators-12365031.html?cat=9
I’m so glad I am not alone on this, I have a horror story of my own with NA and wish there was some way to expose the truth.
Well you can tell your story right here and expose it. Welcome.
Speak the truth and raise awareness to protect the vulnerable and expect accountability. How can the modern judicial system support sending people to these unsupervised, unaccountable, unsafe cult like groups?
Anti D, thank you. Sending thanks as well to whoever posted a copy of this here, if it was not you. 🙂 The truth will prevail!!!!!
Thank you Amber for writing this much needed article! I love it! AA and NA need to be held accountable.