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National | Abuse

Nix gives voice to sexual abuse survivors

Let Me Speak is a kaupapa social media influencer Nix Adams is using to shed light on sexual abuse in Aotearoa.

From tonight and each night until this Saturday, Nix will be going live on her Facebook page with a sexual abuse survivor to let them share their story.

Before the age of 16, one in three girls and one in seven boys will experience sexual abuse, and Nix says many of the survivors she talks to say they were abused by their own whānau.

"It's heartbreaking. I've been through a lot in my life but sexual abuse is not one of them," she says.

"A lot of the survivors that I speak to, it's more happened within their own whānau. On the first Let Me Speak campaign, there was one whānau member who had gone through state care and things like that but the majority of them are a lot closer to home.

"Which is even scarier because it's people they trust and people who are supposed to protect them.

"It scares me to think that that type of thing happens. Especially hearing about their ages and then you know."

Nix says she has children and she wants to do what she can to ensure her children are safe, "and that is by doing things like this to raise awareness and educate not only adults but children as well."

Giving victims a voice

It is estimated 80% of victims don't speak out or report the sexual abuse they have experienced.

Nix says, "They feel as though they don't have a voice. They haven't had a voice."

So Nix is providing her platform of more than a quarter of a million followers to help give these victims a voice.

"For a lot of them this is their opportunity to speak," she says.

"Some of them may have tried when they were younger and they got shut down, so this is their moment, and I have the platform. And this is how I want to use it because there is a wide reach on my page.

"I think during our last campaign, more than five million people tuned in to hear about these survivors' stories and that's just awesome because that means that we have raised awareness of this topic with more than five million people."