Ohio =/= the south. I also grew up in Ohio in the same state in a more broken home than he did. My father had a brain disease and was of the most prolific child abusers in the state of Ohio. From 10-17, I was the only line of defense for my mother and my sister. I had to give the order to take him
Off life support. He is, was, and will always be a child abusing piece of shit. Everything he contributed to society were lies, beatings, and misery. I left home at 17 to join the Army and was in Iraq by 19. I'm never changing my name. I've devoted my life to make that never happens to a child, ever
I've heard your story many times before from other Appalachians. Family instability has become a nationwide social ill at all income levels and religious taboos are not the solution. Good educations for young women are a better one.
I initially wrote "Appalachia," but changed it because I've known families with the same problem in other areas of the South. In truth, family instability is a nationwide problem, even among Catholics, who are notoriously intolerant of modern America's serial monogamy norm.
Catholics would know thing or two about broken, displaced families. www.irishcentral.com/news/america... time.com/5321938/spai... www.usatoday.com/story/news/n... yournews.com/2025/03/12/3... apnews.com/article/tole...
I saw a movie about the Magdalene Laundries. I'm almost as Irish as Paddy's pig, but Orange, not Green. Three of my ancestors emigrated in the late 19th Century. They came over as servants for rich families. To my knowledge we never had any instability in my family in America.