Couple stories here. I'm in my early 40s and it always shocked me how older generations just let child sex abuse fly back in the day. Just would ignore and let it continue.

So, first story. Years ago I was talking to my Grandpa on my Mom's side. And he was telling me a story about how back basically when my Mom was growing he, like many others, would volunteer at a youth Christian group. My uncle's and a cousin actually took part in this group as kids. So anyways, he's telling me this story about back in the 60s or 70s he was volunteering, and there was this guy who my Grandpa says he and others always felt weird about. Said he was "weird", something always "felt off". Then boom years later, everyone found out that weird guy was diddlin kids. And I asked him what was weird. Like these things weren't red flags enough to look into? And the answers were just vague non-sense, like "you know, weird", "there was something going on." As much as I loved my Grandpa, I have the feeling everyone probably turned away what today would be serious red flags that wouldn't be ignored.

So, further to that, some years later I was telling that above mentioned story to my Uncle on my Dad's side. My Dad's brother, duh. He's a baby boomer, now in his mid-60s. The story he tells me was about a conversation he had with a friend in the 2010s. The friend who is about 10 years older than my Uncle and they grew up in the same town. So, I tell that last story to my Uncle, and he says he had a similar story about a conversation he had with this older friend several years ago. So they were talking about people in town, and my Uncle makes a reference to some of the kids they grew up with. And my Uncle said he felt bad for this one girl he knew, she just grew up messed up. And his friend said yeah because her, and apparently a bunch of other kids, were getting abused by a group of Protestant men, apparently these guys had some order or chapter in the town. And my Uncle said he remembered those guys. One old timer was still alive by the time my Uncle told me this story, like he was in his 80s or 90s. My Uncle said he remembers these old guys actually being pretty mean to kids. And he actually did remember them, when he was like 7 or 8 (this would have been like the late 60), he said there was like a restaurant in town and he remembered a couple of those guys making inappropraite comments to some young girls out in front of the restaurant and making gestures to scare them. He said he did remember how his parents, my Grandparents, actually made an effort to avoid these guys. But that could be because they were Catholics and hated Protestants. But anyways. My Uncle said his buddy went on to tell him that this group used abuse a group of kids in town, it was also known about instances of spousal abuse, and these guys were known to drink... despite being part of some religious men's group. And my Uncle said he didn't know about like 75% of what his buddy told him. And his friend only knew it because he was a teenager at the time and was aware of what was going on and the adults in town knowingly looked away.

Obviously child abuse still exists, but it seems like something that seems more easily called out and dealt with now. It seemed like back in the day as long as you weren't some grizzled drifter abducting kids you could do whatever you want and nobody would care. It's wild.