Lincoln 3Dot laments effects of child sex abuse

Dancehall artiste Lincoln 3Dot believes that sexually abused children never fully heal from their traumas, and called for greater family structure to limit the number of victims.

“The psychological [and emotional] impact this can have pon a child, di range is so big to the point where you could be operating a certain way because a dat trauma,” said the artiste, who believes that his abuse made him hypersexual in his 20’s.

“I would sometimes have three [to] five different partners inna one day and mi nuh feel no form of attachment really, and mi just move on and seh ‘let’s find a next girl,’” he said, adding that he was never really in love until he was 30.

“Mi neva really love nobody and inna mi last [relationship] mi did love dah person deh but mi neva have a problem just walking away from di situation. Mi jus numb,” he added. He suggested that child sexual abuse can also shatter one’s confidence and character, which impacted the way he interacted with his peers.

“It can mek yuh shy and timid,” he said. “Mi grow up as a shy person and nuff people won’t believe dat because mi seem so outspoken [now]. But mi wudda be scared fi walk pass a crowd a people that I don’t know. And mi feel funny if mi walk pass a group a people and dem start laugh. I would think dem a laugh affa me.” He said “no amount of counselling” could fix him, and the character he now portrays took years of him practising how to be outspoken, bold and confident.

Lincoln 3Dot recently revealed he was sexually abused by a female relative when he was seven. He expressed that the mental and emotional baggage he carried was “finally lifted off [my] shoulders”.

“It was just my time fi talk bout dat and mi did actually start talk bout it to people that’s close to me, and mi start feel more comfortable bout it,” he said. Lincoln 3Dot said that due to the social media image he portrays for entertainment purposes, people paint him incorrectly as a monster.

“I’m a real person too with real feelings, real emotions and real trauma too, just like anybody else,” he said. He further noted that he had to stifle his emotions and keep his story a secret for years because males are condemned as victims, with no real support for them, as males are taught to “suck up their emotions”.

“Sexually abused boys a nuh supm weh wi talk bout a lot, but sad to say, nobody nuh really care bout man, enuh. When people talk bout ‘protecting dem kids’ dem talk about dem daughter. Yuh nuh talk bout yuh son inna dah way deh. For the most part, people nuh care bout man…man affi just deal wid life however it come and figure it out. Yuh cyaah express yuh feelings or else ‘Yuh a act like a gyal’, and yuh can’t talk bout sexual abuse because ‘You’re supposed to want sex’,” he said, adding that this mindset is not just a cultural thing in Jamaica.

“It happens all over, people nuh care bout man, Father’s Day or stuff like dat. Man a nuh nutten inna di world really. ‘Man is just there to work and provide’ and have no emotions and no feeling bout nutten,” he said.

The singer called for parents to try maintaining a “nuclear family” household more in order to minimise the number of child victims.

“Dat type a family deh kinda keep people from around yuh kids instead of the old style of raising yuh family when yuh have a big yawd and whole heap a wi live inna di yawd. I feel like dem kinda family setting deh breed molestation fi kids,” he opined. “It takes a village to raise a child. When it’s just husband, wife, kids, it kinda shelter your kids which is not good for them when they go out in the world to face different people and personalities. But I feel that’s [still] the best way fi dem fi keep off predators affa yuh kids,” he reasoned.