I know many of you have probably already read this book, but as I was listening to it as an audio book, I had a new thought. This poor child was abused by his mother. There is a part in the book where the teachers and police are trying to get him to talk about the things his mother had done to him. He makes the comment that he deserved it because he was a bad kid. He felt "slimy" inside because he felt so guilty.
How many of us have felt that way while inside the WT org? This may be a bit personal, but I began regular pioneering when I was 16. I quit school and got my diploma via the CA Proficiency test. During my pioneering I was going through adolescence. During this period it is common to experiment with masturbation. I did that too. I felt so guilty about it, especially after reading the "Young people ask" book, that I eventually quit pioneering. I felt disgusting before Gods eyes.
I think that this organization tends to be like an abusive parent. They may tell you that they love you. They may tell you that they are doing what they do for your best interests. But at the same time, they show you that you are scum. You can never do enough. You can never BE good enough. Natural things that you go through (i.e masturbation, liking girls that you did not intend to marry, etc...) are condemned by these people as being shameful.
I bring this up because I now have 2 boys. 1 is four years old and the other is 5 months old. I will never let them feel the feelings of guilt that I felt when being condemned by this org. They will have girlfriends and only have the feelings of being liked by another person (something I never had due to my guilt). They will go through their puberty years and while it may be awkward, it will not be the shame filled experience that I had. I think that the organization is emotionally abusive in many of the same way that some parents can be abusive.