Society failed them then and still fails them today, is the result of research by sexologist Kolbrún Kolbeinsdóttir, who interviewed eight homeless women living in Konukoti. Five of those interviewed were victims of domestic violence or child abuse by fathers or stepfathers.
This is revealed in Ásdís Olsen’s show, Under the surface, which is on Hringbraut’s program tonight at 20. In an interview with Ásdísi Olsen, Kolbrún says he is ashamed of the way this group of women has been treated in the Company. The services provided to them are inconsistent with their history of violence and trauma, and Konukot lives in unacceptable housing.
The women are between 25 and 60 years old and resided in Konukoti at the time the study took place. All but one had children and in total they had 16 children. Of the eight people interviewed, seven had struggled with substance abuse issues.
The education of women was characterized by severe neglect, indifference and lack of love. They all struggle with adult health issues, substance abuse, mental illness, physical illness and family exclusion.
Heiðrún says about his youth in the research interview: “I just fucked. It was exactly like that. There was a lot of alcoholism, my mother is bipolar, my stepfather was just a Idiot. He was a pedophile, when I think back to my childhood, I only see black. …. my childhood was just miserable, so to speak, I went to three schools, bullied in two, and like that , last school was fine. So naturally I started using right after elementary school and then I got pregnant at 16. So it kind of went downhill from there. ….when I look at back, you know, like when I look back at my childhood, all I see is black. You know, it’s just like that, that time was just awful.”
María grew up with her father, who sexually abused her from the age of 9. When asked to rate what was the hardest part of the research interview, tears flow and she takes a break to recover. She says the abuse is the hardest, but it’s not bad anymore “right here in the head” and points to her head, because that’s where the memories don’t go away.
Ásdís describes her mother’s illness, neglect and the unreasonable responsibility given to her as a child: “My mother is very mentally ill. I wake up with my little brother, I dress him and accompany him in kindergarten, in school. And then the whole day was in school, and then I thought about how I should, if my mother let us in at five o’clock. Or how I should feed him then. was just non-stop, a responsibility I didn’t know how to take.”
As mentioned above, the show is on Hringbraut’s program at 20 tonight.
