Surviving abuse makes you aware you're not a free or protected citizen in your country. If someone could get away with torturing you, and causing severe harm to you for long periods of time, and there's no reprecussions, that's not freedom, it's not safety.
There are no safeguards against abuse in today's society, and hundreds of ways it can be ebabled and even supported in plain sight. Systems are set up where you end up alone in a place where people don't have to be kind or even humane to you. Where anything can happen and you won't be believed, or even given resources to realize when something's wrong.
That's the reason we can't walk around feeling safe and protected. We know we can get trapped and tortured again and unless we have mountains of proof and endless finances to fight in court, there's nothing we can do about it. We're not free if anyone can pick us out and do whatever they want to us, as long as they hide or reframe it. And if it happens, we'll be told it's our fault and left to deal with the consequences.
Once you're aware, it doesn't feel safe to exist. How would we not be anxious and wary? We're encouraged to trust right until it leads to abuse, at which point it's our fault for being stupid and trusting. We're told we have avoidance issues but it's our fault if we fail to avoid abuse. No system is protecting us but all of them join to push blame on us. We're not the reason abuse exists, but we're made responsible for every instance of it.
