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Erin's Law with Erin Merryn- Circuspreneur Podcast Ep.114
22 Plays2 months ago
#ErinsLaw #ChildSafety #ChildAbusePrevention #SurvivorVoices #PublicPolicy
In this powerful episode of the Circuspreneur Podcast, we’re joined by Erin Merryn—author, survivor, speaker, and founder of Erin’s Law, a nationwide effort dedicated to preventing child sexual abuse through education.
Erin shares her personal journey and how it led her to advocate for laws that require age-appropriate, evidence-based body safety education in public schools. Erin’s Law has now been adopted in over half the country, helping children learn how to recognize unsafe behavior and speak up to trusted adults.
This conversation explores the importance of prevention, clear policy language, and the responsibility communities share in protecting children—while offering hope, empowerment, and practical insight for educators, parents, artists, and advocates.
⚠️ Content Note: This episode discusses topics related to child sexual abuse and prevention.
Learn more about Erin’s work at https://www.erinslaw.org
🎧 Watch now on YouTube and join the conversation.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
00:00:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
This podcast is also available via stage links.com, the groundbreaking new platform for life performing arts. Please support the podcast by liking, subscribing, commenting, and tagging the podcast. It helps us to continue to bring the industry high level content.
Erin Mirren: Advocate and Survivor
00:00:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
I'm your host, Shanice Stiletto. And today on the Circuspreneur podcast, I'm joined by the incredible Aaron Mirren.
00:00:21
Circuspreneur Podcast
Aaron, welcome to the show.
00:00:23
Erin
Hi, thanks for having me.
00:00:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
It's a pleasure, Erin. And i want to tell listeners a little bit about your incredible career as an advocate and as a survivor. Erin Marin is an author, speaker, survivor, and founder of Erin's Law. Erin turned her own experience of childhood sexual abuse into a nationwide movement to protect children advocating for laws that require age-appropriate education in public schools so kids know how to speak up and stay safe.
00:00:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
Erin's law has now passed in over half the country and continues to save lives through education, awareness, and empowerment. Her work reminds us that silence protects abuse, but education protects children. We're honored to have Erin with us for this important conversation on the Circuspreneur podcast.
00:01:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
Erin, again, you know I'm just really honored to have you on the podcast today. Your work and your advocacy and your legislative success is just, I think, it's just unmatched.
00:01:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
i Listening to your story and you know everything that you went through as your survivor,
00:01:30
Erin
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:01:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
as a little girl, and then, you know, turning those lived experiences into transformation for the rest of, you know, for across the country, for all children out there is just really extraordinary. And i think that you're a testament to what an average person could do on a legislative level, you know, folks that maybe feel like policy is beyond me. And what could I do with my own personal story? How could I harness it to help and support others. And, you know, your work with children and on behalf of children, I think is just really, you know, a testament to, you know, your indomitable spirit and your
Understanding Erin's Law and Its Impact
00:02:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
will. And, uh, I think, you know, in opening up with the podcast, if you could share just a little bit about what drove you to use your own personal story to influence and change policy and to change laws like you have over the last,
00:02:27
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know I think several decades now in working with legislators across America.
00:02:33
Erin
Yeah, so I looked back at my childhood when I decided to go public with my story. I turned my senior year of high school, my diary, where I kept all my abuse written about that nobody knew, into a book called Stolen Innocence.
00:02:46
Erin
And i wanted to put a face and voice on this travel, speak out about it, because it is that hush-hush topic. One in four girls and one in six boys will be abused by the age of 18. 90% of the time, it's someone a child knows and trusts. But in school, I was only ever taught about stranger danger.
00:03:04
Erin
And a passage I read that I wrote when I was a 12 year old said, officer friendly comes in and teaches us not to talk to strangers, not to answer the door and my parents are gone, but they don't warn us about our own family.
00:03:17
Erin
And I read that and went, they don't. I learned tornado drills, bus drills, fire drills, mandated twice a year. My kids get them every year. I get the letter. We're doing a bus drill today.
00:03:27
Erin
I just got a letter yesterday. We're doing a mass drill shooting drill for the kids. You know, but children, as I tell legislators, are far more likely to be sexually abused than in a bus accident, tornado, fire, or mass shooting.
00:03:41
Erin
Yeah, we don't talk about this. And you cannot rely on parents to have this conversation. Parents don't think the people they trust with their kids would hurt them. Or they assume if this was happening to their child, they would come tell them. They don't realize the power predators have to silence kids.
00:03:57
Erin
So I read that passage and said, my goal is far beyond just putting a face and voice in this. I need to educate kids.
00:04:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you.
00:04:04
Erin
And so I reached out to my state senator and said, how do we require in schools kids be taught once a year, one hour, personal body safety education, teaching kids safe and unsafe touch, safe and unsafe secrets. If someone is abusing you, how to speak up until you will be believed.
00:04:21
Erin
And my state senator said, Erin, this this will never get passed. This is back in 2007. They will never. i agree. or And we need to talk to kids about this. They will never teach this in schools. I remember where I was sitting when I was having this conversation in my parents dining room. And you know what I told him?
00:04:36
Erin
Yes, they will. If you won't help me, I will find somebody that will. And I found another state senator. Fast forward three years later, it became a law in Illinois mandated. And then I decided kids are not just being abused in my home state of Illinois.
00:04:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you.
00:04:51
Erin
So I resigned from my full-time job as a master's level counselor with youth and made it my mission back in 2010 to travel to every state capital and testify on Aaron's law to get it passed. And as you mentioned, it's passed in more than half the country, 38 states to be exact. And the most recent place is Ontario, Canada.
00:05:13
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow. Yeah, you're going international with with your efforts.
00:05:15
Erin
Yep.
00:05:17
Circuspreneur Podcast
So Aaron's Law will be
Challenges in Advocacy and Legislation
00:05:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
worldwide. Why do you think, Aaron, you know, in speaking with legislators, because we had something very similar within gymnastics. And, you know, we heard all the time, you know, you can't legislate these environments around abuse. You can't do it. It's impossible. It'll never work. We're also getting that kind of feedback now when we're pushing for policy around the arts and the circus arts and the performing arts. You can't legislate those these environments. They're too unique. They're too difficult. Why do you think that's usually the first response when it's centered around abuse of this type?
00:05:51
Erin
Yeah, well, and it's just the it's that's the thing. It's a no-brainer. It's like, why are we not talking about this? What is the fear? There's this idea that, you know, it's it's just the subject itself. People just want to sweep it under the rug and not address. And the reality is, I mentioned, 90% the time, it is someone the child knows and trusts.
00:06:10
Erin
In Mark and my family, it was my neighbor that was my abuser. And then it was a family member, never the stranger. Both these men threatened me to keep it a secret. Fast forward a couple years later, my sister's gymnastics coach, her whole childhood is arrested for this, for molesting multiple children in the in the gymnasium while he was doing gymnastics. This was a man, as my mother said, I bought him breakfast on multiple occasions because we go to these meets. He'd be at the hotel with us.
00:06:39
Erin
He'd sit and have breakfast with us. Once again, you never assume the coach would do this. And the other thing I tell people is these predators do not stop.
00:06:45
Circuspreneur Podcast
Right.
00:06:48
Erin
I don't care. You can't put him in prison for a couple of years because this same gymnastics coach went to jail for abusing these eight little girls, was released after four years. What did he do? He moved to Michigan, found a woman who had a single who was single, single mom with a five-year-old daughter, and was raping her. He's now sitting behind bars for life in a Michigan prison.
00:07:08
Erin
This is my example of you can't just lock these monsters up for a couple of years. It is the silent epidemic. We all know somebody that this has happened to. And as I said, majority of the time, it is someone a child knows and trusts.
00:07:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
And that was my USA Gymnastics coach as well. And, you know, he was invited to holidays and Thanksgiving dinner. The families absolutely loved him. And, you know, couldn't couldn't imagine, even to this day, there are people that defend this person and defend his abuses.
00:07:39
Erin
Hold on. You need to go prison?
00:07:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, you'll you you find an awesome... but Yeah. Oh, yeah. He absolutely went to prison. you We were fortunate that he went to prison, but it didn't matter. i mean, some of them were at his sentencing.
00:07:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
some of Some of the parents brought their children to the sentencing to support him.
00:07:56
Erin
and You know what?
00:07:56
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:07:56
Erin
You know what is so... i That does not surprise me at all because in my case, the relative that abused my sister and I confessed to law enforcement, said, yes, I did this.
00:08:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:08:06
Erin
In fact, even told the police officer he was getting aroused while he was abusing me.
00:08:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:08:10
Erin
And what happened? My dad's entire extended family, almost all of them, continue to support him. They even tried to get the detective by calling the police department to wipe his confession away.
00:08:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
In here.
00:08:22
Erin
Like, it is sickening to me, even in situations of a confession. You still have family members and that much denial, not wanting to accept. So you telling me that does not surprise me in the least.
00:08:35
Circuspreneur Podcast
Right. And I think it's really fascinating, you know, in speaking about, you know, like what comes first in terms of like policy. Sometimes in these spaces, you know, they'll say, oh, you know, if somebody comes forward after or are they going to come forward before, like there needs to be a big scandal before the policy comes. And we've seen even with Aaron's Law, you worked for, I think it was eight or nine years to get it passed in New York. And you know in our case with USA Gymnastics, it turned into a big scandal, but nobody really saw what happened prior to the news broke around the really big case, right? They didn't see people that were trying to sound the alarms for years prior, that were trying to hold people accountable for years prior.
00:09:19
Circuspreneur Podcast
people saw what happened afterwards and they, you know, the creation of this U S center for safe sport subsequently. And then obviously after that, now you get so many reports. And so people wonder, you know, like where has the abuse been?
00:09:30
Circuspreneur Podcast
Is the abuse getting worse? Is it getting better? Are people just reporting more because they have more access and they understand more about what's happening. But in the case of Aaron's law, there was a case in New York where, uh, the, after the children learned, their rights and about protecting themselves from abuse, many children came forward about a principle that had been abusing them for years.
Success Stories and Validation of Erin's Law
00:09:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so even when I discussed about policy, everyone's always looking for some type of smoking gun. Oh, well, you know is the abuse even really prevalent in this particular environment?
00:10:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
And, you know, we continue to advocate and say, well, if you put the certain provisions and things in place and and teach them, you'll probably get to understand or know more because there's so much that's probably being held in that they don't know how to communicate.
00:10:12
Erin
Or.
00:10:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
So can you speak a bit about your fight in New York? Because that one to me stuck out the most of how much pushback you got and then what that turned into.
00:10:24
Erin
you know
00:10:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. Yeah.
00:10:26
Erin
Yeah, I tried for years for New York to pass this. And something these legislators learn about me is I don't go away. I will expose you for not passing this law.
00:10:35
Erin
I tell them when I testify in every state, I end my speech with the only ones that should be voting against this law are the ones that want to abuse children.
00:10:45
Erin
or want to protect perpetrators and allow them to keep doing this. I have no problem saying it because this is a no-brainer. Nobody should be fighting me against this except the ones that want to molest children. I'm asking for one hour of a school year. I created the foundation that provides the free curriculum.
00:10:59
Erin
You can't make the argument this is an unfunded mandate. You got the free curriculum. It's one hour of a school year. What is there to be against? It's a no-brainer. So New York, I told them, and I tell this in other states, in these remaining 12 states,
00:11:13
Erin
I will one day bring you the proof of why you could not get rid of me. I will bring you the news stories when kids come forward. And I told that to them in New York. And sadly, it was one woman in the House Education Committee, Representative Kathy Nolan. I have no problem saying her name. I feel she should be sitting in the prison cell next to that principal because she is the reason this bill died for eight years.
00:11:36
Erin
The Senate passed it every year.
00:11:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
a
00:11:38
Erin
Full support in New York. They all supported it. It go to her chair. She did not like Aaron's Law. Killed it year after year after year. The only reason it passed is she stepped down. The new chair is like, this is a great bill.
00:11:50
Erin
Bam, it flew right through. Every single member of the House in the Assembly voted yes for it, including her, maybe because she didn't want to look like the bad guy saying no to this.
00:12:01
Erin
And then Governor Cuomo wasn't signing it. Well, we learned what kind of a man he was.
00:12:04
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow.
00:12:06
Erin
Surprise, surprise. And so what do I learn? When you want to get something done, you go to the national media. And that's what I do. And one of the biggest New York papers did a story on Cuomo not signing the law.
00:12:19
Erin
I thought maybe I'd get a little blurb on page 19. It was my face and his face on the front page of the New York Daily News saying Cuomo won't sign Aaron's law.
00:12:26
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow.
00:12:27
Erin
He signed it two days later. That's all took. So what happens the very first year Aaron's Law is taught in New York? As we mentioned, the principal was arrested when that very first week that it was taught, nine boys came forward saying the principal was molesting them.
00:12:46
Erin
It was breaking news.
00:12:47
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:12:47
Erin
I was getting all these old news alerts that this had happened. And I turned to my husband that night back in April of 2021. And I said to him, oh, honey, he's been there 15 years.
00:12:57
Erin
There are far more victims than nine. When it went to trial, 24 boys testified against the principal.
00:13:00
Circuspreneur Podcast
genie
00:13:05
Erin
Some of these boys were 19 years old, testifying of what happened to them decades earlier of what this principal had done, of how he silenced them, of how these kids were getting lunch with the principal for good behavior.
00:13:20
Erin
Instead, they were being locked behind his office closed doors where nobody could see and molesting them. Oh, and by the way, before sending them back to class, giving them a gift, pull out his little file cabinet and say you can take something.
00:13:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:13:29
Circuspreneur Podcast
a
00:13:32
Erin
This man was a multiple manipulator and he's now sitting behind bars for 62 years. But guess what? Those 24 victims could have been maybe 12 victims had New York passed the law.
00:13:44
Erin
All those years earlier, we could have saved all these kids. And that is the example I use in all these other states saying, do not become the next New York because you will be at fault for the child right now that is being abused that you were failing to educate by killing my bill.
00:13:59
Erin
And that's what I tell them now.
00:14:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow. And so for parents and for listeners that are unfamiliar with Aaron's Law or the curriculum that is within Aaron's Law, can you describe a little bit about what children learn that is age appropriate?
00:14:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
I heard you in one interview, Aaron, which this comes up for me all the time, where, you know, they'll say teaching these types of curriculum is almost akin to teaching young children sex ed, or it's too explicit.
00:14:27
Erin
Thank you.
00:14:29
Circuspreneur Podcast
Or it's inappropriate, which, I mean, as a survivor myself, I can't imagine anything being overtly explicit in protecting your child and giving them sovereignty and helping them to protect themselves at any age. But again, the pushback is, is is that's usually what you hear when you are advocating for more safety and more protection and guidance for children specifically.
00:14:50
Circuspreneur Podcast
And so in discussing both of those aspects, how do you push back against that? Because you have successfully to get Aaron's Law passed in, you know, over half of the states in America and internationally as well.
00:15:03
Erin
So there are 12 states left, and of those 12 states, 10 of them are red. And that is the issue I get.
00:15:09
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm
00:15:09
Erin
Some of these very conservative Republicans say this is teaching kids sex. This is teaching kids they can change their gender. It has nothing to do with that. So that is one of the big issues.
00:15:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
hmm.
00:15:19
Erin
The unfunded mandate, this is sex ed. We don't have time for this. That's the stuff I get. So I have been able to check all those boxes by creating the Aaron's Law Foundation I created the free curriculum, not only to take away the argument this is sex ed, but any parent, any educator, any anyone in the world can go online right now to my website, click curriculum, download it in a matter of 30 seconds, and you can view every lesson. And you will see that this is not teaching kids about how to use a condom, what is, how to change your gender, what sex is.
00:15:51
Erin
All it has to do with is teaching kids. Safe and unsafe touch. Boundaries. What grooming is. Making kids aware of the grooming behavior so they can report that before any abuse actually occurs.
00:16:04
Erin
I mean it's a no-brainer. I created videos. There's videos of me talking directly to students. This is not, like I said, this is not talking to kids about sex. And, but you get those concerned parents that that fear fear that.
00:16:18
Erin
And I get it, but i can i can I can't say it enough. This is not what that is. And I had one mom in Oklahoma after my law got passed, reach out to me because she thought it was sex ed.
00:16:29
Erin
She contacted the principal. She asked him what's going to be taught. And even after him telling her, no, this is not sex ed. This is what we're teaching. She was still concerned that there was some agenda that she wasn't being told that was going to be taught.
00:16:43
Erin
And she was given the option because Aaron's laws opted out.
00:16:44
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank
00:16:46
Erin
We're not taking away parental rights. If you don't want your kid to sit and listen to my law, they could sit in the library, the gym, the cafeteria. They put them somewhere. But this mom said, I did not want to look like I was doing something to my child by pulling them from the Aaron's Law lesson and having her sit in the library while all her classmates learned it. She goes, I felt like there'd be a red flag on me and my husband.
00:17:07
Erin
But she goes, Erin, I'm one of those parents since my daughter was two. I've talked to her about personal body safety. You say parents don't talk about this, but I do. i go, yes, but there's very few of you. And so well I talked to my kids about this.
00:17:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
00:17:20
Erin
She feared what her daughter was going to be taught. So she said it was literally the night before she decided, OK, I'm going let her learn this. And I'm going ask her when she gets home, what did she learn to see that there was no agenda? They didn't teach her about sex.
00:17:34
Erin
She was, Erin, the reason I'm writing to tell you this is there was one child in my daughter's school that came forward as a result of your law being taught. And that person was my daughter. She said, Erin, I came this close to pulling my daughter from learning your lesson.
00:17:50
Erin
She said, my dad, her grandfather, had been raping her for dozen the last two years, abusing her child and threatening he would kill mom.
00:17:54
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:18:00
Erin
his own daughter, he would kill mom if you tell anybody. So what did the little girl do? She feared mama's grandpa was gonna kill mom. And so she kept quiet. She goes, Erin, even though I was talking to my kids about this, it took somebody else to give her the courage to come forward because she feared mom was gonna be killed. And that's all it took. She goes, please use my story.
00:18:23
Erin
If you ever have any parent that questions your law, that does not want them to be taught because I came this close. She goes, my daughter would still be being abused right now had I signed her out of learning your law, opted her out.
00:18:36
Erin
And that story still gives me goosebumps to this day.
00:18:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:18:38
Erin
It's like, just when I think I've heard it all, I'm like, wow.
00:18:41
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. Yeah. That is just like, oh my gosh. I know when I heard you tell that story previously, I just was like, I could not believe it.
00:18:45
Erin
it is.
00:18:51
Circuspreneur Podcast
I mean, if there is not a sadder story, but there couldn't be a better story in terms of using to help other parents get over whatever it is that's holding them back.
00:19:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
Or they think, you know, we're doing right for our kids.
00:19:03
Erin
Yep. Mm-hmm.
00:19:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
We're doing the best things, you know, especially, you know, I think currently too, Erin, that's another thing I would like for you to speak on if, you know, how have you seen... <unk>s law with respect to the technology that you know predators and the children have today, which we know is another completely new like medium and battle for kids.
00:19:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know When I was little, that was already you know cell phones were there and that was a way that my abuser started connecting with me when I was really little. and But that was even before the smartphone and before you you know technology, I think, exploded into social media was as big as it is.
00:19:36
Circuspreneur Podcast
And now you know I've advocated and worked on several different AI bills in protecting children from abuse. And how do you think it correlates to that? Have you adapted
Technology, Social Media, and Child Safety
00:19:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
Aaron's Law?
00:19:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
Have you changed anything over the past few years because of the technology that's you know kind of taken, I think, captive of all children at this point in time?
00:19:55
Erin
Yeah, as far as, you know, I feel like social media, these cell phones are so dangerous for kids.
00:19:55
Circuspreneur Podcast
it'ss It's really difficult.
00:20:03
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:20:03
Erin
Parents are clueless on and how kids smart kids are.
00:20:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:20:08
Erin
You put all these safety features in place. Kids know their ways around them. Even in video games, these predators reach these kids through technology, is such such a scary thing for children as far as predators having access to them.
00:20:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:20:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
using
00:20:33
Erin
It's something i they talk about in my curriculum with kids, the dangers of social media, of of not giving out information about yourself, not using your real name out there on the internet for an email address or things like that.
00:20:37
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:20:48
Erin
But, that you know, the one thing I tell parents is don't give your kids these smartphones.
00:20:53
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah
00:20:53
Erin
Don't wear phones. We just gave my daughter a phone. It has no internet access. She can't download TikTok, Instagram, any of that stuff. It is basically she can text and call mom and dad, grandma and grandpa. But that is it.
00:21:06
Erin
Why do these kids need these these these devices?
00:21:06
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:21:09
Erin
I swear are like deadly. not only Not only the predators, there's so much from the mental health, would would it it the bullying that goes on behind the scenes with kids with these. I'm so i'm sorry, but these these cell phones are killing kids.
00:21:24
Erin
It is so scary. Even even watched a study of how the rise of when the iPhone came out in 2007, the rise of mental health and suicide in children has skyrocketed as the result of cell phones.
00:21:39
Erin
Due to everything that goes on, it you know, through these, all these different apps, Instagram, Facebook, all of these things out there that kids communicate behind these devices from sexting, teaching kids that you send that image. It is not out, is now out there for the world to see.
00:21:56
Erin
And then these kids freak out and they're going to kill themselves.
00:21:57
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:59
Erin
Because they sent some picture, whether it's to a predator or they think it's to someone their age. Oh, but no, it was 15 year old, blah, blah. You find out as really a 35 year old living in another state.
00:22:11
Erin
So, oh my gosh, I just wish these parents, I've had parents tell me, but Erin, then my kid's not the popular one that doesn't have the iPhone.
00:22:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yeah.
00:22:19
Erin
Oh my gosh.
00:22:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
yeah
00:22:20
Erin
I just want to, oh, yes.
00:22:22
Circuspreneur Podcast
it won't They won't go viral on on social media.
00:22:22
Erin
oh
00:22:24
Circuspreneur Podcast
I hear that a lot too. But they've got to go viral eventually on social media for their career. hu oh my God. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.
00:22:33
Erin
It's dangerous. They're dangerous. And I wish parents would be smarter because there are so many smart options out there. And I get it. I was totally against getting my daughter cell phone. She's 11 and a half now.
00:22:44
Erin
I had a situation recently. I said she wasn't going to be till high school. Situation recently, her dad travels a lot. I was stuck in traffic. I was 30 minutes away from home when she came home. And nobody was home. And I warned her.
00:22:55
Erin
There may be the day that something happens. You stay home, close, lock the doors, all of that. and And, you know, I'll get home. But that situation made me nervous. Like I had no way of communicating with my child that mom is stuck behind an accident and I can't get home.
00:23:10
Erin
So it was from that situation that I did my research and found a phone that has all no internet access. She basically can call and text. And that's all we need.
00:23:18
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yes.
00:23:19
Erin
Nobody else can get access to it. I'm like, this is perfect. It's the safe phone for kids. And that's what parents need to do. They don't need iPhones. And I get told a lot, why are your kids so creative, Aaron?
00:23:31
Erin
Like they have such great imaginations or how they can, I go, it's because I don't put them in front these fricking devices all the time. Like some of these parents, here's an iPad.
00:23:37
Circuspreneur Podcast
Right.
00:23:39
Erin
Here's my kids don't have that stuff. No, my kids do not have video games. We don't have Wii. We don't have iPads. We don't say what you want. You you know, i like I said, I'd rather my kids be in therapy one day because they didn't have the iPads or didn't go to the sleepovers because I don't allow those either than to have these dangerous devices and have them have sleepovers because majority of my abuse in my childhood from six, seven and eight was in my best friend's home during the sleepovers.
00:24:05
Erin
With the uncle that lived with her. And so due to his threats that I would be harmed that my house would be burned down, I would be killed, my parents to be killed, I stayed silent. And so because of those things, you know, I don't let my kids go to sleepovers. You know, and sadly, it takes situations like mine.
00:24:23
Circuspreneur Podcast
Mm-hmm.
00:24:24
Erin
to get parents to do something. It takes that 16 year old that was 20 years ago, you know the guy that got her on the and and she went and met him and he was a predator to to take action. And I don't want it to take something like what happened to me or it happened to other people to get parents to act.
The Ongoing Fight Against Child Abuse
00:24:42
Erin
Do something now before your child becomes a victim.
00:24:46
Circuspreneur Podcast
right in the preventative stage. And that's also a part of my own personal mission as a survivor, because I've seen how it ruins lives, how, you know, there was so many, you know, fellow gymnasts that I grew up with where had they not been abused, they would have gone further.
00:25:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
You know, it really destroyed the goodness that they found in the sport. It destroyed their potential later on. And, you know, many years later they were unpacking these things.
00:25:12
Circuspreneur Podcast
This is why I didn't go far. This is why i stopped. This is why I had so many issues. And so in paying attention to your children and and what they're communicating to you and getting it early so that, you know, again, you don't turn into adults undoing so many years of trauma, the environments that I came from.
00:25:42
Circuspreneur Podcast
And we're in the last final moments of the podcast, Erin. And so I wanted to circle back around to, you know how do you do it all? You are a mom of four, I believe, right?
00:25:50
Erin
That's a sport.
00:25:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
and
00:25:53
Erin
for
00:25:54
Circuspreneur Podcast
and And you have dedicated yourself to passing Aaron's law in all of the states and internationally. You know, we were speaking a few weeks ago. You were, you know, traveling then and going to so many different legislative offices and you testify. You do so much. You do podcasts. You're speaker. You've been on Oprah. I mean, you've done and do so much. How do you...
00:26:15
Circuspreneur Podcast
you know, hold the space in moving forward and also to not get, you know, not get defeated when it doesn't work out. Because, you know, even in policy efforts and working with folks that are, you know, advocates that haven't been around policy as much as I have over the last decade, they're like, this is just taking too long. It's just too hard. Like, we don't want to do this. Or they're like, we don't know if this is really the way it's supposed to be. Why isn't this happening? You know, What do you say to advocates and to survivors that get frustrated or feel like we're never going to get this through, we're never going to make this happen. And then there's gatekeepers that are always going to be there and they're always going to be, you know, the ones keeping us from being able to push these policy policies forward. And, you know, our efforts aren't going anywhere over spinning our wheels.
00:27:03
Erin
I live with the motto of failure is not an option. And i learned that in high school. I kept failing algebra over and over again. I was told to my face by some educators, Erin, you'll never get accepted into college.
00:27:14
Circuspreneur Podcast
you
00:27:15
Erin
You'll make a great waitress. And i kept telling them, I'll prove you wrong. I will prove you wrong. And, you know, I had terrible on my ACT. Like I said, I was constantly told I would not be successful. And I tell people, I don't care. You don't have to have, you don't have to go to Harvard or Yale. You can be successful.
00:27:33
Erin
And i have proven that time and time again by not giving up, by not going away. By being dedicated to this cause, I eventually succeed, even if it might take me 10 years to get the law passed in the state.
00:27:47
Erin
The great thing about trying to get legislation passed, there's always new people being introduced into office.
00:27:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
Yes.
00:27:53
Erin
not always the same people. So sometimes it just takes finding that right person. And so, and the other thing I like to say is, you know, obviously in my case, what keeps me determined and not getting discouraged when I see this bill die, you know, I've just traveled seven hours to go testify by car to Nebraska and the bill dies.
00:27:58
Circuspreneur Podcast
Okay.
00:28:14
Erin
And it's so frustrating. Like I just dedicated all this time, found childcare, put up while pregnant, traveling, you know, traveling six hours by flight to Alaska to testify while pregnant.
00:28:25
Circuspreneur Podcast
Hmm.
00:28:26
Erin
But here's the thing. Then I get that story of that kid in South Carolina, that kid in Tennessee that comes forward as a result of learning my law.
00:28:37
Erin
And it just, it's like someone just filled my tank back up and just gives me this drive. And this is why i don't go away. I mean, I recently, the most recent was a mom in Tennessee, Nashville that reached out to me and said, Aaron, I just want to thank you.
00:28:48
Erin
Because as a result of your law, my twin daughters came forward 10 years old that their dad had been raping them. Come to find out he's been doing it to all three daughters. These three girls spent two years during a trial against their father, the whole, you know,
00:29:04
Erin
Beginning to end, it took two years, and they put their dad in prison for 80 years. All the results were one session of Aaron's Law lesson.
00:29:10
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you.
00:29:14
Erin
That mom is now writing legislators religiously for me in all of these states that have not passed this saying, because Aaron's Law passed in Tennessee, my daughters knew how to speak up and tell.
00:29:26
Erin
And this is why you need to pass this legislation. And it is those stories that give me the drive to keep going. Because I know there's kids in South Dakota, in Kansas, Kentucky, where this law has not been passed.
00:29:38
Erin
That will one day as a result of this law being passed, I will get that Google alert of another child coming forward as a result of this being passed. And that's why I don't give up. You can't get rid of me, legislators.
00:29:49
Erin
And now there's a documentary being made. You can watch at aaronslawfilm.com. You can see the trailer to the documentary. Filmmakers are following me across the country testifying to these legislators.
00:30:01
Circuspreneur Podcast
Wow. Absolutely incredible. Thank you so much, Erin. Folks, if you are living in a state, listeners, circuspreneurs out there, please write your legislators, encourage them to pass Erin's law.
00:30:16
Circuspreneur Podcast
and can go to Erin's website. We're going to put that in the show notes. And you can support Erin. And we're looking forward to seeing the documentary, Erin. I'm sure that it will be powerful. You also have a miniature documentary on your website, which is also very powerful if you want Erin's Law in a nutshell.
00:30:31
Circuspreneur Podcast
And to learn more about Erin and her crusade to pass Erin's Law, all over America and then all over the world.
00:30:35
Erin
Thank you.
00:30:38
Circuspreneur Podcast
Thank you so much, Erin. We are just so honored to have you on the podcast and just honored to have you as a human being in this world, motivated to protecting our children and to speaking up when it's difficult and when it's hard.
00:30:52
Circuspreneur Podcast
and to being just a wonderful human being. And this Circus Paneur podcast is also available on stagelink.com, S-T-A-G-E-L-Y-N-C a g e l y n c dot c o m the groundbreaking new platform for live performing arts that provides unmatched access and connection to this vibrant world of shows and entertainment.
00:31:07
Circuspreneur Podcast
If you're a professional in the performing arts, visit stagelink.com slash pro, stagelink pro, S-T-A-G-E-L-Y-N-C, P-R-O, offers industry professionals higher visibility, networking opportunities, and tools to support and enhance their careers.
00:31:20
Circuspreneur Podcast
Until next time, everyone, I'm your host, Shemay Stiletto. Thank you so much for tuning in to this very special episode of the Circuspreneur Podcast with Erin Mirren, our incredible and indomitable spirited of a person and advocate.
00:31:32
Circuspreneur Podcast
So many words I could say, too many.
00:31:34
Erin
Thank