Jan. 23, 2013

“Ritual sex abuse is back. Recently (in 2003) I heard that a conference on the topic was being held for psychotherapists.

“It was planned not to critique a nasty period in the annals of American hysteria but rather so that attendees could learn to ask patients if they’ve ever been raped in day care by secret devil worshipers.

“This stuff was debunked in the 1990s as a type of urban myth. Yet it keeps cropping up, complete with pseudo-scientific theories about the psychology of so-called victims – theories that likewise refuse to die.

“One such theory is that children who are molested often grow up to deny that the crime ever happened. Many do so, the theory holds, because people commonly repress or dissociate from memories of horrific trauma – particularly sex abuse.

“This idea has been repeatedly discredited by research psychologists. But… in pop culture and among many child-protection workers, it’s still de rigueur to think that a child who was fondled or raped is at risk of burying the memory.”

– From “The Exorcists” by Debbie Nathan in the Washington Post (May 4, 2003)

June 5, 2016

“One in five of all children born in a single year in England was referred to social services before they reached age 5…. Up to 150,000 pre-school children were reported over fears of abuse or neglect, most unnecessarily….

“Researchers (at the University of Central Lancashire) said while public and professional vigilance was welcome, the number of alerts received by social services meant staff were wasting their time on innocent families, and making it harder to find the children who are at risk.

“After a series of high profile cases where serious abuse was missed, social workers are under intense pressure… and end up checking up more of the warnings they receive than is necessary, the research suggests.

Lead researcher Professor Andy Bilson said, ‘We have this mantra that says it’s everybody’s job to safeguard children, but what we are doing doesn’t actually safeguard children.”

–  From  “One in five children referred over suspected abuse” at BBC News (May 25)

Not mentioned in the Central Lancashire report is the subcategory of “satanic ritual abuse” – about which the British are similarly prone to false alarm.

Feb. 29, 2012

“The battle cry of those leading the charge in these cases is ‘Believe the children!’ In fact, the trouble always begins when adults do not believe children who truthfully report that no one abused them.

“The mantra would be more accurate if it went, ‘Believe the children, but only when or if they say they were abused, no matter how incredible, bizarre or unrealistic their stories may be.”

– From “Victims of Memory: Sex Abuse Accusations and Shattered Lives” by Mark Pendergrast (1996)

Sept. 18, 2013

“Joseph B. Cheshire V, Betsy Kelly’s attorney, says the believers in town remain so hostile to the heretics who profess any disbelief over the charges that he no longer feels comfortable vacationing at nearby Nags Head. ‘Good,’ says one prominent Little Rascals father. ‘I almost killed myself last summer running that extra distance past his house, just so he’d know that I knew he was there.’ ”

– From “The Demons of Edenton” by Lisa Scheer and Edward Cone in Elle magazine (November 1993) Download article here

“During (the Little Rascals case), Cheshire was the victim of assaults and for a time wore a bullet-proof vest.”

– From “Nationally known criminal defense attorney Joe Cheshire (’73) talks about his colorful career” by John Trump at Wake Forest University School of Law (April 5, 2010)