Most Female Child Molesters Were Victims Of Sexual Abuse, Study Suggests

ScienceDaily (May 13, 2008) - A University of Georgia study that is the first to systematically examine a large sample of female child molesters finds that many of them were themselves victims of sexual abuse as children. The finding, published in the April issue of the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, has the potential to help break the cycle of abuse by improving treatment for offenders and their young victims. "This study informs us about the pathway to becoming sexually deviant for females," said study author Susan Strickland, assistant professor in the UGA School of Social Work. "With that knowledge, we can improve treatment and reduce the likelihood of future sexual assaults on children." Strickland said the sexual abuse of minors by women has been largely ignored by the general public, the legal system and by academic researchers.


Many people believe that women are not capable of committing such acts, she said, and the abuse of boys by women is often dismissed as the boys sowing their oats or even being lucky. The truth is that both boys and girls are molested by female perpetrators and these victims often suffer a myriad of consequences affecting their sexuality, relationships and beliefs about themselves and others. Childhood sexual abuse also has been linked to a host of emotional and behavioral problems, such as substance abuse and eating disorders. The true prevalence of female sexual abuse on children is unknown, but a commonly accepted figure is that five to seven percent of sex crimes are committed by females. Studies on female sex offenders are rare, and most have been descriptive in nature, used small samples and have not used valid statistical measures or control groups.

Strickland's study, the largest of its kind, surveyed 130 incarcerated females - 60 of which were sex offenders and 70 of which were nonsexual offenders - and examined factors such as childhood trauma, substance abuse, emotional neediness and personality disorders. While the majority of both groups reported being the victims of childhood maltreatment, the sex offenders were significantly more likely to experience pervasive, serious and more frequent emotional abuse, physical abuse and neglect. "We've pretty much known that the majority of women in prison have had bad childhoods and that many suffered childhood sexual abuse," Strickland said. "But the subgroup of female sex offenders has suffered significantly more abuse, particularly sexual abuse." http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080513101605.htm

No sect members on polygamist sex case jury

No sect members on polygamist sex case jury By TERRI LANGFORD Houston Chronicle Oct. 28, 2009 ELDORADO - The issue of polygamy and how it pertains to a child sexual assault case is expected to be a contentious issue when opening statements in the first criminal trial involving a West Texas religious sect begin today....Raymond Merril Jessop, 38, is the first of 12 men from the FLDS to stand trial following a raid of the breakaway Mormon sect's ranch in Eldorado in 2008, when Texas Rangers and other law enforcement officers descended upon the Yearning for Zion Ranch after child welfare workers found several underage girls there who were pregnant or already were mothers....Evidence seized from the ranch in 2008 includes a journal dictated to followers from now jailed prophet, Warren Jeffs. That dictation indicates the group kept one of Jessop's eight spiritual wives, a 16-year-old girl, from going to the hospital after she appeared to be struggling through labor for three days. Jessop is also charged with bigamy. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6689679.html

from http://ritualabuse.us

Ritual Abuse: Canada's Most Infamous Trial On Child Abuse

Ritual Abuse: Canada's Most Infamous Trial On Child Abuse - Kevin Marron - It began as a highly unusual custody battle and escalated into the most infamous child abuse trial in Canadian history. Two sisters, not yet eight years old, recounted explicit stories of being sexually molested by their mother, her boyfriend and their violent estranged father. As appalled social workers listened, the girls revealed horrific episodes of pornography, orgies, cannibalism, and ritual murder involving many other children - allegations so extreme so bizarre, so graphic in detail it seemed impossible they could have been made up. The book describes the children's allegations and the way they were investigated, as well as the startling revelations and unexpected developments that emerged during the course of 18 months of court testimony. It also puts the case in the context of an ongoing debate about how society can respond to extreme allegations of ritual child abuse and pornography.

Excerpt "Child abuse is just one of many frightening realities that it would be more comfortable to ignore. There is overwhelming proof of its pervasiveness, but many people work very hard at denying the seriousness of the problem. In this context, it is not surprising that few people would want to believe young children's bizarre stories of cannibalism and ritual murder. In looking at the documented cases of child exploitation that surround us, in observing the images of violence and dehumanized sexuality that are part of our everyday cultural landscape, it is not hard to believe that, conspiracy or no conspiracy, the Satanists' goal could easily be achieved without much effort on their part." Seal Books, McClelland-Bantam Inc., Toronto. 1988 ISBN: 0-7704-2250-0 http://kevinmarron.com/book.html

ritual abuse laws, amnesia video, child prostitution arrests

Ritual abuse laws
(this describes crimes in detail)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (2001)
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:
Chapter 265 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 43 the following three sections: --
Section 44. No person shall commit ritualistic mutilation, dismemberment, or torture of a person as a part of a ceremony, rite, initiation, observance, performance, or practice.
Any person who commits, attempts to commit or conspires with another to commit a violation of this section shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years.
Section 45. No person shall commit ritualistic physical or psychological abuse, including sexual abuse of a child or of a physically or mentally disabled adult as part of a ceremony, rite, initiation, observance, performance, or practice.
Any person who commits, attempts to commit or conspires with another to commit a violation of this section shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or for any term of years.
Section 46. Whoever commits any of the following acts upon, with, or in the presence of a child age 18 or under shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than ten years, or by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than two and one-half years, and whoever commits a second or subsequent such offensive shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life or any term of years.
1. Actually commits or simulates the killing of, tortures, or mutilates or sacrifices any animal or human being.
2. Forces the ingestion, injects or in any other ways applies the use of a narcotic, drug, hallucinogen or anesthetic or mind altering substance for the purpose of dulling sensitivity, cognition, resistance, memory or to distort perception of any criminal or unlawful activity.
3. In any way forces the ingestion of or external application of human or animal urine, feces, flesh, blood, body parts, body secretions, drugs or chemicals.
4. Forces or entices the child to have sexual contact with another human or animal during a ritual ceremony, or rite or other related observance.
5. Places a child in a coffin or grave.
6. In way threatens the child with death or serious harm to the child, the child's parents, family, friends or pets.
7. Unlawfully dismembers, mutilates or incinerates a human corpse.
8. Forces a child to be placed in areas in which the child will come close to or in contact with human body parts.
9. Simulates the performance of surgery and placing imaginary foreign object within the child for the purpose of creating fear within the child.
10. Forces a child to participate in any ceremony, observance, practice or rite, purporting to be a marriage to any deity or other person and following such ceremony, observance, practice or rite with sexual contact or torture....
http://dissoc.de/massachusetts.html

ILLINOIS LAW ON RITUAL ABUSE OF CHILDREN The State of Illinois Public Act #87-1167 Effective January 1, 1993
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Illinois:
RITUALIZED ABUSE OF A CHILD
1. A person is guilty of a felony when he commits any of the following acts with, upon, or in the presence of a child as part of a ceremony, rite, or similar observance:
1. actually or in simulation, tortures, mutilates or sacrifices any warm-blooded animal or human being;
2. forces ingestion, injection or other application of any narcotic drug, hallucinogen or anaesthetic for the purpose of dulling sensitivity, cognition, recollection of, or resistance to any criminal activity;
3. forces ingestion or external application of human or animal urine, feces, flesh, blood, bones, body secretions, non- prescribed drugs or chemical compounds.
4. involves the child in a mock, unauthorized or unlawful marriage ceremony with another person or representation of any force or deity, followed by sexual contact with the child;
5. places a living child into a coffin or open grave containing a human corpse or remains;
6. threatens death or serious harm to a child, his or her parents, family, pets, or friends which instills a well-founded fear in the child that the threat will be carried out; or
7. unlawfully dissects, mutilates or incinerates a human corpse.
http://dissoc.de/illinois.html

Idaho House Bill No. 817 Chapter 15, Title 18, Idaho Code 18-1506A.
RITUALIZED ABUSE OF A CHILD -- EXCLUSIONS -PENALTIES - DEFINITION.
1. A person is guilty of a felony when he commits any of the following acts with, upon, or in the presence of a child as part of a ceremony, rite or any similar observance:
1. Actually or in simulation, tortures, mutilates or sacrifices any warm-blooded animal or human being;
2. Forces ingestion, injection or other application of any narcotic, drug, hallucinogen or anaesthetic for the purpose of dulling sensitivity, cognition, recollection of, or resistance to any criminal activity;
3. Forces ingestion, or external application, of human or animal urine, feces, flesh, blood, bones, body secretions, nonprescribed drugs or chemical compounds;
4. Involves the child in a mock, unauthorized or unlawful marriage ceremony with another person or representation of any force or diety, followed by sexual contact with the child;
5. Places a living child into a coffin or open grave containing a human corpse or remains;
6. Threatens death or serious harm to a child, his parents, family, pets or friends which instills a well-founded fear in the child that the threat will be carried out, or
7. Unlawfully dissects, mutilates, or incinerates a human corpse....
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 19-402
(3) A prosecution under section 18-1506A. Idaho Code, must be commenced within three (3) years after the date of the initial disclosure by the victim.
19-3024A
(a) "Child witness" means a person who is under the age of sixteen (16) years and who is alleged to have been witness of, or a witness to an alleged violation of the provisions of sections 18-1501, 18-1506, 18-1507, 18-1508, 18-1506A, 18-1514, 18-6605 and 18-6608, Idaho Code.
18-5003 CANNIBALISM DEFINED - PUNISHMENT
1. Any person who willfully ingests the flesh or blood of a human being is guilty of cannibalism.
2. It shall be an affirmative defense to a violation of the provisions of this section that the action was taken under extreme life-threatening conditions as the only apparent means of survival.
3. Cannibalism is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison not exceeding fourteen (14) years. http://dissoc.de/idaho.html

Louisiana Statutes:
#107.1. Ritualistic acts
.... 2.
1. For purposes of this Subsection, "ritualistic acts" means those acts undertaken as part of a ceremony, rite, initiation, observance, performance, or practice that result in or are intended to result in:
1. The mutilation, dismemberment, torture, abuse, or sacrifice of animals.
2. The ingestion of human or animal blood or human or animal waste.
2. The acts defined in this Subsection are hereby determined to be destructive of the peace, health, morals, and safety of the citizens of this state and are hereby prohibited.
3. Any person committing, attempting to commit, or conspiring with another to commit a ritualistic act may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both.
3.
1. No person shall commit ritualistic mutilation, dismemberment, or torture of a human as part of a ceremony, rite, initiation, observance, performance, or practice.
2. No person shall commit ritualistic sexual abuse of children or of physically or mentally disabled adults as part of a ceremony, rite, initiation, observance, performance, or practice.
3. No person shall commit ritualistic psychological abuse of children or of physically or mentally disabled adults as part of a ceremony, rite, initiation, observance, performance, or practice.
4. Any person who commits, attempts to commit, or conspires with another to commit a violation of this Subsection shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than five nor more than twenty-five years and may be fined not more than twenty-five thousand dollars....
Added by Acts 1989, No.637, # 1
HISTORICAL AND STATUTORY NOTES
Acts 1989, No. 637, which enacted this section and Revised Statutes 14:30(A)(7), became law without the signature of the governor.
http://dissoc.de/louisiana.html


Doctor explains amnesia - CNN video - Kacie Peterson 10/26/09
How could a young woman have lost her memory and turned up thousands of miles from home?
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2009/10/26/fink.jane.doe.amnesia.cnn

FBI rescues 52 kids from prostitution (AFP) WASHINGTON — US authorities rescued 52 children, including one as young as 10, from prostitution rings and arrested nearly 700 people during a nationwide sting operation over the weekend, the FBI said Monday.
The three-day push in 36 US cities "led to the recovery of 52 children who were being victimized through prostitution" and the arrest of close to 700 others, "including 60 pimps, on state and local charges," the Federal Bureau of Investigation said.
"Child prostitution continues to be a significant problem in our country, as evidenced by the number of children rescued through the continued efforts of our crimes-against-children task forces," said Kevin Perkins, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division.
The roundup, which officials said took place over the previous 72 hours, was part of a larger FBI program called "Innocence Lost," whose task forces have removed nearly 900 children from the streets since 2003, convicted 510 people and seized 3.1 million dollars in assets, the FBI said.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hpWjbXRoFnIba-7c0Qh65RUDBCpg

the courage to heal, ritual abuse presentation

The courage to heal: A guide for women survivors of child sexual abuse.
Bass, Ellen; Davis, Laura
New York, NY, US: Perennial Library/Harper & Row Publishers. (1988). 493 pp.
Abstract

"The Courage to Heal" is an inspiring, comprehensive guide that offers hope and encouragement to every woman who was sexually abused as a child—and those who care about her. Although the effects of child sexual abuse are long-term and severe, healing is possible. The authors—Ellen Bass, a nationally known counselor, and Laura Davis, a survivor of child sexual abuse—weave personal experience with professional knowledge to show the reader how she can come to terms with her past while moving powerfully into the future. The authors provide clear explanations, practical suggestions, a map of the healing journey, and many moving first-person examples of the recovery process drawn from their interviews with hundreds of survivors. (PsycINFO Database Record 2009 APA) http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1988-97592-000

Presentation at the Twelfth Annual Ritual Abuse Conference in August 2009 - Neil Brick - Ritual Abuse, the trenches of the stopping child abuse movement "Ritual abuse crimes are often the most difficult to believe because of the extreme nature of these crimes. Societies have a tendency in general to not want to believe that horrible things can happen right next door or down the street from them. Many of the atrocities that have happen throughout history have occurred in populated areas. Yet members of societies have stated after the fact that they did not know that anything was going on."
http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2009-conference/ritual-abuse-the-trenches-of-the-stopping-child-abuse-movement/

Ritual Abuse, the trenches of the stopping child abuse movement

copied with permission

http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2009-conference/ritual-abuse-the-trenches-of-the-stopping-child-abuse-movement/

This weekend’s conference is The Twelfth Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference, August 2009 in Connecticut. Some of our goals are to help stop future occurrences of ritual abuse, to help survivors of ritual abuse, to name the groups that have participated in alleged illegal activities and to unite those working to stop ritual abuse. This weekend, you will get to hear a variety of speakers talk about ritual abuse, secretive organizations and mind control from different perspectives, showing the possible connections between them.

Neil Brick is a survivor of alleged Masonic Ritual Abuse and MK-ULTRA. He is the editor of S.M.A.R.T. – A Ritual Abuse Newsletter. His topic is : Ritual Abuse, the trenches of the stopping child abuse movement.

The address for S.M.A.R.T. is P O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027 USA, E-mail: smartnews@aol.com
Please use caution while reading this presentation. It may be very triggering. All accusations are alleged. The conference is educational and not intended as therapy or treatment.

The existence of ritual abuse has been one of the four places where so called skeptics and false memory syndrome proponents have attacked the credibility of child abuse survivors. The second one is attacking the theory of recovered memory. However, there is overwhelming scientific evidence that recovered memory exists as a phenomenon it has fairly high corroboration. There is also a lot of evidence that those attacking the theory of recovered memory may have ulterior motives, for example, they may have been accused of child abuse crimes or may have been connected to mind control research in the past. The third is that somehow therapists have implanted memories in child abuse survivors. However, there is little evidence that this is possible and when it has been claimed, so called retractors (if the victims even ever retracted) may have had prior symptoms of trauma before these so called implantations occurred. The fourth is the questioning of the existence of dissociation and DID/MPD. However there is overwhelming scientific evidence that these diagnoses clearly exist and that trauma contributes to the manifestation of these diagnoses.

By attacking these areas, some so called skeptics and false memory syndrome proponents have worked to discredit all child abuse survivors and child abuse crimes. Some skeptics will state that they are against child abuse or that it may occasionally exist, but none appear to be active in fighting or exposing child abuse crimes.

I will be focusing on why the support of the existence of ritual abuse by all the child abuse movement is crucial to the protection of the child abuse movement as a whole.

Ritual abuse crimes are often the most difficult to believe because of the extreme nature of these crimes. Societies have a tendency in general to not want to believe that horrible things can happen right next door or down the street from them. Many of the atrocities that have happen throughout history have occurred in populated areas. Yet members of societies have stated after the fact that they did not know that anything was going on or that any atrocities were committed.

This denial is at times encouraged by those that may have a vested interest in society maintaining a high level of denial or they may simply have trouble cognitively having an accurate world view, possibly due to their own psychodynamic issues.

Catherine Gould stated:

“Not only do skeptics…choose to ignore eyewitness/victim accounts of ritual criminal activity, they apparently also choose to overlook the significant number of cases of ritual abuse in which perpetrators have confessed to their crimes.” (Denying Ritual Abuse of Children – Catherine Gould – The Journal of Psychohistory 22 (3) 1995)

“When we understand the fact that ritual abuse is usually perpetrated by groups which are deeply involved in organized crime, the underlying incentives of these cult/perpetrator groups become clean…How much money do these groups actually generate, and is it enough to impact the culture at the level of, say, media-created public opinion? This, of course, is the cloudy part of the economic argument for why ritual abuse is as wide-spread as it is, in families and in preschools, and why we as a society have been so slow to recognize and respond to the seriousness of this problem. It is by definition difficult to know who belongs to groups whose membership is highly secretive, especially when many of the membership themselves are amnestic to their involvement. Therefore, it is difficult to assess the degree to which members of these groups influence media accounts of ritual abuse, derail ritual abuse Investigations by law enforcement, are instrumental in getting children complaining of interfamilial ritual abuse sent back to an abusing parent, or hire officials to make public statements on behalf of a national law enforcement bureau to the effect that no substantial evidence of ritual abuse exists.”(Denying Ritual Abuse of Children – Catherine Gould – The Journal of Psychohistory 22 (3) 1995)

“In my opinion, we in the United States deny the reality and seriousness of ritual abuse, especially as it impacts on children, in part because it threatens our images of ourselves as Americans. The thinking of the skeptic often goes something like this: Hideous crimes involving torture and mind control “don’t happen here.”(Denying Ritual Abuse of Children – Catherine Gould – The Journal of Psychohistory 22 (3) 1995)
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/denying-ritual-abuse-of-children-catherine-gould/

Lloyd deMause stated :

“one of the most widely cited books claiming that cult abuse reports were mass hysteria is Paul and Shirley Eberle’s The Abuse of Innocence: The McMartin Preschool trial. Taken quite seriously by reviewers and widely quoted in later magazine articles as authoritative, the book makes such claims as that the over 100 McMartin children who reported they had been abused by a cult were all “brainwashed” and the mothers were all “hysterical” and that it was meaningless that physicians found three-quarters of the children bore physical evidence that corroborated their stories. What reviewers didn’t mention was that the Eberles had been called “the most prolific publishers of child pornography in the United States” by Sgt. Toby Tyler, a San Bernadino deputy sheriff who is a nationally recognized expert on child pornography. Their kiddie porn material that I have seen and the articles they have published such as “I Was a Sexpot at Five” and “Little Lolitas” Included illustrations of children involved in…“ (sexual acts)
(Why Cults Terrorize and Kill Children – LLOYD DEMAUSE – The Journal of Psychohistory 21 (4) 1994)

It has been stated that incest is universal.

deMause discusses the universality of incest:

“In several hundred studies published by myself and my associates in The Journal of Psychohistory, we have provided extensive evidence that the history of childhood has been a nightmare from which we have only recently begun to awaken. The further back in history one goes – and the further away from the West one gets – the more massive the neglect and cruelty one finds and the more likely children are to have been killed, rejected, beaten, terrorized and sexually abused by their caretakers.”(The History of Child Abuse – Lloyd deMause -
The Journal of Psychohistory V. 25, N. 3, Winter 1998)

“That it is incest itself – and not the absence of incest – that has been universal for most people in most places at most times. Furthermore, the earlier in history one searches, the more evidence there is of universal incest, just as there is more evidence of other forms of child abuse.” (The Universality of Incest – Lloyd DeMause
Journal of Psychohistory 19 (2) Winter 1991)
http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/the-universality-of-incest-lloyd-demause/

It is well known that child pornography is a billion dollar industry and there are frequent arrests around the world for crimes of its production and possession.

“Billion-Dollar Black Market Industry – Child porn has emerged as a multibillion dollar black market industry, though “average people don’t believe it,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “The reality is, with the advent of the Internet, the problem of child pornography has exploded,” said Allen…..“There’s a myth here,” he said, “and that is the myth of the stranger.” Allen pointed to NCMEC’s data, which show that most child sexual exploitation victims know the perpetrator of the crime — at least 35 percent of them are the victim’s own parents and 70 percent are other family members or someone close to the child. “Overwhelmingly, the people who are victimizing America’s children, photographing it and distributing it via child pornography are close to the child,” he said. “Many of them are their dads.” http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/Story?id=3132195&page=2

The cover up of ritual abuse may obviously be due to the potential financial losses some of these groups may have if the children are believed. So the perpetrators may have a financial motive to create a social situation where children are not believed. Even the DSM-IV-TR clearly states under its DID diagnosis that the reports of patients suffering from DID are “often confirmed by objective evidence,” and that the abusers in those situations may be inclined to “deny or distort” these acts.

Tactically, perpetrators began to see the legal and financial ramifications if their crimes against children were exposed. Cries of “witch hunt” and “panic” were used to spin and cover up crimes against children. Those (like Salter and Calof) that were working to expose these crimes or expose those that were trying to cover up alleged crimes were harassed, causing some to stop researching and advocating for children. Many presentations of child abuse crimes, like ritual abuse crimes in the media and on the web, like Wikipedia, carry only one sided accounts of these crimes, minimizing or leaving out the victims’ and prosecutors’ perspective, even in cases where convictions were found and appeals were denied.

The media turned on child abuse survivors in the early and mid 1990’s and began to in essence support those that has perpetrated crimes against children, believing unfounded stories about so called “miscarriages of justice.” Due to the extreme nature of ritual abuse crimes and the psychological need for the public denial of these crimes, it became an easy sell to spin these crimes against children for the public to believe the misstatements about falsely accused perpetrators. After ritual abuse was discredited, then other child abuse crimes could be more easily discredited.

Salter discusses this in “Organised abuse and the politics of disbelief” – Michael Salter – Faculty of Law Faculty of Medicine – University of New South Wales (Proceedings of the 2nd Australian & New Zealand Critical Criminology Conference 19 – 20 June 2008 Sydney, Australia – Presented by the Crime & Justice Research Network and the Australian and New Zealand Critical Criminology Network)
http://www.cjrn.unsw.edu.au/critcrimproceedings2008.pdf

During a period in which women and children’s testimony of incest and sexual abuse were gaining an increasingly sympathetic hearing, lobby groups of people accused of child abuse construed and positioned “ritual abuse” as the new frontier of disbelief.

The term “ritual abuse” arose from child protection and psychotherapy practice with adults and children disclosing organised abuse, only to be discursively encircled by backlash groups with the rhetoric of “recovered memories”, “false allegations” and “moral panic”. Seeking to recast the debate on child abuse according to an older politics of disbelief, these groups and activists attempted to characterise sexual abuse testimony, as a whole, through the lens of “ritual abuse”:

Quote from Pamela Freyd:
It must be obvious to rational people that accusations based on memories that include satanic ritual are delusions of some sort. For those of us who are only accused of ‘run-of-the-mill incest,’ this should turn out to be some help. If ‘memories’ of satanic abuse can be induced in therapy then so can memories’ of incest or anything else. (Pamela Freyd, co-founder of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, quoted in Calof 1993)

Salter continues:
It does not take much effort to understand why people accused of child sexual abuse may engage in a vigorous defence of their innocence, nor why they might be joined by professional defence experts that make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year defending them. What does bear explaining is the purchase that their rhetoric found in the media, academia and the broader community.

Since the 1980s, disclosures of organised abuse have been disparaged by a range of activists, journalists and researchers who have focused, in particular, on cases in which sexually abusive groups were alleged to have behaved in ritualistic or ceremonial ways (e.g. Eberle and Eberle 1986; Loftus and Ketcham 1994; Wakefield and Underwager 1994; Guilliatt 1996; Nathan and Snedeker 1996; Ofshe and Watters 1996). Whilst these authors claimed to be writing in the interests of science and social justice, what has emerged from their writing are a familiar set of arguments about the credibility of women and children’s testimony of sexual violence; in short, that women and children are prone to a range of memory and cognitive errors that lead them to make false allegations of rape.

As survivors of child abuse, we need to rebut these arguments (of the so-called skeptics). We need to know the facts. We need to fight against the arguments that protect child abusers. Every time a statement is made in the media against survivors of child abuse, the media needs to hear from hundreds of survivors. Everyone needs to write an intelligent letter, backed by facts. Every time a biased web page is created against survivors of child abuse, we need to create several intelligent, well-written pages to counter these. We need to get into the debate to tell our side of the story in every place we can. Wherever there is an opening for our side of the story, we must be there to tell it. And we need to say why we are telling this side of the story, to protect children from being abused and to help those that have been abused. We need to start getting published again in peer reviewed journals and start publishing nonfiction books about this topic in major publishing houses.

I will close with a quote from Audre Lorde:

“I have come to believe over and over again, that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood…. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you…. and while we wait in silence for that final luxury of fearlessness, the weight of that silence will choke us. The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.” Audre Lorde (The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action, Sister Outsider).

Five Children Die Each Day From Abuse or Neglect, Franklin Scandal

Report: Five Children Die Each Day From Abuse or Neglect - Lawmakers Urge Congress to Increase Spending to Curb Neglect by Mary Bruce Oct. 21, 2009 A new report out today found that on average, five children died from abuse or neglect every day in the United States between 2001 and 2007. The report by the advocacy group Every Child Matters, estimated that more than 10,000 children died over the same time frame. In 2007 alone 1,760 children died, a 35 percent increase over the death rate in 2001. And, due to poor reporting and record-keeping in many states, the actual number is estimated to be as much as 50 percent higher. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/children-die-day-abuse-neglect-us/story?id=8883519

The FRANKLIN SCANDAL – A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal By Nick Bryant Allegations of crimes, conspiracies, and cover-ups in the heartland and the capital – A chilling exposé of corporate corruption and government cover-ups, this account of a nationwide child-trafficking and pedophilia ring in the United States tells a sordid tale of corruption in high places. The scandal originally surfaced during an investigation into Omaha, Nebraska’s failed Franklin Federal Credit Union and took the author beyond the Midwest and ultimately to Washington, DC. Implicating businessmen, senators, major media corporations, the CIA, and even the venerable Boys Town organization, this extensively researched report includes firsthand interviews with key witnesses and explores a controversy that has received scant media attention.

The Franklin Scandal is the story of a nationwide pedophile ring that pandered children to a cabal of the rich and powerful. The ring’s pimps were a pair of Republican powerbrokers who used Boys Town as a pedophiliac reservoir, had access to the highest levels of our government, and connections to the CIA. ISBN: 0977795322
http://trineday.com/paypal_store/product_pages/Franklin.html
TrineDay P O Box 577 Walterville, OR 97489 1-800-556-2012
http://franklinscandal.com/

MKULTRA Legacy The Stain of Dishonor and the Prerequisites for Redemption

http://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/mc-documents-links/

http://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/articles-books/the-law-and-mind-control-a-look-at-the-law-and-goverment-mind-control-through-five-cases/

describes experiments
Gordon P. Erspamer, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed 10/18/09 Despite the passage of four decades, America and its military have never come to grips with its own ghastly programs of using soldiers as guinea pigs to test chemical or biological weapons such as LSD, sarin, nerve gases, plague, mescaline, anthrax and hundreds of others. At the same time, they also conducted mind-control experiments, as soldiers and others were administered drugs, and septal implants were inserted in the sinus cavities a la "The Manchurian Candidate." The secret research programs, originally code-named MKULTRA but continued under a long succession of other code names, were conducted mainly by the US Army from 1943 until at least 1975. However, the CIA provided planning, financial support and field testing. Participants in the experiments were recruited by the Army and lured by promises of no KP duty, a four-day workweek, the promise of medals and special recognition. At the same time, they were sworn to secrecy and forced to sign a general consent form without informed consent or even knowing the nature of the toxic substances that were sprayed in their faces, applied to their skin or injected into their veins. And the government continues to try to hide the fact that Nazi members were recruited to help devise these experiments as part of Operation Paperclip.... http://www.truthout.org/101809C

Book I: Foreign and Military Intelligence - Testing and Use of Chemical and Biological Agents by the Intelligence Community http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/book1/html/ChurchB1_0197a.htm

Project MKULTRA, The CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification: Joint Hearing Before the Senate Select Committees on Intelligence and Human Resources, 95th Cong. (1977), Testimony of CIA Director Admiral Stansfield Turner at http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/mkultra/Hearing03.htm

The Myth of Epidemic False Allegations of Sexual Abuse in Divorce Cases

by Merrilyn McDonald
It is commonly believed that false allegations of sexual abuse in the context of divorce are epidemic, that most allegations made in the context of divorce are made by vindictive mothers and that these allegations are almost always false. These beliefs are not supported by scientific evidence. It is widely believed that at least 50 percent of all allegations of child sexual abuse are false, and that an accused person appearing in a court of law is quite likely to have been falsely accused. Those who defend accused child sexual offenders want us to believe that 50 percent of individuals brought to trial are innocent. These beliefs are not supported by scientific evidence, either....False allegations of sexual abuse in divorce are a rare occurrence. False allegations of sexual abuse in general are rare. Unsubstantiated is not the same as false. Child sexual abuse is a common experience . Child sexual abuse is grossly underreported ...Children recant because of pressure or a desire to get their family back http://www.omsys.com/mmcd/courtrev.htm

Children's Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey

David Finkelhor, Heather Turner, Richard Ormrod, Sherry Hamby, and Kristen Kracke....

The survey confirms that most of our society's children are exposed to violence in their daily lives. More than 60 percent of the children surveyed were exposed to violence within the past year, either directly or indirectly (i.e., as a witness to a violent act; by learning of a violent act against a family member, neighbor, or close friend; or from a threat against their home or school) (for full details on these and other statistics cited in this Bulletin, see Finkelhor et al., 2009). Nearly one-half of the children and adolescents surveyed (46.3 percent) were assaulted at least once in the past year, and more than 1 in 10 (10.2 percent) were injured in an assault; 1 in 4 (24.6 percent) were victims of robbery, vandalism, or theft; 1 in 10 (10.2 percent) suffered from child maltreatment (including physical and emotional abuse, neglect, or a family abduction); and 1 in 16 (6.1 percent) were victimized sexually.

More than 1 in 4 (25.3 percent) witnessed a violent act and nearly 1 in 10 (9.8 percent) saw one family member assault another. Multiple victimizations were common: more than one-third (38.7 percent) experienced 2 or more direct victimizations in the previous year, more than 1 in 10 (10.9 percent) experienced 5 or more direct victimizations in the previous year, and more than 1 in 75 (1.4 percent) experienced 10 or more direct victimizations in the previous year.

Reports of lifetime exposure to violence were generally about one-third to one-half higher than reports of past-year exposure, although the difference tended to be greater for less frequent and more severe types of victimization. (For example, more than three times as many respondents reported being victims of a kidnapping over their lifetimes as did in the past year.) Nearly seven in eight children (86.6 percent) who reported being exposed to violence during their lifetimes also reported being exposed to violence within the past year, which indicated that these children were at ongoing risk of violent victimization. The reports of lifetime exposure also indicate how certain types of exposure change and accumulate as a child grows up; nearly one in five girls ages 14 to 17 (18.7 percent) had been the victim of a sexual assault or attempted sexual assault, and more than one-third of all 14- to 17-year-olds had seen a parent assaulted. http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/227744.pdf

The International Violence Against Women Act: What Are We Waiting For?

The International Violence Against Women Act: What Are We Waiting For? by Patricia T. Morris 10/13/09 by the Women's International Perspective

...According to the United Nations at least one in three women and girls around the world is beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime and some four million women and girls are trafficked annually into forced marriage, prostitution, or slavery. At least 60 million girls who would otherwise be alive are missing, mostly in Asia, as a result of sex-selective abortions, infanticide, or neglect. According to the World Health Organization, between 10-52% of women report having been assaulted by an intimate partner. The UNFPA estimates that 130 million girls and women around the world have undergone female genital cutting (FGC) and at least 2 million girls every year - nearly 6,000 per day - are at risk of undergoing FGC. Despite increased public awareness and two recent UN Security Council Resolutions (1820 and 1888), rape is increasingly used as a weapon of war in armed conflicts. The UN reports that during the Rwanda genocide between 200,000 and 500,000 women were raped, and in Bosnia during the conflict there between 20,000 and 50,000 women were raped. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/10/13-9

new woman accused over paedophile ring - was also nursery worker

From Times Online 10/13/09 A second woman nursery worker has been charged in connection with the paedophile ring involving nursery worker Vanessa George. Tracy Lyons appeared before magistrates in Portsmouth on Saturday charged with the sexual abuse of a child, taking an indecent image of a child and distributing indecent images of a child....The 39-year-old was arrested following information from Greater Manchester Police, which investigated Colin Blanchard, 39, from Rochdale. Blanchard had a co-ordinating role in the paedophile ring which also included George, 39, from Plymouth, and Angela Allen, 39, from Nottingham. The trio have admitted child sexual abuse and swapping images over the internet....George, Blanchard and Allen will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court next month for 37 child sex offences. Lyons was remanded in custody and will appear in court again on January 18.....George, who worked at Little Ted's Nursery in Plymouth, also said she knew the abuse was "vile" and "disgusting". http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6872780.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=2015164

Ritual abuse

copied with permission

Ritual abuse exists all over the world. There have been reports, journal articles[1][2][3], web pages[4][5][6][7][8][9] and criminal convictions of crimes against children and adults [10][11][12].

Contents

* 1 Definition

* 2 Origins of the term

* 3 Evidence

* 4 References

* 5 Bibliography

* 6 External Links

Definition

Ritual abuse has been defined as: a brutal form of abuse of children, adolescents, and adults, consisting of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, and involving the use of rituals. Ritual does not necessarily mean satanic. However, most survivors state that they were ritually abused as part of satanic worship for the purpose of indoctrinating them into satanic beliefs and practices. Ritual abuse rarely consists of a single episode. It usually involves repeated abuse over an extended period of time. The physical abuse is severe, sometimes including torture and killing. The sexual abuse is usually painful, sadistic, and humiliating, intended as means of gaining dominance over the victim. The psychological abuse is devastating and involves the use of ritual/indoctrination, which includes mind control techniques and mind altering drugs, and ritual/intimidation which conveys to the victim a profound terror of the cult members and of the evil spirits they believe cult members can command. Both during and after the abuse, most victims are in a state of terror, mind control, and dissociation in which disclosure is exceedingly difficult.[13]

and as

WHAT IS RITUAL ABUSE? (BROAD DEFINITION) Ritual abuse is the abuse of a child, weaker adult, or animal in a ritual setting or manner. In a broad sense, many of our overtly or covertly socially sanctioned actions can be seen as ritual abuse, such as military basic training, hazing, racism, spanking children, and partner-battering. Some abuse is private...some public. Public ritual abuse may be either open or secret. WHAT IS RITUAL ABUSE? (NARROW DEFINITION) The term ritual abuse is generally used to mean prolonged, extreme, sadistic abuse, especially of children, within a group setting. The group's ideology is used to justify the abuse, and abuse is used to teach the group's ideology. The activities are kept secret from society at large, as they violate norms and laws.[14]

Origins of the term

Pazder introduced the term "ritualized abuse" in 1980, describing the experiences of an adult survivor that was disclosing satanic abuse memories. He defined the phenomenon as "repeated physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual assaults combined with a systematic use of symbols, ceremonies, and machinations designed and orchestrated to attain malevolent effects." Later definitions came mostly from professionals addressing ritual abuse in child care settings. Finkelhor, Williams, Burns, and Kalinowski elaborated on Pazder's definition, defining ritual abuse as "abuse that occurs in a context linked to some symbols or group activity that have a religious, magical or supernatural connotation, and where the invocation of these symbols or activities are repeated over time and used to frighten and intimidate the children." Kelley referred to ritual abuse as the "repetitive and systematic sexual, physical, and psychological abuse of children by adults as part of cult or satanic worship"[15].

Evidence

There is a great deal of evidence supporting the existence of ritual abuse crimes as a worldwide phenomenon. Bottoms, Shaver and Goodman found in their 1993 study evaluating ritual abuse claims that in 2,292 alleged ritual abuse cases, 15% of the perpetrators in adult cases and 30% of the perpetrators in child cases confessed to the abuse[16]. "In a survey of 2,709 members of the American Psychological Association, it was found that 30 percent of these professionals had seen cases of ritual or religion-related abuse (Bottoms, Shaver & Goodman, 1991). Of those psychologists who have seen cases of ritual abuse, 93 percent believed that the reported harm took place and 93 percent believed that the alleged ritualism occurred....The similar research of Nancy Perry (1992) which further supports (the previous findings)…Perry also conducted a national survey of therapists who work with clients with dissociative disorders and she found that 88 percent of the 1,185 respondents indicated "belief in ritual abuse, involving mind control and programming"[17]. Recently an online survey[18] of over one thousand people answered questions about ritual abuse and extreme abuse crimes. In a summary of the survey [19], it was found that ritual abuse/mind control is a global phenomenon. Fifty-five percent stated they were abuse in a Satanic cult. Seventy-seven percent of the adult survivors that responded "had been threatened with death if they ever talked about the abuse." Also, "257 respondents reported that secret mind control experiments were used on them as children." Eighty-two percent reported being sexually abused by multiple perpetrators.

Anne Johnson Davis in her book Hell Minus One reported that her parents confessed to her abuse in writing and verbally to clergymen, and to the detectives from the Utah Attorney General's Office. Her suppressed memories started when she was in her mid-30s, which were fully substantiated by her mother and stepfather[20][21].

Many scientific journals articles have discussed the reality of ritual abuse and its effect on its victims. Some of these articles have discussed the extreme nature of these crimes[22], proof of the reality of the ritual abuse phenomenon and victims' symptoms[23], the connection between ritual abuse, multiple personality disorder and mind control[24] and the connections between ritual abuse reports and the higher levels of symptoms of childhood sexual and physical abuse[25]. Several additional studies and organizations have compiled research on the reality of ritual abuse crimes[26][27][28]. Ritual abuse and mind control crimes have also been confirmed in other books[29][30].

A study which identified 270 cases of sexual abuse in day care settings found that allegations of ritual abuse occurred in thirteen percent of the cases[31]. Additional evidence of ritual abuse in day care and child abuse cases has been found in news reports, journal articles and legal transcripts[32][33][34][35][36][37]. Ritual abuse occurrences have also been found in the Netherlands[38]and England[39]. Reports of ritual abuse have also been found in multiple personality disorder sufferers[15]. Kent believes that intergenerational satanic accounts are possible and that rituals related to them may come from a deviant interpretation of religious texts[40][41]. Others have stated that the theories and research around recovered memory "strongly confirm the reality of...cult abuse" of SRA survivors[42].

References

1. Satanic Ritual Abuse evidence http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/

2. 2008 Publications on Ritual Abuse and Mind Control http://www.endritualabuse.org/citation%202.htm

3. Lacter, E (2008-02-11). "Brief Synopsis of the Literature on the Existence of Ritualistic Abuse". http://endritualabuse.org/Brief%20Synopsis.htm

4. http://ritualabuse.us

5. http://www.ritualabusetorture.org/

6. http://www.ra-info.org

7. http://www.survivorship.org

8. http://web.archive.org/web/20080116175648/http://theawarenesscenter.org/ritualabuse.html

9. http://www.endritualabuse.org/

10. Believe the children (1997). "Conviction List: Ritual Child Abuse". http://www.ra-info.org/resources/ra_cases.shtml

11. The Satanism and Ritual Abuse Archive http://www.endritualabuse.org/ritualabusearchive.htm

12. Noblitt, PhD, J. R. - An Empirical Look at the Ritual Abuse Controversy (2007) http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/an-empirical-look-at-the-ritual-abuse-controversy-randy-noblitt-phd/

13. Report of the Ritual Abuse Task Force - Los Angeles County Commission for Women "Mind control is the cornerstone of ritual abuse, the key element in the subjugation and silencing of its victims. Victims of ritual abuse are subjected to a rigorously applied system of mind control designed to rob them of their sense of free will and to impose upon them the will of the cult and its leaders. Most often these ritually abusive cults are motivated by a satanic belief system [only on the surface.] The mind control is achieved through an elaborate system of brainwashing, programming, indoctrination, hypnosis, and the use of various mind-altering drugs. The purpose of the mind control is to compel ritual abuse victims to keep the secret of their abuse, to conform to the beliefs and behaviors of the cult, and to become functioning members who serve the cult by carrying out the directives of its leaders without being detected within society at large." http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/report-of-the-ritual-abuse-task-force-los-angeles-county-commission-for-women/ http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/ra.htm

14. Survivorship - Frequently Asked Questions http://www.survivorship.org/faq.html

15. a b Van Benschoten, Susan C. (1990). Multiple Personality Disorder and Satanic Ritual Abuse: the Issue Of Credibility Dissociation Vol. III, No. 1 "A large number of adult MPD patients in psychotherapy are reporting memories of explicitly satanic ritual abuse beginning in childhood. The authors of two limited surveys, conducted with a select group of MPD therapists, suggest the percentage of reported satanic ritual abuse in the MPD population to be 20% (Braun & Gray, 1986) and 28% (Braun & Gray, 1987). A survey by Kaye and Klein (1987) reveals that 20 of the 42 MPD patients in treatment with seven Ohio therapists describe a history of satanic ritual abuse. Ilopponen (1987) states that 38 of the more than 70 MPD patients she has treated report memories of "satanic-type ritualized abuse " (p. 11). Two inpatient facilities specializing in the treatment of MPD report that approximately 50% of their patients disclose memories of satanic ritual abuse (Braun, 1989a; Ganaway, 1989). Similar accounts of satanic ritual abuse are being reported by personally unrelated MPD patients from across the United States (Braun, 1989b; Braun & Sachs, 1988; Kahaner, 1988; Sachs & Braun, 1987). In addition, according to Braun (1989b), the reports of patients in this country are similar to data collected from adult survivors in England, Holland, Germany, France, Canada, and Mexico...Brown (1986), noting many similar allegations in child and adult satanic ritual abuse accounts, suggests that reports are not only comparable across geographical and personal boundaries, but across generations as well." http://www.empty-memories.nl/dis_90/vanbenschoten_sra.pdf

16. Data from Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (1998)."Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law" (W. W. Norton) ISBN 0-393-70254-5 (p.62) Bottoms, B. Shaver, P. & Goodman, G. (1993) Profile of ritual abuse and religion related abuse allegations in the United States. Updated findings provided via personal communication from B. Bottoms. Cited in K.C. Faller (1994), Ritual Abuse; A Review of the research. The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children Advisor , 7, 1, 19-27

17. Noblitt, J.R.; Perskin, P. (2000). Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America p. 269, Greenwood Publishing Group. http://books.google.com/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C

18. Extreme Abuse Survey http://extreme-abuse-survey.net/

19. Understanding ritual trauma: A comparison of findings from three online surveys http://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/eas-studies/understanding-ritual-trauma-a-comparison-of-findings-from-three-online-surveys/

20. Johnson Davis, Anne Hell Minus One: My Story of Deliverance From Satanic Ritual Abuse and My Journey to Freedom Transcript Bulletin Publishing - ISBN 978-0-9788348-0-7 - 2008 http://www.hellminusone.com/

21. Hell Minus One - signed verified confessions of satanic ritual abuse http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/survivor-stories/hell-minus-one-signed-verified-confessions-of-satanic-ritual-abuse/

22. Cozolino, L.J. (1990). "Ritual child abuse, psychopathology, and evil". Journal of Psychology and Theology, 18(3):218-227 "Ritualistic abuse is an extreme form of psychological, physical, and sexual maltreatment of children in the context of "religious" ceremony. The clinical presentation of the victims of such abuse is complex and raises many issues related in the diagnosis and treatment of psychopathology as well as the importance of spiritual counseling" https://wisdom.biola.edu/jpt

23. Cozolino, L.J.; Shaffer, R.E (Fall 1992) "Adults who report childhood ritualistic abuse." Special Issue: Satanic ritual abuse: The current state of knowledge. Journal of Psychology and Theology 20(3) "Skeptics question the legitimacy of these reports, but many factors point to the reality of the phenomenon of ritualistic abuse. First of all, the degree of consistency between reports of individuals from different parts of the country is very high. The fact that children as young as 2 and 3 report ritualistic abuse experiences that mirror those reported by adult victims is especially striking in light of the fact that young children do not have access to the kind of printed information that might conceivably allow an older person to fabricate such experiences (Gould, 1987). Second, experiences of ritualistic abuse reported by victims of all ages are virtually identical to written historical accounts of Satan worship and the like (Hill & Goodwin, 1989; Russell, 1972), findings that substantiate our present-day understanding of Satanism and ritualistic abuse as intragenerational phenomenon. Third, the symptoms from which individuals reporting histories of ritualistic abuse tend to suffer are consistent with our current understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder and the dissociative disorders. The progression in which ritualistic abuse survivors respond to psychotherapy places these victims squarely within the category of individual who have suffered real-not imagined-trauma." https://wisdom.biola.edu/jpt

24. Gould, C., & Cozolino, L. (1992) "Ritual abuse, multiplicity, and mind-control." Special Issue: Satanic ritual abuse: The current state of knowledge. Journal of Psychology and Theology 20(3):194-6 "As a result of the psychologically intolerable nature of their early childhood experiences, victims of ritual abuse frequently develop multiple personality disorder (MPD)....Ritual abuse is conducted on behalf of a cult whose purpose is to establish mind control over the victims. Thus, these perpetrators have a conscious motive for the abuse beyond compulsively repeating their own childhood abuse in an effort to gain mastery over the original trauma. Most victims state that they were ritually abused as part of satanic worship, for the purpose of indoctrinating them into satanic beliefs (Los Angeles County Commission for Women, 1989). Mind control is originally established when the victim is a child under 6 years old." https://wisdom.biola.edu/jpt

25. Lawrence, K.J.; Cozolino, L.; Foy, D.W. (1995). Psychological sequelae in adult females reporting childhood ritualistic abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect 19 (8): 975-984. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(95)00059-H. "Women reporting ritualistic features scored significantly higher on measures of childhood sexual and physical abuse. Neither PTSD diagnostic status nor severity for PTSD nor dissociative experiences were significantly different between the groups." http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V7N-3YB56DX-1X&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=b9a75a7e349d4efe5a11ed205f736cf5

26. Gould, C. (1995). Denying ritual abuse of children. Journal of Psychohistory, 22(3), 329-339. "The evidence is rapidly accumulating that the problem of ritual abuse is considerable in scope and extremely grave in its consequences Among 2,709 members of the American Psychological Association who responded to a poll, 2,292 cases of ritual abuse were reported (Bottoms, Shaver, & Goodman, 1993). In 1992 alone, Childhelp USA logged 1,741 calls pertaining to ritual abuse, Monarch Resources of Los Angeles logged approximately 5,000, Real Active Survivors tallied nearly 3,600, Justus Unlimited of Colorado received almost 7,000, and Looking Up of Maine handled around 6,000. Even allowing for some of these calls to have been made by people who assist survivors but arc not themselves survivors, and for some survivors to have called more that one helpline or made multiple calls to the same helpline, these numbers suggest that at a minimum there must be tens of thousands of survivors of ritual abuse in the United States. Evidence also continues to accumulate that the ritual abuse of children constitutes a child abuse problem of significant scope. In 1988, Finkelhor, Williams and Burns published the results of a nationwide study of substantiated reports of sexual abuse in day care involving 1,639 young child victims. Thirteen percent of these cases were found to involve ritual abuse. Other studies of ritually abused children have been relatively small. Kelly (1988; 1989; 1992a; 1992b; 1993) reported on 35 day care victims of ritual abuse, Waterman et al. (1993) reported on 82 children complaining of ritual abuse in preschool, Faller (1988; 1990) studied 18 children who had disclosed ritual abuse in their preschool, and Bybee and Mowbray (1993) from the Michigan State Department of Mental Health identified 62 children alleging ritual abuse in their preschool and 53 children who reported seeing others be ritually abused. Snow and Sorenson (1990) studied 39 children reporting ritual abuse in five neighborhoods in Utah, and Jonker and Jonker-Bakker (1991) reported on a total group of 98 children, at least 48 of whom were believed to be victims of ritual abuse. The latter case is the only one cited here which was conducted outside of the United States." http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/denying-ritual-abuse-of-children-catherine-gould/ http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/denyra.htm

27. Paley, K. (June 1992). Dream wars: a case study of a woman with multiple personality disorder(PDF). Dissociation 5 (2): 111-116. "Apologists believe that reports of satanic cult abuse either must or could be true. There is some evidence to support the apologists. In 1986, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in Commonwealth v. Drew (397 Mass. 65) upheld the conviction of Carl H. Drew for the murder of Karen Marsden. There was evidence that Drew conducted satanic ritual meetings and that he had killed Marsden "because she wanted to leave the cult " (Commonworth v. Drew, 1986, p. 66). Marsden had gone to the police and reported a human sacrifice. Scott Waterhouse was convicted of the murder of a twelve year-old girl, and the conviction was upheld in the State of Maine v. Scott Waterhouse (513 A. 2d 862, Me. 1986). It was ruled that the trial court's introduction of the defendant's satanic beliefs was relevant in establishing motive and intent. In a study of hundreds of day care centers, Finkelhor and Williams found that "... [c] lear-cut corroboration of ritualistic practices was available in a few cases, such as Country Walk [in Miami], where ritual objects were found by police and where the female perpetrators did admit to some of the sadistic practices alleged in the children's stories" (1988, pp. 59-60). Greaves (1992) describes a video made by the Chicago Police Department of two sites allegedly used for satanic ceremonies. He was struck by the similarity of the material to descriptions he had heard from many of his clients.

28. Report of Utah State Task Force on Ritual Abuse Utah Governor's Commission for Women and Families (1992) https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/1646/1/Diss_5_2_9_OCR.pdf

29. Secret Weapons - Two Sisters' Terrifying True Story of Sex, Spies and Sabotage by Cheryl and Lynn Hersha with Dale Griffis, Ph D. and Ted Schwartz. New Horizon Press, P O Box 669 Far Hills, NJ 07931 - ISBN0-88282-196-2 ""By the time Cheryl Hersha came to the facility, knowledge of multiple personality was so complete that doctors understood how the mind separated into distinct ego states,each unaware of the other. First, the person traumatized had to be both extremely intelligent and under the age of seven, two conditions not yet understood though remaining consistent as factors. The trauma was almost always of a sexual nature…" p. 52 "The government researchers,aware of the information in the professional journals, decided to reverse the process (of healing from hysteric dissociation). They decided to use selective trauma on healthy children to create personalities capable of committing acts desired for national security and defense." p. 53 - 54

30. Rutz, Carol (2001). A Nation Betrayed. Grass Lake, MI: Fidelity Publishing. ISBN 0-9710102-0-X. http://my.dmci.net/~casey/

31. Sexual Abuse in Day Care: A National Study - Executive Summary - March 1988 - Finklehor, Williams, Burns, Kalinowski http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/1c/82/61.pdf "The study identified 270 "cases" of sexual abuse in day care meaning 270 facilities where substantiated abuse had occurred involving a total of 1639 victimized children….This yielded an estimate of 500 to 550 reported and substantiated cases and 2500 victims for the three-year period. Although this is a large number, it must be put in the context of 229,000 day care facilities nationwide service seven million children…allegations of ritual abuse ("the invocation of religious, magical or supernatural symbols of activities") occurred in 13% of the cases."

32. Day Care and Child Abuse Cases Information on the McMartin Preschool Case, Michelle Remembers, the Fells Acres - Amirault Case, the Wenatchee, Washington Case, the Dale Akiki Case, the Glendale Montessori - Toward case, the Little Rascals Day Care Center case, Fran's Day Care case, the Baran case and the Halsey case http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/

33. McMartin Preschool Case - What Really Happened and the Coverup http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/mcmartin-preschool-case-what-really-happened-and-the-coverup/

34. Archaeological Investigations of the McMartin Preschool Site

35. deMause, Lloyd, Why Cults Terrorize and Kill Children The Journal of Psychohistory 21 (4) 1994 [4]" "Cult abuse is increasing, only that-as with the increase in all child abuse reports-we have become more open to hearing them. But it seemed unlikely that the surge of cult memories could all be made up by patients or implanted by therapists. Therapists are a timid group at best, and the notion that they suddenly begin implanting false memories in tens of thousands of their clients for no apparent reason strained credulity. Certainly no one has presented a shred of evidence for massive "false memory" implantations." http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/why-cults-terrorize-and-kill-children-lloyd-demause-the-journal-of-psychohistory/ http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/whycult.htm

36. Summit, R.C. (1994). The Dark Tunnels of McMartin Journal of Psychohistory 21 (4): 397-416. "The opportunity came in April, 1990 with permission from the new owner of the preschool to search for the tunnels before he demolished the building and redeveloped the property. These soiled but solid citizens managed to find what the district attorney had disclaimed: solid, scientific evidence that someone had not only dug tunnels under the preschool, but also had taken the trouble to try to undo them. The results of this definitive excavation are described in meticulous detail in the 185 page Report of the Archaeological Excavation of the McMartin Preschool Site by E. Gary Stickel, Ph.D., the UCLA archaeologist commissioned to do the study....Dr. Stickel's report (p.95) concludes: There is no other scenario that fits all of the facts except that the feature was indeed a tunnel. The date of the construction and use of the tunnel was not absolutely established, but an assessment of seven factors of data all indicate that it was probably constructed, used and completely filled back in after 1966 (the construction date of the preschool). This age assessment has also been corroborated by the consulting Geologist for the project, Dr. Don Michael." http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/the-dark-tunnels-of-mcmartin-dr-roland-c-summit-journal-of-psychohistory/ http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/mcmartin.htm

37. Tamarkin, C. (1994a). Investigative Issues in Ritual Abuse Cases, Part I. Treating Abuse Today, 4 (4): 14-23. Tamarkin, C. (1994b). Investigative Issues in Ritual Abuse Cases, Part II. Treating Abuse Today, 4 (5): 5-9. http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/investigative-issues-in-ritual-abuse-cases-part-1-and-2-1994/

38. Jonker, F.; Jonker-bakker, P. (1991). "Experiences with ritualist child sexual abuse: a case study from the Netherlands". Child Abuse and Neglect 15: 191-196. doi:10.1016/0145-2134(91)90064-K. PMID 2043971 "The case of apparent ritual sexual abuse of children in a community in the Netherlands is described in terms of the children's stories, behaviors, and physical symptoms and the community's reaction to reactions of police and other professionals." http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ429991&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ429991

39. Sinason, V (1994). Treating Survivors of Satanist Abuse. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-10543-9. Major publications by Valerie Sinason http://www.valeriesinason.com/PublicationsVSinason.htm

40. Kent, Stephen. (1993). "Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part One: Possible Judeo-Christian Influences". Religion 23(23):229-241.

41. Kent, Stephen. (1993). "Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse. II: Possible Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan influences". Religion 23(4):355-367 42. McCulley, D. "Satanic ritual abuse: A question of memory."Journal of Psychology and Theology Fall 1994 22(3) p.167-172 "leading memory researchers such as Dr. Bessel van der Kolk of Harvard Medical School maintain that traumatic memories, which typically are engraved in the sensorimotor processes, are not subject to the same kinds of contamination that can affect normal memory. Traumatic amnesia, described in the DSM-III-R as psychogenic amnesia, is a phenomenon which has been known to mental health professionals for more than 100 years. The clinically observed characteristics of traumatic memory formation and retrieval match precisely the patterns of memory recovery exhibited by SRA survivors, and strongly confirm the reality of their cult abuse....If satanic ritual abuse is a question of memory, the data redound to the credibility of those thousands of individuals who identify themselves as SRA survivors. All the scientific studies of memory under trauma indicate that the bimodal response described by van der Kolk (1994), whether hyperpotentiated or dissociative, heightens the reliability of recall. The phenomenon of recovered memory is not a new therapeutic fad created by irresponsible clinical experimentation, but a well established aspect of trauma. The connection between trauma and memory disturbance is made clear by the definition of psychogenic amnesia in the DSM-III-R (1987)...Further, there often is corroboration for these retrieved memories. Judith Herman and Emily Schatzow (1992) found that in a sample of 53 women who disclosed memories of abuse for which they had been amnesic, 74% of the subjects were able to find independent confirmation from family members, pornographic photos, or diaries. Ivor Browne (1990a) found the "internal consistency of the traumatic account" persuasive, and also discovered that in the sizeable minority of cases where there was an available witness that "in every instance, the traumatic events . turn out to be true" (p. 30). There is no longer room for denial and disbelief - for evading the grim reality of SRA - by recourse to memory research which simply does not apply. Solid scientific inquiry does not allow us that luxury; neither should Christian conscience." https://wisdom.biola.edu/jpt

Bibliography

* Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (1998)."Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law" (W. W. Norton) ISBN 0-393-70254-5

* Cook, C. (1991). Understanding ritual abuse: A study of thirty-three ritual abuse survivors. Treating Abuse Today, 1(4), 14-19.

* Gould, Catherine. (1992) "Ritual abuse, multiplicity, and mind-control." Special Issue: Satanic ritual abuse: The current state of knowledge. Journal of Psychology and Theology 20(3):194-6

* Hersha, C.; Hersha, L.; Griffis, D.; Schwarz, T (2001). Secret Weapons. Far Hills, NJ: New Horizon Press. ISBN 0-88282-196-2.

* Hill, J. "Believing Rachel" The Journal of Psychohistory 24 (2) Fall 1996 "Rachel's story is one of suffering, courage and hope. As a young child she was the victim of unspeakable crimes, but because she received therapy and the support of a loving family, she has emerged intact." http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/believing-rachel-jeanne-hill-the-journal-of-psychohistory/

* Johnston, Jerry (1989). The Edge of Evil - The Rise of Satanism in North America. Dallas: Word Publishing. ISBN 0-8499-0668-7.

* Jonker, F and Jonker-Bakker, I. (1997). "Effects of Ritual Abuse: The results of three surveys in the Netherlands." Child Abuse & Neglect 21(6):541-556

* Kent, Stephen. (1994). "Diabolic Debates: A Reply to David Frankfurter and J. S. La Fontaine," Religion 24: 135-188.

* Kent, Stephen. (1993). "Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part One: Possible Judeo-Christian Influences". Religion 23(23):229-241.

* Kent, Stephen. (1993). "Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse. II: Possible Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan influences". Religion 23(4):355-367

* Leavitt, Frank. Measuring the impact of media exposure and hospital treatment on patients alleging satanic ritual abuse. Treating Abuse Today 8(4) 1998 pp. 7-13 "This study provides evidence that clients who report SRA exhibit a set of associations to SRA-related words that cannot be explained by exposure to the popular media or from inpatient treatment." http://web.archive.org/web/20000306224228/http://idealist.com/tat/leavitt.shtml

* Neswald, D., Gould, C., & Graham-Costain, V. (1991). Common programs observed in survivors of Satanic ritual abuse. The California Therapist, 3 (5), 47 50. "Increasingly, cases of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) and Satanic Ritualistic Abuse (SRA) are being reported in the psychotherapeutic community. Though controversy concerning authenticity remains, such cases are slowly gaining in acceptability as a genuine social and psychopathological phenomenon. Concurrently, the etiological underpinnings and treatment demands of these special patients are being unraveled and understood as never before. As a result, it is becoming increasingly clear that perhaps the most demanding treatment aspects of such cases concern the problems posed by what is known as "cult programming." http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/common-programs-observed-in-survivors-of-satanic-ritualistic-abuse/ http://www.geocities.com/kidhistory/sracp.htm

* Noblitt, J.R.; Perskin, P. (2000). Cult and Ritual Abuse: Its History, Anthropology, and Recent Discovery in Contemporary America p. 269, Greenwood Publishing Group. http://books.google.com/books?id=zJkTTpfyJ-8C

* Noblitt, R.; Perskin, P. (2008). Ritual abuse in the 21st century p. 552, Bandon, OR: Reed Publishers. http://www.rdrpublishers.com/catalog/item/6339393/5820690.htm

* Pike, P.L.; Mohline, R.J.(Eds.). Ritual abuse and recovery: Survivors' personal accounts. Journal of Psychology and Theology Spring 1995 23 (1) p.45-55 https://wisdom.biola.edu/jpt * Sachs, A. & Galton, G. (Eds) (2008). Forensic Aspects of Dissociative Identity Disorder London: Karnac. Chapters include discussions on ritual abuse, dissociative identity disorder, mind control, extreme abuse, survivor accounts and criminal convictions http://www.karnacbooks.com/product.php?PID=25876 http://books.google.com/books?id=upHtL9lual0C&dq=Forensic+aspects+of+dissociative+identity+disorder+|&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=caNy__6-zt&sig=VwIOryBkcSN0nh24CJR3aJkS_gs&hl=en&ei=702fSbmpOo_ftgfe5eSVDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=2&ct=result#PPA142,M1

* Scott, S. (2001). The politics and experience of ritual abuse: beyond disbelief. Open University Press. ISBN 0335204198. http://www.amazon.com/Politics-Experience-Ritual-Abuse/dp/0335204198

* Smith, Margaret. (1993). Ritual Abuse: What it Is, why it Happens, and how to Help by Margaret - HarperCollins

* Waterman, Jill; Kelly, Robert J.;Oliveri, M. K.;and McCord, Jane (1993). Behind the Playground Walls - Sexual Abuse in Preschools. New York, London: The Guilford Press, 284-8. ISBN 0-89862-523-8.

* Young, Walter C., Sachs, Roberta G., Braun, Bennett G., and Watkins, R. T. (1993) "Patients reporting ritual abuse in childhood: A clinical syndrome. Report of 37 cases." Child Abuse and Neglect 15(3):181-9

External Links

* An Empirical Look at the Ritual Abuse Controversy http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/an-empirical-look-at-the-ritual-abuse-controversy-randy-noblitt-phd/

* Ritual Abuse articles http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/

* Ritual Abuse Cases http://www.ra-info.org/resources/ra_cases.shtml

* Extreme Abuse Survey http://extreme-abuse-survey.net/

* http://www.ritualabusetorture.org/

* http://www.ra-info.org

* http://www.survivorship.org

* http://web.archive.org/web/20080116175648/http://theawarenesscenter.org/ritualabuse.html

* Ritual Abuse Statistics & Research http://web.archive.org/web/20071210161357/http://home.mchsi.com/~ftio/ra-stats.htm

Daycare Sexual Abuse Case, Tyler Perry

for more information on day care cases, see http://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/articles/day-care-and-child-abuse-cases/


describes abuse - New Charges Added in Daycare Sexual Abuse Case 10/6/09 SAN DIEGO - Prosecutors on Tuesday added multiple-victim and substantial sexual conduct allegations against a woman charged with her husband with molesting and sexually assaulting four children at the daycare facility they ran out of their Mission Valley apartment....According to evidence presented at a preliminary hearing in April, an investigation started in September 2007 when one of the alleged victims -- who ranged in age from a few months to just over 2 years old -- suffered vaginal injuries....Kennedy told a judge that the four alleged victims were all in good health and uninjured until they went to the couple's daycare.
The alleged victims had "unique and very troubling injuries," Kennedy told Judge Polly Shamoon.
"With each of them, it's their genitals that are damaged," Kennedy said.
http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/New-Charges-Added-in-Daycare-Sexual-Abuse-Case/kY6yZb8GlkqZvf_9nLVBhg.cspx


describes abuse - Tyler Perry recounts childhood abuse on Web site 10/6/09 ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Tyler Perry has, for the first time, revealed graphic details about the sexual, physical and emotional abuse he says he suffered as a child.... Perry is an executive producer of the movie, which tells the tale of Claireece "Precious" Jones, an illiterate, obese 16-year-old girl from Harlem who is emotionally and physically abused. The 40-year-old producer says he can identify with the character, and he recalls a number of incidents from his childhood. http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/10/06/tyler.perry.abuse.precious/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

extreme abuse, traumatic childhood effects, forced trafficking

describes crimes
Survivors of Extreme Abuse - The Awful Rowing Toward Social Emancipation
For survivors of extreme abuse, the disclosure of the crimes they experienced and the public identification of the perpetrators of those crimes can be monumentally daunting tasks. Among the impediments they may face in their pursuit of personal and social justice are their own psychological challenges, due to the complex, and sometimes debilitating effects of having experienced severe trauma, the dangers inherent in exposing criminals or criminal networks, and social denial of their plight on almost every level....
IMAGINE
Survivors have an invaluable gift to share with society: intimate knowledge of crimes perpetrated in their midst, and the criminals who committed them. Their knowledge and insight could theoretically lift the great rock of our cultural denial and officially sanctioned version of reality, and expose the dark and dangerous world of child, drug and arms traffickers, rapists, child pornographers, serial killers, cults, secret societies and government corruption. And that exposure would surely mark the beginning of the end of the widespread abuses that plague our society now. But that doesn't happen.
http://akaunk.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/survivors-of-extreme-abuse-the-awful-rowing-toward-social-emancipation/


Traumatic Childhood Might Take Years Off Adult Life - ScienceDaily (Oct. 7, 2009) - Many U.S. children face a terrible burden of stressors that can harm the development of their brains and nervous systems. These stressors can lead to health problems and diseases throughout their lives, ultimately causing some to die prematurely, according to the lead author of a new study. David W. Brown., D.Sc., an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and colleagues found that children who were exposed to six or more "adverse childhood experiences" or ACEs were at double the risk of premature death compared to children who had not suffered these experiences. On average, the children at highest risk eventually died at age 60, compared to low-risk children who lived to age 79. The study appears in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Conducted by Kaiser Permanente in San Diego and the CDC, the study looked at the long-term effects of these childhood experiences: undergoing verbal or physical abuse, having a battered mother and witnessing domestic violence, living in a household with substance abuse or mental illness, having an incarcerated household member or having parents who separated or divorced. Data came from 17,337 adults who visited Kaiser Permanente from 1995 to 1997 and completed a standardized medical questionnaire that included questions about their childhood. Researchers followed participants through the end of 2006, using the National Death Index to discover who had died. "Overall, 1,539 people died during follow-up," Brown said. "People with six or more ACEs died nearly 20 years earlier on average than those without ACEs. It is also disturbing that two-thirds of study participants - persons who were relatively well off - had at least one of the ACEs." Brown DW, et al. Adverse childhood experiences and the risk of premature mortality. Am J Prev Med, 37(5), 2009 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091006115140.htm

High Rates Of Childhood Exposure To Violence And Abuse In United States, New Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Oct. 7, 2009) - A new study from the University of New Hampshire finds that U.S. children are routinely exposed to even more violence and abuse than has been previously recognized, with nearly half experiencing a physical assault in the study year.
"Children experience far more violence, abuse and crime than do adults," said David Finkelhor, director of the UNH Crimes against Children Research Center and the study director. "If life were this dangerous for ordinary grown-ups, we'd never tolerate it."The research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The research results are presented in the journal Pediatrics and an Office of Justice Programs/OJJDP bulletin titled "Children's Exposure to Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey."UNH researchers asked a national sample of U.S. children and their caregivers about a far broader range of exposures than has been done in the past. According to the research, three out of five children were exposed to violence, abuse or a criminal victimization in the last year, including 46 percent who had been physically assaulted, 10 percent who had been maltreated by a caregiver, 6 percent who had been sexually victimized, and 10 percent who had witnessed an assault within their family....The study found that more than a third of the children had had two or more different kinds of exposures in the past year and 11 percent had five or more....The study was conducted in 2008 and involved interviews with caregivers and youth about the experiences of a nationally representative sample of 4,549 children ages 0-17. In addition to Finkelhor, the authors include Heather Turner, professor of sociology at UNH, Richard Ormrod, research professor of geography at UNH, and Sherry Hamby, research associate professor of psychology at Sewanee, the University of the South. Study information is at Crimes Against Children Research Center http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/index.html
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091007081351.htm

describes crimes
Teens become prey in Charlotte sex trade - Human trafficking case shows the desperate plight of girls forced into prostitution by Franco Ordoñez 10/4/09 The FBI estimates that some 18,000 people are trafficked into the United States for sex or forced labor. About a fourth end up in the Southeast; thousands come to the Carolinas. Most victims of the sex rings are from Latin America, others from Asia and Eastern Europe. http://www.charlotteobserver.com/topstories/story/983851.html

SURVIVORSHIP WEBINAR, SATURDAY OCT 10

Our next Webinar
Saturday, October 10, noon to 1:30 Pacific time
"Forgiving the Unforgivable: One Survivor's Journey to Peace"
Bonnie Bazill-Davis.

"Forgive" is an emotionally loaded word for survivors. Many of us have been told to forgive our abusers and get on with life, as if we could just push a button, totally forgive everybody, and act like nothing happened. It doesn't work that way, of course. Forgiveness, like grief and anger, is part of the process of coming to terms with what happened to us. It entails acceptance of our past and acceptance of ourselves.

Bonnie, a survivor of ritual abuse, will tell us about the steps on her path to forgiveness. She will share how her feelings changed toward her perpetrator and how forgiveness opened the door to peace and joy throughout her life. This Webinar will provide space for us to examine our understanding of forgiveness and the place it holds in our lives.

Bonnie teaches child care providers and youth counselors how to recognize and prevent child abuse. She is a certified trainer for the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program and an award-winning public speaker.

Past Webinars
Members can now read the transcript of "Sensory and Emotional Flashbacks" (Jeannie Riseman) and hear the recordings of "The Intersection between Ritual Abuse and Disability" (Lara) and "How Survivors Can Help Their Own Cases for Disability Application and Appeal," (Pam Perskin Noblitt). Slides and related material are also posted. Go to http://www.survivorship.org/member/webinar.html and you will find everything you are looking for.

If you can't get into the members' section, you will need to become a member or renew your membership. Membership information is at http://www.survivorship.org/about/membership.html Write Eva at survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com and tell her what you need. (Remember we have gift memberships.)

Registration:
The cost of each Webinar is $20.00, plus the cost of your telephone call to the East Coast. There are a limited number of full and partial scholarships available. To reserve a space in the Webinar, e-mail Jeannie at jeannie@survivorship.org and give her this information:

1.Your name

2. The Webinar you wish to attend: "Forgiving the Unforgivable: One Survivor's Journey to Peace" on October 10 from noon to 1:30 P.M. Pacific time and/or one of the Webinars listed below

3. Whether you need a full or partial scholarship

4. Method of payment

5. Your preferred e-mail address (so we can send you instructions and an invitation containing the password)

6. Your time zone (The conference software automatically adjusts the time for us)

7. The name you will be using for the Webinar. (This does not have to be your real name or your message board screen name.)


Future Webinars:
Saturday November 7
"Empowerment and Managing the Effects of Programming."
Randy Noblitt, Ph.D

Saturday December 5
"The Benefits of Developing Co-Consciousness Early in the Healing Process."
Julaine

And, in January, one on Nazi groups and abuse

Complete details on all our Webinars are at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html