Satanic Ritual Abuse and Child Sexual Victimization
The data compiled from a University of New Hampshire College professor, David Finkelhor Ph.D. and his team's national study from the late 1980's still remains enlightening. 25 years have almost passed and his categorization of Satanic Ritual Abuse (hereafter "SRA") and Ritual Abuse (hereafter "RA") perpetrators into three segments is as contemporary as ever. The three faces of the perpetrator engaged in SRA or RA having distinct motivations was brilliant then and brilliant now.
Data compiled also led him and his team to conclude further research on SRA/RA was vital and professional awareness skills building was needed for the identification and investigation of potential future ritual child sex abuse.
Additional research investigations was encouraged to attempt to define the magnitude of RA, the psychological wounds suffered by victims, and the strategies of supporting children and their families after sexual abuse victimization.
In Nursery Crimes: Sexual Abuse in Day Care(Sage Publications, January, 1988 pg.64), Dr. Finkelhor suggested a conceptual formulation still viewed as a blueprint of the perpetrator's criminal mind. Paraphrasing his comments he stated, "The motivation for engaging in satanic ritual abuse may first be"identification with evil" because it "ties together sexual and ritual abuse in the mindset and may explain why these offenders are attracted to so-called satanic practices."
As an ethical researcher, Dr. Finkelhor likely used conditional statements of "may be" on two occasions in his comments so as to not sound subjective. Not being a college professor or an established empirical researcher as Dr. Finkelhor, this forensic psychologist completely agrees with his astute hypothesis but void of concern for needing to use "may be." Clearly, the psychodynamic elements motivating the perpetrator to sexually abuse and sadistically intimidate a child are macabre distorted cognates inspiring his atrocious acts.
There have been many critics of Dr. Finkelhor's research over the years claiming his methods of data collection were less than empirically sound. As opposed to using his results for further inquiry as he recommended, his detractors fixated on his experimental design losing sight of his accomplishments.
His study and published results are approaching the 25 years old mark, but incredibly still relevant today in the pursuit of investigating child sexual abuse. The fact remains which can not be disputed is he focused attention on the plight of innocent children who are victimized sexually, physically, and psychologically by adults engaged in evil behaviors.
After an exhaustive research inquiry covering the entire industry of SRA/RA, the conclusion from this investigation has led this writer to surmise the social sciences and psychological/psychiatric industry at large is mired in political correctness and consistently assigning pathology to these human experiences. The controversy of SRA/RA being valid events performed using ritualistic methodologies has not budged in moving towards a comprehensive theory of etiology. As interested parties spend their energies invested in dispute combating opposing views, progress will remain at a snail's pace.
A percentage of survivors of child sexual abuse claiming satanic and/or ritual abuse are vehement in their beliefs of organized SRA practices. Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse have little difficulty reciting lists of revealing court cases, supporting research articles, academic based internet sites, first hand survivor accounts, and professional therapist clinical accounts confirming ritual and/or satanic ritual abuse is alive and continues to thrive in the hidden recesses of society.
Supporting their evidentiary proof is a staunch belief that an organized conspiracy functions in a covert manner and works to suppress information suggesting these heinous practices are actively occurring on a regular basis. Suspected are unidentified groups of men and women intentionally protecting child rapists, pedophiles, and cult activities. In addition to this subset of secret agents working to suppress all deviant news, caretakers, professional therapists, social scientists, and some political and fraternal organizations are also inadvertently participating in hiding the truthful information.
People, groups, and organizations unintentionally contribute to hiding these deviant sociopaths from prosecution by being fixated in their goals for financial gain and/or notoriety. False memory experts, religion based leaders, and organizations whose stated mission is to disassemble the theoretical constructs of individuals and organizations diligently working to prove SRA/RA are frequently engaged in.
Also included in these groups of unintentional offenders are professionals espousing the legitimacy of false memories being a reasonable explanation for why some claim they were victims of SRA/RA yet no abuse ever occurred. Denials of ritual abuse events, publicized accounts of grown adults recanting their previous abuse allegations, and the thousands of skeptics loudly voicing their opinions on the rest of society generate a haze a doubt affording pedophiles and rapist complete anonymity.
To counter these alleged hollow convictions, it has been encouraged for people who have not been victims of SRA/RA to become proactive energized "Survivor Advocates." A survivor advocate is an empathic caring person who believes ritual child abuse is a widespread phenomenon and prepared to engage in whatever strategies deemed necessary in revealing the truth.
A significant percentage of people who oppose abuse survivors and professional supporters of SRA/RA are mental health experts, social scientists, law enforcement officials, and false memory experts all equally as passionate in their endeavors to unearth what they believe are total distortions of reality. Online information, research studies, expert testimonies, and former child sex abuse survivors recanting their original allegations are just as vigilant in their goal of revealing what they believe is the truth.
Opponents of SRA/RA repeatedly remind the community and media there is absolutely no national data proving the extent of satanic ritual abuse. The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (hereafter "FMS") is an organization founded in 1992 of parents with grown children who at one time recovered never recalled "repressed memories" alleging childhood sexual abuse by friends and loved ones. Their mission posted at the organizational website is three-fold.
1. To seek out the reasons for the spread of FMS that is devastating families and fragmenting communities. 2. To work on ways to prevent this spread of FMS. 3. To aid those who were affected by FMS and to help bring their families back into a process of reconciliation.
In addition to their mission of educating the public on the destructive nature of false memories, they also address repressed memories and the role of psychiatric illness in false memories. The False Memory Syndrome Foundation is a small Pennsylvanian organization of mostly parents and community members. They are mentioned to illustrate how even the smallest of communities are engaged in this philosophical battle.
The Satanic cult ideology has been deemed by opposing historians as a family of conspiracy legends, and subversion myths rooted in ancient cultures. Opponents point out these historical conspiracy legends justified the persecution of witches, Jewish cultures, religious dissenters, Catholics, Freemasons, communists, and many other actions of genocide throughout history initiated by myths and conspiracy theories.
The contemporary version depicting satanic cults and ritualistic ceremonies has been traced back to its roots during the 11th century. Devil worship, ritual infant murder, and cannibalism the Cathar heretics in southern France were alleged to be practicing by Catholic clergy in their propaganda war. The Catholic Clergy's proverbial marketing campaigns proved to be highly effective.
After the Cathar heretics were squelched, the Catholic Clergy used the exact same devil worshiping homicidal themes to define their imagined enemies. From these deprecating campaigns, moral and political order within their communities was possible. With Satan worship as their smoking gun, the Catholic Church quickly became a marketing machine. Over hundreds of years, stories based in folklore were passed down from generation to generation and satanic worship and abuse survived.
The controversy has considerably waned since the media, religious, legal, and political firestorms of the 1970's thru the early 1990's placed satanic worship and satanic ritual abuse on center stage. Although presently not in the spotlight as the years have passed, the passion for many remains high. The passion is motivated by the hope one day SRA/RA will be confirmed as a widespread practiced criminal activity involving sexual perversion, humiliation, and pain. Until that time, there will a large contingent of skeptics working to dissuade the public of considering the potential SRA/RA actually exists.
For those who view themselves as novices in the realm of succinctly conceptualizing SRA/RA, the truth is that the vast majority of citizens are also ignorant to the philosophical battles at play. Few Professionals trained in recognizing people engaged in subversive activities are aware of the SRA/RA controversy.
These contentious battles between ideological camps are easily investigated if intrigued. By spending an hour or two seated in front of a desk top computer, a brief search engine will offer the viewer an opportunity to witness the magnitude of an element of society few discuss in public forums.
By typing in the term, Satanic Ritual Abuse or Ritual Abuse, a galaxy of information will appear instantly. Niche specific websites, satanic worship sites, link lists pages, survivor organizations, therapeutic blogs, national and local conferences, organizational gatherings, mental health contacts, religious organizations, and hundreds of other websites geared to satanic ritual abuse, satanic worship, mental illness, and 100's of other related sites will be displayed for visual consumption.
If the volume available online after an hour of web surfing is a barometer of the battle being waged between factions, then the only differences from 30-40 years ago is computer technology and the lack of media coverage broadcasting satanic and/or deviant issues. It is absolutely astounding to peruse the incredible amount of information sites.
Whether choosing to believe SRA/RA exists or not, the reality is ritual abuse does occur both nationally and internationally. The controversy is frequency and motivation. Thousands of children, women, and animals are abused and victimized for spiritual, religious, sociopathic, sexual, and psychotic reasons. Neither camp would ever suggest child sexual abuse is not widespread. The theme of satanic worship in SRA has little to do with the abuse children are exposed to.
Repressed memories, false memories, PTSD, DID, and other psychiatric illnesses are all unfortunate realities of the human condition. Frequency, themes, prevalence, and societal explanations are all moot points when imagining adult predators preying upon defenseless unassuming prey. Ongoing research and educational investigations are paramount to educating law enforcement, pediatric specialist, child welfare agencies and any other employment fields which interface with children.
By developing recognition skills, identification signs, and investigation strategies will help the population of children who are actively being abused but too intimidated from fear to disclose hidden episodes of sexual and/or physical abuse.
Although there are plenty cutting edge experts, highly educated doctors, and brilliant social scientists, few still have been able to conceptualize the criminal/deviant mind. Dr. David Finkelhor, a sociology professor hailing from New Hampshire, subdivided his sample population into three groups based on what he believed were profile traits of the offender. Spiritually/Socially motivated, Sociopathic/Sexually Addicted, and Delusional/Obsessed were the sub segments he devised.
Despite his critics, his experience and incredible capacity to reduce an entire population into three groups still remains remarkable in this writer's eyes even though almost 25 years have passed, untouchable. His conclusions from the 1980's are still intensely relevant and continue to help mental health clinicians and forensic psychologists when evaluating a victimized child or confronted by an individual who may have distorted proclivities as the perpetrators of the victimized children Dr. Finkelhor worked with long ago.
Data compiled also led him and his team to conclude further research on SRA/RA was vital and professional awareness skills building was needed for the identification and investigation of potential future ritual child sex abuse.
Additional research investigations was encouraged to attempt to define the magnitude of RA, the psychological wounds suffered by victims, and the strategies of supporting children and their families after sexual abuse victimization.
In Nursery Crimes: Sexual Abuse in Day Care(Sage Publications, January, 1988 pg.64), Dr. Finkelhor suggested a conceptual formulation still viewed as a blueprint of the perpetrator's criminal mind. Paraphrasing his comments he stated, "The motivation for engaging in satanic ritual abuse may first be"identification with evil" because it "ties together sexual and ritual abuse in the mindset and may explain why these offenders are attracted to so-called satanic practices."
As an ethical researcher, Dr. Finkelhor likely used conditional statements of "may be" on two occasions in his comments so as to not sound subjective. Not being a college professor or an established empirical researcher as Dr. Finkelhor, this forensic psychologist completely agrees with his astute hypothesis but void of concern for needing to use "may be." Clearly, the psychodynamic elements motivating the perpetrator to sexually abuse and sadistically intimidate a child are macabre distorted cognates inspiring his atrocious acts.
There have been many critics of Dr. Finkelhor's research over the years claiming his methods of data collection were less than empirically sound. As opposed to using his results for further inquiry as he recommended, his detractors fixated on his experimental design losing sight of his accomplishments.
His study and published results are approaching the 25 years old mark, but incredibly still relevant today in the pursuit of investigating child sexual abuse. The fact remains which can not be disputed is he focused attention on the plight of innocent children who are victimized sexually, physically, and psychologically by adults engaged in evil behaviors.
After an exhaustive research inquiry covering the entire industry of SRA/RA, the conclusion from this investigation has led this writer to surmise the social sciences and psychological/psychiatric industry at large is mired in political correctness and consistently assigning pathology to these human experiences. The controversy of SRA/RA being valid events performed using ritualistic methodologies has not budged in moving towards a comprehensive theory of etiology. As interested parties spend their energies invested in dispute combating opposing views, progress will remain at a snail's pace.
A percentage of survivors of child sexual abuse claiming satanic and/or ritual abuse are vehement in their beliefs of organized SRA practices. Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse have little difficulty reciting lists of revealing court cases, supporting research articles, academic based internet sites, first hand survivor accounts, and professional therapist clinical accounts confirming ritual and/or satanic ritual abuse is alive and continues to thrive in the hidden recesses of society.
Supporting their evidentiary proof is a staunch belief that an organized conspiracy functions in a covert manner and works to suppress information suggesting these heinous practices are actively occurring on a regular basis. Suspected are unidentified groups of men and women intentionally protecting child rapists, pedophiles, and cult activities. In addition to this subset of secret agents working to suppress all deviant news, caretakers, professional therapists, social scientists, and some political and fraternal organizations are also inadvertently participating in hiding the truthful information.
People, groups, and organizations unintentionally contribute to hiding these deviant sociopaths from prosecution by being fixated in their goals for financial gain and/or notoriety. False memory experts, religion based leaders, and organizations whose stated mission is to disassemble the theoretical constructs of individuals and organizations diligently working to prove SRA/RA are frequently engaged in.
Also included in these groups of unintentional offenders are professionals espousing the legitimacy of false memories being a reasonable explanation for why some claim they were victims of SRA/RA yet no abuse ever occurred. Denials of ritual abuse events, publicized accounts of grown adults recanting their previous abuse allegations, and the thousands of skeptics loudly voicing their opinions on the rest of society generate a haze a doubt affording pedophiles and rapist complete anonymity.
To counter these alleged hollow convictions, it has been encouraged for people who have not been victims of SRA/RA to become proactive energized "Survivor Advocates." A survivor advocate is an empathic caring person who believes ritual child abuse is a widespread phenomenon and prepared to engage in whatever strategies deemed necessary in revealing the truth.
A significant percentage of people who oppose abuse survivors and professional supporters of SRA/RA are mental health experts, social scientists, law enforcement officials, and false memory experts all equally as passionate in their endeavors to unearth what they believe are total distortions of reality. Online information, research studies, expert testimonies, and former child sex abuse survivors recanting their original allegations are just as vigilant in their goal of revealing what they believe is the truth.
Opponents of SRA/RA repeatedly remind the community and media there is absolutely no national data proving the extent of satanic ritual abuse. The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (hereafter "FMS") is an organization founded in 1992 of parents with grown children who at one time recovered never recalled "repressed memories" alleging childhood sexual abuse by friends and loved ones. Their mission posted at the organizational website is three-fold.
1. To seek out the reasons for the spread of FMS that is devastating families and fragmenting communities. 2. To work on ways to prevent this spread of FMS. 3. To aid those who were affected by FMS and to help bring their families back into a process of reconciliation.
In addition to their mission of educating the public on the destructive nature of false memories, they also address repressed memories and the role of psychiatric illness in false memories. The False Memory Syndrome Foundation is a small Pennsylvanian organization of mostly parents and community members. They are mentioned to illustrate how even the smallest of communities are engaged in this philosophical battle.
The Satanic cult ideology has been deemed by opposing historians as a family of conspiracy legends, and subversion myths rooted in ancient cultures. Opponents point out these historical conspiracy legends justified the persecution of witches, Jewish cultures, religious dissenters, Catholics, Freemasons, communists, and many other actions of genocide throughout history initiated by myths and conspiracy theories.
The contemporary version depicting satanic cults and ritualistic ceremonies has been traced back to its roots during the 11th century. Devil worship, ritual infant murder, and cannibalism the Cathar heretics in southern France were alleged to be practicing by Catholic clergy in their propaganda war. The Catholic Clergy's proverbial marketing campaigns proved to be highly effective.
After the Cathar heretics were squelched, the Catholic Clergy used the exact same devil worshiping homicidal themes to define their imagined enemies. From these deprecating campaigns, moral and political order within their communities was possible. With Satan worship as their smoking gun, the Catholic Church quickly became a marketing machine. Over hundreds of years, stories based in folklore were passed down from generation to generation and satanic worship and abuse survived.
The controversy has considerably waned since the media, religious, legal, and political firestorms of the 1970's thru the early 1990's placed satanic worship and satanic ritual abuse on center stage. Although presently not in the spotlight as the years have passed, the passion for many remains high. The passion is motivated by the hope one day SRA/RA will be confirmed as a widespread practiced criminal activity involving sexual perversion, humiliation, and pain. Until that time, there will a large contingent of skeptics working to dissuade the public of considering the potential SRA/RA actually exists.
For those who view themselves as novices in the realm of succinctly conceptualizing SRA/RA, the truth is that the vast majority of citizens are also ignorant to the philosophical battles at play. Few Professionals trained in recognizing people engaged in subversive activities are aware of the SRA/RA controversy.
These contentious battles between ideological camps are easily investigated if intrigued. By spending an hour or two seated in front of a desk top computer, a brief search engine will offer the viewer an opportunity to witness the magnitude of an element of society few discuss in public forums.
By typing in the term, Satanic Ritual Abuse or Ritual Abuse, a galaxy of information will appear instantly. Niche specific websites, satanic worship sites, link lists pages, survivor organizations, therapeutic blogs, national and local conferences, organizational gatherings, mental health contacts, religious organizations, and hundreds of other websites geared to satanic ritual abuse, satanic worship, mental illness, and 100's of other related sites will be displayed for visual consumption.
If the volume available online after an hour of web surfing is a barometer of the battle being waged between factions, then the only differences from 30-40 years ago is computer technology and the lack of media coverage broadcasting satanic and/or deviant issues. It is absolutely astounding to peruse the incredible amount of information sites.
Whether choosing to believe SRA/RA exists or not, the reality is ritual abuse does occur both nationally and internationally. The controversy is frequency and motivation. Thousands of children, women, and animals are abused and victimized for spiritual, religious, sociopathic, sexual, and psychotic reasons. Neither camp would ever suggest child sexual abuse is not widespread. The theme of satanic worship in SRA has little to do with the abuse children are exposed to.
Repressed memories, false memories, PTSD, DID, and other psychiatric illnesses are all unfortunate realities of the human condition. Frequency, themes, prevalence, and societal explanations are all moot points when imagining adult predators preying upon defenseless unassuming prey. Ongoing research and educational investigations are paramount to educating law enforcement, pediatric specialist, child welfare agencies and any other employment fields which interface with children.
By developing recognition skills, identification signs, and investigation strategies will help the population of children who are actively being abused but too intimidated from fear to disclose hidden episodes of sexual and/or physical abuse.
Although there are plenty cutting edge experts, highly educated doctors, and brilliant social scientists, few still have been able to conceptualize the criminal/deviant mind. Dr. David Finkelhor, a sociology professor hailing from New Hampshire, subdivided his sample population into three groups based on what he believed were profile traits of the offender. Spiritually/Socially motivated, Sociopathic/Sexually Addicted, and Delusional/Obsessed were the sub segments he devised.
Despite his critics, his experience and incredible capacity to reduce an entire population into three groups still remains remarkable in this writer's eyes even though almost 25 years have passed, untouchable. His conclusions from the 1980's are still intensely relevant and continue to help mental health clinicians and forensic psychologists when evaluating a victimized child or confronted by an individual who may have distorted proclivities as the perpetrators of the victimized children Dr. Finkelhor worked with long ago.
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