NCJ Number
243181
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 21 Issue: 6 Dated: November - December 2012 Pages: 440-451
Date Published
December 2012
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper is based on qualitative interviews with 16 adults who described experiencing ritual abuse in childhood.
Abstract
Over the last 30 years, allegations of ritual child sexual abuse have emerged from child protection cases and legal proceedings and from adults and children in psychotherapy. These allegations have been met with disbelief from many practitioners and academics. Children and adults disclosing ritual abuse continue to present in a range of circumstances and recent substantiations of ritual abuse allegations call for a grounded analysis of their claims. This paper is based on qualitative interviews with 16 adults who described experiencing ritual abuse in childhood. They described the ways in which sexually abusive groups generated shared rationales of religious or mythological justifications for organized abuse. Participants were forced to internalize these rationales in degrading and dehumanizing ordeals, whereupon they became active in facilitating their own abuse and/or the abuse of others. Ritual abuse can therefore be conceptualized as a device or strategy that enjoins the participation of victims in organized abuse whilst simultaneously accomplishing exculpation for perpetrators. Abstract published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons.