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Abuse Scandals & Conspiracy Theories

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Abuse Scandals & Conspiracy Theories

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SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDALS, PEDOPHILE PANICS & CONSPIRACY THEORIES

A BRIEF HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION:

This meetup will address the recent focus of both the news media & law enforcement on high-profile serial child sex abusers, as well as some "moral panics" over unproven & highly dubious conspiracy theories like "Pizzagate" and "elite pedophile" rings. While child sexual abuse does occur and is horrible and worthy of harsh punishment, the highly inflammatory nature of sex crimes - especially against children - should make us wary of the prevailing media narratives around these issues, especially when we consider "moral panics" in the past that have surrounded allegations of sexual deviancy & sex crimes, which are sometimes known as "sex panics". Heavy media coverage leads people to believe that terrible but statistically rare events or behaviors are common. In turn, this fear often leads to persecution of minority groups as "folk devils", the passing of poorly crafted legislation, and law enforcement efforts to crack down on the alleged problem which can result in decreased civil liberties & other unintended consequences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_panic

To understand why many people in the skeptic community are concerned about moral panics over pedophilia & child sexual abuse, it helps to know a bit of history... For much of American history, "sex panics" tended to focus on the threats posed to young women, particularly young white women. It wasn't until the 1970s that psychiatrists succeeded in making the general American public aware of the prevalence of child sexual abuse, and this came right as more women were entering the workforce, leaving their younger children in daycares & allowing their older children to become "latchkey kids" - a new term for children who come home to an empty house after school and are unsupervised for several hours until their parents come home from work. The confluence of these two trends probably led to more anxiety from mothers about the safety of their children from sexual predators.

At the same time, the religious right was growing in political power in the United States, and in 1977 born-again singer Anita Bryant started a public campaign in Miami to oppose a new local ordinance that would've prohibited discrimination against homosexuals in employment & housing. Bryant formed an organization entitled "Save Our Children" and a large part of her group's rhetoric was based on equating homosexuals with dangerous pedophiles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_Our_Children

With the public already primed for a panic over pedophiles, "Michelle Remembers", a salacious book published in 1980 about Satanistic cults molesting children became a bestseller. The book was written by Canadian psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder about his work with his psychiatric patient (and eventual wife) Michelle Smith. Using "recovered memory" techniques, Pazder claimed that he helped Smith remember that she'd been tortured & molested when she was five in 1954 and 1955 at the hands of her mother (Virginia Proby) and others, all of whom Smith said were members of a "Satanic cult" in Victoria. This led many Americans, especially conservative Christians, to believe that Satanic cults were a pervasive threat, far more widespread than the various fringe cults of the 1970s, and that they were engaged in horrific crimes.

These latent fears came to a head in 1983, when a mother of a child (later determined to be mentally ill) told police she thought her son had been molested by the staff at the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, California. The allegations spiralled out of control when psychiatrists began using "recovered memory" techniques that elicited false claims from the children of horrible abuse that somehow left no marks, as well as satanic rituals, secret tunnels beneath the building, and even child sacrifices. The McMartin case drug on for 7 years and was (at the time) the most expensive court case in American history and received massive media coverage. Similar allegations emerged at more preschools & daycares throughout the 1980s & early 1990s, drawing more media coverage & feeding the panic. . This fear was capitalized on by some fundamentalist preachers and televangelists, who saw a potential for firing up their base and expanding their audience. Some psychiatrists & members of law enforcement jumped on the bandwagon as well, perhaps partly out of genuine belief but also due to opportunities for personal financial gain by serving as advisors on what had come to be known as "Satanic Ritual Abuse" or "SRA". The panic only began to die down once skepticism emerged among other psychiatrists and law enforcement authorities, and gradually their priorities shifted to other problems without ever fully addressing the injustice of many of the SRA convictions. The result was that many people who were almost certainly innocent of the wild allegations against them received long prison sentences, some of them only being released within the last few years.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_ritual_abuse

(Note: We won't explore the "Satanic Ritual Abuse” panic in this meet up, but it's something skeptics should know about. For a good in-depth exploration of the issue, check out Skeptoid Media's podcast - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tHGyywQkjnw )

In this discussion, we'll start of by looking at the patterns in child molestation cases within the Catholic Church, typically committed by priests against young boys in their congregation. While many people assumed that Catholic priests were especially prone to pedophilia due to their celibacy, but this has been disputed since then by several scholars, notably Penn State historian Philip Jenkins.

Next, we'll look at the case against former Penn State wide receiver coach Jerry Sandusky, who was tried & convicted in 2011-2012 of multiple instances of "grooming" and sexual abusing young boys in a charity he founded, The Second Mile. This case is significant for skeptics because in December of 2017, Skeptic Magazine published an article claiming Sandusky may be innocent and the accusations against him were motivated by counseling techniques similar to the "recovered memory" methods used in the "Satanic ritual abuse" cases of the 1980s. As we'll see, this article has ignited a firestorm of debate within the skeptic community.

Third, we'll look at how the leak of John Podesta's emails in the summer of 2016 led amateur sleuths collaborating on the internet to believe that he & other high-ranking members of the Democratic Party were involved in a child sex trafficking ring based out of the Comet Ping Pong pizza parlor in DC, owned & managed by a Democratic fundraiser, James Alefantis. This led to a conspiracy theory known as "Pizzagate" which culminated in a gun-toting man entering the pizza parlor to investigate the allegations, scaring the patrons when he fired a shot into the floor.

We'll finish up by looking at the reasons why "Stranger Danger" programs are ineffective and some ideas about what programs may work better to protect children from sexual abuse. In particular, we'll look at child safety tips from Gavin de Becker, a private security expert familiar to many skeptics from his appearance on Sam Harris's podcast last year. We'll also look at ATTN's viral video about comprehensive sexual education in Netherlands that starts in kindergarten, and consider if this might help children understand human sexuality & personal boundaries in a way that could deter sexual abuse.

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DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PREPARE FOR OUR DISCUSSION:

The videos & articles you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of some of the major debates over sex trafficking & sexual abuse scandals. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to read all the articles & watch all the videos prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the numbered videos linked under each section - the videos come to about 35 minutes total. The articles marked with asterisks are just there to supply additional details. You can browse and look at whichever ones you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the topics in the order presented here. I figure we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.

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I. THE CATHOLIC CHURCH'S SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDALS:

1a) NowThis World, "How Bad Is The Catholic Church’s Sex Abuse Problem?" (video - 2:48 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JFSDnNRrXA

1b) Rome Reports, "Sex Abuse: Does this happen only in the Catholic Church?" (video - 1:37 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74CFEA_TNR0

II. JERRY SANDUSKY VS LARRY NASSAR & SEXUAL ABUSE IN YOUTH SPORTS:

2a) Steve Shives, "Skeptics Defending Jerry Sandusky?!" (video - 11:15 min, watch til 5:00)
https://youtu.be/jryqNhbzIyQ?t=7

2b) John Ziegler, "The Case That Jerry Sandusky Was Over-Charged & Penn State Was Innocent” (video - 44:09 min, watch til 10:00)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DyLVpbe9oXQ

III. THE "PIZZAGATE" CONSPIRACY THEORY & SEXUAL ABUSE SCANDALS IN POLITICS:

3a) Rebecca Watson, "The Origins of the #PIZZAGATE Conspiracy Theory" (video - 5:48 min.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJscAAjBaqM

3b) Paul Joseph Watson, “Pedophiles rule the world” (video - 13:52 min, watch til 5:00 min.)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=o1GQehNcZZw

IV. ”STRANGER DANGER" & COMPREHENSIVE SEX ED AS WAYS TO PREVENT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

4a) Gavin de Becker, "Is Stranger Danger a real threat?" (video - 2:00 min.)
https://www.kidsinthehouse.com/all-parents/safety/teaching-kids-to-be-safe/is-stranger-danger-a-real-threat

4b) ATTN, "We can learn a lot from the Netherlands' approach to sex-ed" (video - 2:40 min.)
https://www.facebook.com/ATTNVideo/videos/1823611481277138//

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