From Free Life, Issue 26, December 1996
ISSN: 0260 5112

The British False Memory Society (1) is a branch of an admirable international group which challenges the validity of so-called "recovered memories" - ie, fantasies and delusions induced in patients by their "therapists". Such false "memories" have been one of the primary justifications for the "Satanic" child abuse panic which has resulted in the imprisonment of many people, and ruined the lives of countless others. (2)

In an account of a recent NATO Conference "Reflections of Trauma" published in the July issue of the British False Memory Society's Newsletter the words of one Stephen Lindsay are reported, to the effect that "criticism of memory recovery work should in no way be seen as minimising the occurrence or potential effects of real child sexual abuse" (p. 10)

Pre-emptive cringing of this sort is misguided. Critics of the memory recovery scam should "minimise" the occurrence of child sex abuse. The whole child abuse lobby is predicated precisely upon assertions that child abuse, sexual and otherwise, is a massive and concealed phenomenon of our society. For at least one part of the child abuse industry - quasi-Marxists, anti-male and Lesbian/Radical Feminists - the motive for this is blatantly political. The so-called "patriarchal" and conventional family is a "site" of coercion and inherently male violence. This provides a rationale for their schemes of coercive social engineering.

But in reality the claims that there exists an "epidemic" of abuse are groundless, based on the false memory racket and repeatedly debunked accusations and legal witchhunts.

The child abuse scam does not, of course, stand alone as an example of the "social construction" of moral panics. The ruthless generation of scares and crises, and the dissemination of utterly bogus statistical claims regarding alleged threats, has now become rampant in the western world. "Global warming" and other alleged environmental dangers, "passive smoking" and countless dietary and health scares, the prevalence and causes of AIDS, "date rape", wife-beating and male violence, the extent of racial discrimination and violence - all have been areas in which science has become politicised and corrupted. Bogus statistical evidence has been manufactured and "junk science" has replaced real science through a process of state funding and propaganda, the ruthless demonisation and suppression of criticism, and the credulous enthusiasm of a mediocre, or equally politicised, media.

The common characteristic of all such scares and scams has been the empowerment of bureaucrats and professional groups, the invasion of the private realm by the state, and the justification of enhanced state power. Income, research grants, publishing and media opportunity, power, prestige and privilege of all sorts accrue to the "new class" of "experts" and administrators in the "therapeutic state".

We cannot, therefore, afford to be apologetic or "moderate" in our critique of the child abuse industry. It is based upon falsehood at every level, in its theory of memory and in its empirical claims about the prevalence of abuse. We must nail both lies.

Notes

1. For details, contact: Roger Scotford, Director, The British False Memory Society, Belcombe Court, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, BA15 1NA; Tel: 01225 868682; Fax: 01225 863262; Email: 100136.2253@compuserve.com
2. See: Aldridge-Morris, Ray (December 1995), "Memories of Abuse or the Abuse of Memories", British False Memory Society, 3(2), pp. 12-18; Baker, Robert A., Hidden Memories: Voices & Visions From Within, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York, 1992; Boakes, Janet (21 October 1995), "False Memory Syndrome", The Lancet, 346(?), pp. 1048-1049; reprinted in British False Memory Society Newsletter, 3(2), pp. 3-5; Campbell, T. W., Beware the Talking Cure, Social Issues Resources Service, Boca Raton, Florida, 1994; Ceci, Stephen J. & Bruck, Maggie, Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific Analysis of Children's Testimony, American Psychological Association, ..., 1995; Crews, Frederick (17 November 1994), "The Revenge of the Repressed" Part I, New York Review of Books, pp. 54-60; Idem, (1 December 1994), "The Revenge of the Repressed", Part II, New York Review of Books; Gardner, Martin (Fall 1994), "The Tragedies of False Memories", Skeptical Inquirer, 18(5), pp. 464-470; Genoni, Jr., Tom (January/February 1995), "Exploring Mind, Memory and the Psychology of Belief", The Skeptical Inquirer, 19(1), pp. 10-13; Goldstein, Eleanor, Confabulations: Creating False Memories, Destroying Families, Social Issues Resource Series, Boca Raton, 1992; Idem & Farmer, K., eds., True Stories of False Memories, Social Issues Resources Service, Boca Raton, Florida, 1994; Lindsay, Stephen & Read, Don (1994), "Psychotherapy & Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Cognitive Perspective", Applied Cognitive Psychology, 8, pp. 281-338; Idem, (1995), "'Memory Work' & Recovered Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Scientific Evidence & Public, Professional & Personal Issues", Psychology, Public Policy & Law, 1(4), pp. 846-908 Loftus, Elizabeth (1993), "The Reality of Repressed Memories", American Psychologist, 48(?), pp. 518-537; Idem, (March/April 1995), "Remembering Dangerously", The Skeptical Inquirer, 19(2), pp. 20-27; Idem & Ketcham, Katherine, The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994 Lynn, S. J. & Nash, M. R. (1994), "Truth in Memory", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 36(?), pp. 194-208; Ofshe, Richard & Watters, Ethan, Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy and Sexual Hysteria, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1994/Andre Deutsch, London, 1995: Pendergrast, Mark, Victims of Memory: Incest Accusations and Shattered Lives, Upper Access Inc., Hinesburg, Vermont, 1995; 2nd edn, 1996/HarperCollins, London, 1997; Reich, W. (15 May 1994), "The Monster in the Mists", New York Times Book Review, pp. 1, 33-38; Schacter, Daniel L., ed., Memory Distortion: How Minds, Brains & Societies Reconstruct the Past, Harvard University Press, 1996; Stevenson, I. (1994), "A Case of the Psychotherapist's Fallacy: Hypnotic Regression to 'Previous Lives'", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 36(?), pp. 188-193; Thornton, E. M. (July 1996), "Does the Unconscious Mind Really Exist?", British False Memory Society Newsletter, 4(1), pp. 5-8; Wakefield, Hollida & Underwager, Ralph, Return of the Furies: An Investigation into Recovered Menory Therapy, Open Court, Chicago, 1994; Wright, Lawrence, Remembering Satan: Recovered Memory and the Shattering of a Family, Serpent's Tail, ..., 1994; Yapko, Michael, Suggestions of Abuse: True & False Memories of Childhood Sexual Trauma, ... 1995?