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Child sex abuse
hysteria and the Ellis case |
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October 28 2002 In one short letter, (Oct 26) Dr
John Read has encapsulated the very essence of the mind-set that fosters and
promotes witch-hunts - ad hominem argument, ignorance, distortion, sophistry,
irrationality and belief. His attack on Ms Hood is appalling. Sexual abuse hysteria remains a
rampant, unwelcome and unnecessary influence in our community. The irrational
belief is still abroad that one in four girls will be abused by age 16. Using
ill-informed speculation, discredited ideology, misguided beliefs, and a
miniscule sample of 21 cases, a recent doctoral thesis from Massey University
concluded that 8,600 children will be sexually abused for the first time
every year, and that such abuse costs $2.4 Billion annually. What rubbish ! ACC’s Therapy Guidelines are based
on the villainous book “Courage to Heal”. The quackery of “recovered memories”
has long since been exposed, but the Guidelines encourage counsellors to
excavate “memories” which a client may not have. Distortion and sophistry are
favourite ploys of idealogues. Nowhere in your article could I find the
information to which Dr Read refers “We are informed that school teachers who
have sex with students have been abusing nobody but themselves.” Peter Ellis’ conviction
illustrated serious systemic faults which led to a farcical and tragic
miscarriage of justice. There never was any medical, forensic or other
credible evidence of sexual abuse but there was, and is, hysteria. The faults
and the hysteria remain. Despite Dr Read¹s drivel, they must be fixed. |
