Citation

Salter M. Child Abuse Rev. 2012; 21(6): 440-451.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/car.2215

PMID

unavailable

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 organised abuse. Participants were forced to internalise these rationales in degrading and dehumanising ordeals, whereupon they became active in facilitating their own abuse and/or the abuse of others. Ritual abuse can therefore be conceptualised as a device or strategy that enjoins the participation of victims in organised abuse whilst simultaneously accomplishing exculpation for perpetrators. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 'Recent substantiations of ritual abuse allegations call for a grounded analysis of their claims' Key Practitioner Messages * Ritual abuse can be understood as a strategy that legitimises sexual exploitation to victims and perpetrators of organised abuse. * Children and adults subject to ritual abuse may actively collude in their own victimisation, complicating efforts at detection, intervention and treatment. * Practitioners should consider the ways in which ritual abuse reflects common rationalisations for sexual crimes that assign blame and responsibility to victims.

Language: en