Issue 79 – March 2008

S M A R T
(Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today)
P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com

The purpose of this newsletter is to help stop secretive organizations and groups from abusing others and to help those who allege they have been abused by such organizations and groups. This newsletter is not a substitute for other ways of recovering from ritual abuse. Readers should use caution while reading this newsletter. If necessary, make sure other support systems are available during and after reading this newsletter.

Important: The resources mentioned in this newsletter are for educational value only. Reading the books cited may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when reading any book or contacting any resource mentioned in this newsletter. Some may have a religious or other agenda that may be separate from your own recovery process. Others may have valuable information on the Masons and other organizations, but have triggers or be somewhat sympathetic to those organizations. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the views expressed in this newsletter constitute expressions of opinion, and readers are cautioned to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions by consulting a variety of sources, including this newsletter. Resources listed, quoted and individual articles, etc. and their writers do not necessarily support all or any of the views mentioned in this newsletter. Also, the views, facts and opinions mentioned in this newsletter are solely the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of this newsletter or its editor.

SMART wants to thank all those that have contributed resource information to the newsletter.

Information on next summer’s conference is available by writing us at the above address or by going to http://members.aol.com/smartnews/smart-2008-conference.htm

Information on last summer’s conference tapes is available by writing us at the above address or by going to http://members.aol.com/smartnews/smart-2007-conference.htm

Resources and Information

Please note: Listing of these resources does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are for educational value only and some may be heavy for survivors to read. Some of the conferences listed may not necessarily be safe for all survivors. S.M.A.R.T. recommends always bringing a support person to all conferences. If you are a survivor of mind control and/or ritual abuse, S.M.A.R.T. recommends that you try to bring a support person that is familiar with mind control techniques. LMS: article from ACHES-MC (Advocacy Committee for Human Experimentation Survivors – Mind Control) for unconsentually federally funded mind control as children or adults Canada contact Lynne Moss-Sharman, 230 Miles St. E. #3, Thunder Bay, Ont. P7C 1J6, lsharman@shaw.ca

Legal Information

article describe crimes – Common vs. Amirault – 424 Mass. 618 – Commonwealth vs. Violet Amirault (and eleven companion cases). Commonwealth vs. Gerald Amirault. – October 9, 1996 – March 24, 1997 “All nine children testified in a broadly consistent way…The children testified to numerous instances of sexual abuse. Some of the children testified that they were photographed during this abuse, describing a big camera with wires, a red button, and pictures which came out of the camera. The children testified that the defendant threatened them and told them that their families would be harmed if they told anyone about the abuse….The Commonwealth also presented a pediatric gynecologist and pediatrician who examined five of the girls who testified…She made findings consistent with abuse in four of the girls.”

http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/common-vs-amirault-424-mass-618-page-618.jpg to http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/common-vs-amirault-424-mass-618-page-626.jpg

or http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/category/commonwealth-vs-amirault/

Crackdown on Child Pornography – Federal Action, Focused on Internet, Sets Off a Debate By Jerry Markon – Washington Post Staff Writer 12/15/07 Page A01 But an increase of Internet-fueled child pornography has triggered a new federal crackdown. Cybercrime, the majority of which involves child pornography, is now the FBI’s third-highest priority, behind counterterrorism and counterintelligence. In the past 11 months, federal prosecutors in Virginia and Maryland have helped convict or send to prison on child pornography charges the former head of the Virginia American Civil Liberties Union, an Ivy League professor, a sheriff’s deputy, a Transportation Security Administration employee, an Army sergeant, a former Navy cryptologist, a contractor working at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a National Institutes of Health researcher and a U.S. Capitol Police officer. “The problem is as bad as it appears,” said Arnold E. Bell, unit chief of the FBI’s Calverton-based Innocent Images National Initiative. “There are not enough badges out there to cover all the people to be had in terms of offenders.”….Many defendants obsessively collect huge numbers of images — the FBI recently seized a computer with 1.5 million images suspected to be child pornography — and many have molested children, officials say. People who download the images once or twice, possibly by accident, are unlikely to be prosecuted, officials said….Michael Seto, a Canadian researcher, said he thinks that an “invisible population of pedophiles” has lived in society all along but remained mostly hidden until the Internet offered relative anonymity and a community of like-minded people….The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline received about 4,500 reports of children being victimized it its first year, 1998. This year the center, which works closely with law enforcement officials, has collected nearly 100,000 reports, more than 75 percent for online child pornography. But an increase in federal cases — a 28 percent spike in fiscal 2007 compared with the year before — could partly be due to a rise in the number of agents attacking the problem….The frequency at which people who view child pornography also molest children is a highly controversial issue and has been the subject of little research. The only federal agency that tries to track the correlation, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, says that about one-third of the 2,713 people it has arrested since 1997 on child exploitation charges, primarily for trafficking in child pornography, also committed “contact offenses” against children. A recent study of 155 federal inmates in North Carolina convicted on child pornography charges suggests that the number is higher. It found that 85 percent admitted molesting children. The study’s co-author, Andres Hernandez, told Congress last year that “these Internet child pornographers are far more dangerous to society than we previously thought.” But some people who treat sex offenders say the risk is often minimal. “There are a large group of individuals whose lives and families are absolutely being devastated because they looked at these images,” said Fred Berlin, a psychiatrist who runs the National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma, affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. “They had absolutely no idea how severe the consequences would be and had no interest in doing anything other than viewing images.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/14/AR2007121402257.html

from LMS Two Winnipeggers arrested in sex abuse sting By Chris Kitching, Sun Media 1/15/08 Two males from Winnipeg have been arrested in an international child sexual abuse investigation involving a European website that allowed its customers to meet the victims or request tailor-made videos…..Police know there are about 90 other suspects in Canada. Some of them have not been identified…..Last November, Europol and police agencies across Europe announced 100 people in 19 countries had been arrested in connection with the child-porn network, which centred around an Italian website that had 2,500 paying customers. http://www.winnipegsun.com/News/Winnipeg/2008/01/15/4773915.html

may be triggering – 9 Canadians arrested in international child porn probe Suspects include men from Victoria, Edmonton, the Greater Toronto Area and Montreal 1/15/08 Nine Canadians have been arrested as part of an ongoing international child abuse and internet child pornography investigation, the RCMP said on Tuesday, adding that they are looking at another 50 cases. The probe, code-named “Operation Koala,” involved videos of children being abused that were filmed mainly in a Ukraine studio and purchased by customers around the world, including Canada, said RCMP Supt. Earla-Kim McColl, head of the National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre, at a news conference in Ottawa Tuesday….More than 92 people have been arrested in Europe as part of the investigation….The investigation began when a video depicting the rape of two young girls was found on July 12, 2006. That eventually led to the arrest of an Italian man, Sergio Marzola, who allegedly produced more than 150 child abuse and pornography videos — including some that could be custom-filmed for a price — that he sold via the internet. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/01/15/ot-koala-080115.html

Thousands sought over child porn – 12/24/07 – German prosecutors are investigating 12,000 suspected members of a child sex abuse network on the internet – the biggest in the country’s history. A senior public prosecutor said the suspects were accused of downloading or possessing illegal images of children. The investigation, which has been going on for several months, also points to suspects in about 70 other countries. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7159331.stm

from LMS – Jesuits agree to settlement in abuse case By Janet I. Tu Seattle Times religion reporter 1/4/08 The Jesuit order in the Northwest has agreed to pay $4.8 million to 16 Native Americans who were sexually and physically abused years ago when they were students at a boarding school near Omak. The Roman Catholic order – formally named the Society of Jesus – and attorneys for the 15 women and one man announced the settlement Thursday. It comes two months after the Jesuits agreed to a record $50 million settlement stemming from abuses in Alaska. The victims in Thursday’s settlement had all boarded at the St. Mary’s Mission and School on the Colville Indian Reservation. They say they were abused in the late 1960s and early 1970s by a Jesuit priest and a Jesuit brother….In November, the province agreed to pay $50 million to 110 Alaska Natives – believed to be the largest settlement by a religious order in the Catholic Church abuse cases. Insurance is paying $45 million of that amount. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004106962_jesuit04m.html

Statutes of Limitations of Sex Offenses by State – Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network http://www.rainn.org/public-policy/legal-resources/statute-of-limitations.html?PHPSESSID=80ba43972144329f81e8af12fb3c9363

Articles on Wenatchee – Doctor confirms abuse in sex-ring case – Associated Press – 12/5/96 One girl showed definite medical signs of sexual abuse and it could not be ruled out for two others, a defense witness testified (Dr Deborah Harper)…in the child rape and molestation trial of a Pentacostal preacher and his wife … Prosecutors allege unordained pastor Robert “Roby” Roberson and his wife, Connie, has sex with children at the East Wenatchee Pentacostal Church of God House and Prayer and at their home. http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/doctor-confirms-abuse.jpg also see http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/category/articles-on-wenatchee/

Consultant finds no fault in sex ring probe – 2/22/96 – Tri-City Herald – AP – “A consultant hired by the city’s insurer to look into the way Wenatchee police conducted child sex-abuse investigations said…the cases were properly handled….A Justice Department Investigation…found no evidence of civil rights violations.” http://abusearticles.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/consultant-finds-no-fault.jpg also see http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/category/articles-on-wenatchee/

describes graphic crimes – from LMS – Despicable’ child predator being released from jail today – Susan Clairmont – The Hamilton Spectator 1/3/08 He was among the country’s worst pedophiles. He preyed upon the children living under his own roof. He beat them with his fists. Struck them with a bull whip. A cow halter. Sticks. Wet towels. Cat-o-nine-tails. Wooden spoons. Belts. Cattle prods. He held one upside down by her ankles to beat her. Tied another down. And he raped them. Frequently. In the barn. At his antique shop. In their own beds while their mother was elsewhere in their Waterdown house. The child molester’s name is James Alfred Cooper….They wanted you to know that when he was sentenced in a Hamilton courtroom 14 years ago for 16 counts of sexually and physically abusing five former stepchildren and a neighbour’s daughter aged between seven and 14, even Justice Nick Borkovich couldn’t conceal his revulsion. “You are a low-down, mean, despicable, evil manifestation of a human being that preys on little children,” the judge said. Borkovich sent Cooper away for 30 years. One of the heaviest sentences ever meted out in Canada at the time to a child abuser and first-time offender. Alas, the 30 years did not stick. There was an appeal. The sentence was reduced to 21 years. The 21 years carried a statutory release date after two-thirds of the sentence was served….James Alfred Cooper gets out today….”I believe this man is a sexual predator. I believe he is a pedophile. He will reoffend. He is dangerous,” says one of the children he harmed. She was 10 when the abuse began. She and her younger brother and sister tried, over the years, to tell someone. A guidance counsellor. Children’s Aid. But nobody believed the horrible stories were true. Even when the brother was taken to hospital with whip marks on his body. The siblings were teens when someone finally believed. When police investigated and charges were laid. http://www.thespec.com/printArticle/304254

Vast archive on abuse aids victims, scholars – Database lists 3,000 accused priests By Michael Paulson Globe Staff – 1/29/2008 Waltham – In a drab office building on Main Street, Terry McKiernan and Anne Barrett Doyle are quietly amassing a vast archive of abuse: thousands and thousands of documents chronicling the sprawling crisis that has confronted the Catholic Church….A closet-sized room is lined with file cabinets, filled with 100 boxfuls of papers donated by a Texas lawyer who painstakingly amassed a database of 3,000 Catholic priests nationwide accused of abuse….This is the headquarters of bishopaccountability.org, a fast-growing website that is fashioning itself as a kind of cross between The Smoking Gun and an academic archive, aiming to be the first place to post the most sought-after new documents, as well as a repository of records for historical purposes. The site now has 93,000 files on the Internet and 647,000 paper files, and the collection is growing. The site has become a resource for journalists, academics, and filmmakers interested in the abuse crisis and a key source of information for abuse victims and their families who are seeking more information about their abusers and church officials. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/29/vast_archive_on_abuse_aids_victims_scholars/?page=1

Witnesses complain about grilling at Cornwall inquiry Accused need equal treatment, lawyer says 2/20/07 CBC News Witnesses who say they were sexually abused have complained about harsh treatment by lawyers at the Cornwall public inquiry, prompting the commissioner to intervene. Commissioner Normand Glaude was to tell lawyers Tuesday how far they should go when questioning inquiry witnesses who say they were abused, after a witness stormed off the stand in the middle of his testimony and another made a written complaint about how lawyers treated him….Lawyer Dallas Lee, who represents 50 people who say they were abused, said several men decided not to testify after David Silmser stormed off the stand on Feb. 1 in the midst of aggressive questioning by Dominic Lamb, the lawyer representing the priest who allegedly abused Silmser, Rev. Charles MacDonald. Witnesses who say they were sexually abused have complained about harsh treatment by lawyers at the Cornwall public inquiry, prompting the commissioner to intervene….Witnesses quit – Lawyer Dallas Lee, who represents 50 people who say they were abused, said several men decided not to testify after David Silmser stormed off the stand on Feb. 1 in the midst of aggressive questioning by Dominic Lamb, the lawyer representing the priest who allegedly abused Silmser, Rev. Charles MacDonald. Silmser earlier received $32,000 from the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese in relation to his allegations, but MacDonald was never criminally convicted….it is important to name both alleged and convicted abusers because of rumours that they were connected through an organized pedophile ring….In 1997, a provincial police investigation called Project Truth resulted in 114 charges being laid against 15 men, including a doctor, lawyers and three Roman Catholic priests, but only one person was ever convicted. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2007/02/20/cornwall.html?ref=rss

Ex-cop who alleged Cornwall pedophile ring refuses to testify at inquiry 1/9/08 DUNCAN, B.C. – A former police officer credited with bringing to light explosive allegations of widespread child sexual abuse in eastern Ontario says he’s convinced the dark stories that have divided the community are true – but he says he won’t testify before a public inquiry because he says the justice system hasn’t listened to him for 15 years. Perry Dunlop, a decorated former officer from Cornwall, Ont., has been scheduled to testify but he told The Canadian Press in an exclusive interview he won’t be there because he’s lost faith in the justice system. He said he’s prepared to face the consequences if he’s arrested. Dunlop, 46, was convicted of contempt of court last September for his earlier refusal to testify at the inquiry….”I have a lot of reasons, but I’m not going to testify,” he said. “I’m saying our judicial system is broken and they haven’t listened to me for 15 years, and I have no faith. Absolutely no faith, none.” The Ontario government inquiry was launched in February 2006 and is scheduled to conduct hearings until August 2008. The inquiry is looking into how authorities responded to dozens of accusations that men in eastern Ontario had sexually abused children over decades….Dunlop has rarely spoken publicly since he first made the allegations in 1993. Prominent members of the Cornwall region’s Roman Catholic clergy were among those accused of being part of a pedophile ring that some alleged had existed in Cornwall since the early 1960s. In August 2001, Ontario Provincial Police ended a four-year probe of the alleged ring, dubbed Project Truth, concluding the allegations were baseless. Project Truth ended after 672 people were interviewed and 69 complainants were identified. Some of the allegations stemmed back to the 1960s. As a result of the probe, 15 people were charged with a total of 115 offences ranging from gross indecency to indecent assault on a male and sexual assault on a male. Many individuals were later found guilty of paying underage boys for sex; two were found guilty of possessing child pornography. But when all was said and done, courts and the police could find no evidence the large group of accused men worked together as a group. Dunlop raised the child sexual abuse allegations in 1993 after discovering what he believed was a cover-up of an abuse case involving a young boy and a church official. He said he was told not to pursue the matter, but he couldn’t let it go and it eventually cost him his job. Dunlop was once named officer of the year in Cornwall. “Absolutely there was a pedophile ring in Cornwall,” he said in the interview this week. http://www.eastottawa.ca/article-cp33579021-ExCornwall-cop-who-alleged-Cornwall-pedophile-ring-refuses-to-testify-at-inquiry.html

from LMS City cops drove probationers to Ken Seguin’s place: van Diepen 1/23/08 Some city cops used to drop probationers off at the home of a probation officer who would later be accused of sexual abuse, a recently retired probation officer maintained during his cross-examination at the Cornwall Public Inquiry Tuesday. During Jos van Diepen’s testimony, he briefly mentioned that he remembered hearing his colleague Ken Seguin tell him members of the Cornwall police used to drop probationers off at his home sometime in the 1970s. Peter Manderville, a lawyer for the city police, asked van Diepen if he could recall anything more about this practice – like who the cops were that would drop probationers off at Seguin’s home. The probation officer said it was a well-known fact in the Cornwall probation office, and that Seguin would have talked about it before his suicide in 1993. Seguin was never charged with any abuse, but was accused of sexually abusing probationers in his charge. (from the Cornwall Standard Freeholder) http://www.standard-freeholder.com/PrintArticle.aspx?e=870172

The Island Paradise With a Dark History By Martin Croucher Epoch Times UK Staff 1/16/08 But hidden beneath the friendly smiles of the 47 inhabitants is a dark secret. In 2004, six men–a third of the island’s adult male population, including Pitcairn mayor Steve Christian, a direct descendant of Fletcher Christian’s–were been convicted under English law of 33 sexual offences, some dating back 40 years. The trials revealed that for generations the islanders have had a culture of rape, adultery and child-abuse involving children as young as five. As Pitcairn is one of the last remaining British colonies, detectives from Kent launched an 18-month investigation that would prove to be one of the most complex, and costly, in British legal history. Detectives Rob Vinson and Peter George were recently accorded in the Queen’s New Year’s honours list. The detectives found every woman, born and bred on Pitcairn had experienced some form of sexual abuse in their lives. Many said that it would be impossible to find a girl over the age of 12 on the island who had not been the victim of sexual abuse. But during the police investigation, eyewitnesses on the island said that locals did not believe what they were doing was wrong and claimed it was a part of their culture….However, more than 200 years on and with little contact with the outside world, the islanders had developed a degenerate sexual culture where rape, adultery and child abuse were pervasive. That culture began to unravel in 1996 when Dennis McGookin and Peter George, two detectives from Kent police, visited the island on the allegation that Shawn Christian, one of the children of Pitcairn governor Steve Christian, raped an 11-year-old. The case collapsed after Shawn claimed consensual sex and provided love letters to prove it. The detectives, who were the first British officers ever to set foot on the colony, raised concerns that the legal system there was at best rudimentary, and not fit to deal with serious crime. At the time Pitcairn barely saw itself as under British law, having never seen an attorney or judge….One her second visit, in 1999, Ms Cox was confronted with allegations that Shawn and brother, Randy Christian, had raped an 11-year-old girl. The message went out to London and the detectives were back, although this time Rob Vinson accompanied Peter George. However the investigation was initially frustrated when the brothers denied the allegations and they were not able to find any leads. Just as they were about to leave they decided to interview a friend of the accused who was living in Auckland, New Zealand. She said she knew nothing about the case but as the detectives turned to leave she mentioned almost in passing that she had been raped when she was 10. She later became the main whistleblower of the case and provided the detectives with an almost endless ream of leads. It was then that the culture of abuse unravelled. DCI Vinson said: “She told us that you wouldn’t find any girl on the island of the age of 12 who hadn’t gone through that experience. Every Pitcairn girl that we spoke to who was born and bred on the island described some kind of abuse. “As we were questioning witnesses they were giving us more and more leads, and it got bigger and bigger. It just snowballed.” Aided by a New Zealand policewoman, the Kent detectives hunted down every woman who had come of age on Pitcairn in the past 40 years and 24 agreed to make statements. The officials uncovered more than 100 allegations of sexual abuse against 31 men, four of who had since died. More than 30 of the complaints could be defined as rape under English law, all against girls who were under-age at the time. A British social worker who visited the island at the time in 2000 described a community deeply shaken by the inquiry. She dug deep into the culture on the island and revealed a way of life where sex permeated everything. She told of a society where childhood sex games and abuse were commonplace, as were teenage pregnancies and abortions. http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-1-16/64145.html

from LMS Subject of ‘Friedman’ Film Loses Appeal 1/13/08 Central Islip, N.Y. (AP) – A federal judge has rejected a man’s bid for exoneration in a child-molestation case explored in a noted documentary film, saying he filed his appeal too late. Jesse Friedman’s appeal stemmed from the Oscar-nominated 2003 film, “Capturing the Friedmans.” His lawyers said the documentary revealed evidence that prosecutors had wrongfully withheld — that at least one of the children who accused Friedman did so under hypnosis arranged by police. A teenage Friedman and his father, Arnold, pleaded guilty in 1988 to molesting children during computer classes in the basement of their home in Great Neck, on Long Island. Jesse Friedman, now 38, was paroled in 2001; his father committed suicide in prison in 1995. The son has tried for years to reverse his guilty plea. U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert agreed last year to consider whether his latest appeal was filed within legal time limits, as a first step toward a potential hearing on questions about the hypnosis. She ruled Jan. 4 that the June 2006 appeal was “untimely,” saying Friedman’s lawyers knew in 1988 that a therapist had worked with the children in eliciting details of the alleged sex abuse…. Under federal law, the appeal had to be filed within a year after its factual basis “could have been discovered through the exercise of due diligence.”….A prosecutor said Friedman’s appeal was meritless, adding that the therapist has given sworn testimony denying having hypnotized any of Friedman’s accusers. “Further review of this issue is simply not warranted,” assistant Nassau County district attorney Judith Sternberg said Friday. Pressman said his disappointed client — who is still barred from parks and other places children frequent because he is classified as a violent sexual predator — would appeal further. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/13/national/a013246S03.DTL

links about the movie and case:

http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/bib.html Capturing the Friedmans: annotated Bibliography from the Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal Violence

http://members.aol.com/FriedmansMovie/ Additional information on Capturing the Friedmans

http://www.theawarenesscenter.org/arnoldandjessefriedman.html Case of Arnold Friedman and Jessie Friedman

http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/geraldo.html Geraldo Rivera’s interview with Jesse Friedman

Mind Control and Experimentation

may be heavy for survivors – The Child Abuse Survivor Monument – Ritual abuse involves abusive physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or sexual activity done in a repetitive pattern often incorporating violence, ceremony and/or religious rites. http://www.irvingstudios.com/child_abuse_survivor_monument/RitualAbuse.htm

Research on ritual abuse-torture and military connections – may be very heavy for survivors -http://pub25.bravenet.com/vote/vote.php?usernum=2120596064&cpv=2

from LMS – article describes crimes – Minister faces sex assault charges TheStar.com – Crime – Minister faces sex assault charges December 11, 2007 THE CANADIAN PRESS A Toronto minister is charged with two counts of sexual assault linked to alleged incidents at his small north-end Toronto church. Two women allege they were forced to have sex against their will and had babies fathered by 59-year-old Frank Lawrence, pastor at Toronto Mount Zion Revival Church of the Apostles. One woman told police that under the guise of spiritual healing, she had the blood of a sacrificed pigeon poured over her head and ointment rubbed over her body after a ritual bath in 1995. The identities of both women are shielded by a publication ban. Lawrence, an ordained minister for more than 30 years, pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, four counts of threatening and an assault charge. http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/284484

describes crimes from LMS Prosecutors file brief against overturning conviction of priest By David Yonke Blade Religion Editor 12/15/07 The Lucas County Prosecutor’s Office filed an 80-page brief yesterday detailing its reasons why Toledo priest Gerald Robinson’s murder conviction should not be overturned. The document, filed with Ohio’s 6th District Court of Appeals, makes point-by-point rebuttals to arguments Robinson’s attorneys made in August claiming the 69-year-old Catholic cleric did not receive a fair trial. Robinson was convicted in May, 2006, for the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, a 71-year-old Catholic nun who was strangled nearly to death, then stabbed 31 times. Her body was found in the sacristy, the room next to the chapel, in the former Mercy Hospital early on the morning of April 5, 1980 – Holy Saturday. Robinson was a chaplain at Mercy and lived in an apartment at the hospital at the time. He was arrested by cold-case detectives April 23, 2004, more than 24 years after the murder. After a three-week trial in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, the priest was convicted of murder May 11, 2006. He is serving a 15-years-to-life sentence at Hocking Correctional Facility in southern Ohio….The prosecutor’s office said Robinson’s appeals attorneys made numerous errors that were either “factually untrue,” “misleading,” “totally unsupported by the record,” “fantastical,” or “fiction.”….The prosecutor said though some witnesses have died since the 1980 murder and were therefore unavailable to testify, Robinson “had every opportunity to take the witness stand and tell the jurors anything that he felt was relevant to, contradictory of, or explanatory of any false accusations,” the prosecutor’s office said. The priest did not testify. The state never closed its investigation of Sister Margaret Ann’s death, the prosecutor’s office said, but the case gained new interest in 2003 after a Toledo Catholic nun accused Robinson “of sadomasochistic sexual abuse.” http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071215/NEWS10/712150408/-1/NEWS

describes crimes – from LMS – Attorneys file to free priest charged with nun’s murder – Petition hints deceased cleric had role in her killing 1/16/08 By David Yonke – Blade Staff Writer Attorneys for Gerald Robinson have filed a court petition seeking to overturn the Toledo priest’s 2006 murder conviction and raising suspicions about another Catholic cleric, now deceased, who worked with Robinson as a chaplain at the hospital where the crime occurred in 1980. The petition, filed in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, quotes Sister Dorothy Marie Balabuch, a Sylvania Franciscan nun, as saying she worked as a housekeeper for the Rev. Jerome Swiatecki and described the priest as an “immoral man” with “a very bad temper” and a fondness for knives and “hard-core pornography.” The court document also quotes a security guard, hired two days after the murder at the former Mercy Hospital, saying that “in my youthful zeal and my desire to catch the perpetrator, I accused Father Swiatecki” of murdering Sister Margaret Ann Pahl…..Father Swiatecki, a Toledo native whose hobby was wood carving, was ordained a priest in 1941 and died in 1996 at age 83….Retired Deputy Chief Ray Vetter said he recalls Father Swiatecki as having had “an airtight alibi.” Police reports from 1980 said Father Swiatecki was eating breakfast with several nuns in the hospital’s dining room at the time of the murder. Robinson, now 69, was found guilty May 11, 2006, and is serving a 15-years-to-life sentence at Hocking Correctional Facility in southern Ohio. Sister Margaret Ann, 71, had been strangled to the verge of death, then stabbed 31 times in the sacristy of the Catholic hospital on Holy Saturday, 1980. http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080116/NEWS02/801160393/-1/NEWS

describes crimes – from LMS – Trial told of a rape on grave – Pastor on sex charges By Sam Pazzano, Courts Bureau – 12/20/07 – A second woman has taken the stand and told of being raped five times by Rev. Frank Lawrence, who she claimed impregnated her in an assault on a fresh grave site during a ritual to cleanse her of evil spirits. The mother of three, including a 5-year-old son by Lawrence, told the jury yesterday the first three times the Toronto pastor raped her was at his home during spiritual baths to purge evil spirits. Lawrence later took her to a fresh grave site for another ritual in the spring of 2001 and raped her again, she testified. The woman, 45, admitted she forgot about a fifth rape for several years and recalled it while testifying at the preliminary hearing last summer….Robbins maintained that she and Lawrence had a consensual sexual relationship that soured after she sought child support. Lawrence, 59, the founder of the Toronto Mount Zion Revival Church of the Apostles, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the two women in 2001 and 2003. http://www.torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/12/20/pf-4733359.html

describes graphic crimes of abuse – Agents graphically describe abuse By Don Ellzey 11/30/07 In an interview with Bernard at the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office Substation on June 10, 2005, Edwards said he was told by Bernard that during the diaper changes he began touching his infant daughter. The touching became oral sex and eventually penetration. Edwards said Bernard claimed to have been molested as a child, which led him to molest children. Federal prosecutor Lisa Marie Freitas, now with the Child Exploitation Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, was a special agent assigned to the FBI’s New Orleans office in 2005. Freitas testified that she, too, interviewed Bernard, who told her that he had done with his daughter everything a human could do to the body of another human. Much of the abuse occurred while his wife, Nicole Bernard, was working. She said Bernard told her that he was the first to penetrate his daughter and Louis Lamonica was the second. She said Bernard described the rituals at the church, although the rituals were not the point of the FBI investigation. Freitas said he volunteered the information. According to Bernard, the rituals took place in what was called “the room,” which was the church’s youth room. He described how six adults would line up shoulder to shoulder and perform sex acts on his daughter or other children, who were passed down the line. The rule was that there would be no penetration or injury. The rituals had a Satanic theme, including a Pentagram, the use of animals and animal parts such as chicken feet and the use of animal blood. Freitas said that according to Bernard, Patricia Pierson and Robin Lamonica, two defendants in the case, put animal blood on his daughter during one of the rites. She said Bernard claimed Pierson and Lamonica also sexually abused his daughter. He said animal blood was also put on other children, Freitas said. http://www.hammondstar.com/articles/2007/12/03/top_stories/9453.txt

Questionnaires on the difference between torture and abuse – Linda MacDonald and Jeanne Sarson from Persons Against Ritual Abuse -Torture have developed two questionnaires (one general and one for persons who Self-identify that they have endured non-state torture — torture committed by parents, spouses, other kin, guardians, neighbors, trusted adults, or strangers, for example. It is generally referred to as torture that happens in the private sphere. With a goal of developing participatory research to show the difference between torture and abuse this vital information can be used to lobby for structural transformation including better laws and services for persons who have endured non-state actor torture. To include your voice in this goal contact Linda and Jeanne at flight@ns.sympatico.ca www.ritualabusetorture.org This questionnaire graphically describes crimes

Family Trauma Survivors’ Network Annual Leadership Training Conference in Haines City, Florida (near Disney World) April 3 – 6, 2008 – A leadership conference for Survivors interested in developing their leadership abilities, those interested in Survivor-run programs, and those interested in helping to develop a Trauma Support Group in their area – For information: Anita Cape at familyptsdnet@aol.com or http://www.traumasurvivorssupport.com/

articles describe crimes – Tamarkin, Civia. “Investigative issues in ritual abuse cases. Part I.” Treating Abuse Today 4(4) 1994 pp. 14-23 Tamarkin, Civia. “Investigative issues in ritual abuse cases. Part II” Treating Abuse Today 4(5) 1994 pp. 5-9

http://abusearticles.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/investigat ive-issues-in-ritual-abuse-cases-part-1-and-2-1994/ “In August 1982, a mother claimed she noticed blood in her son’s diaper and an irritation around his rectum. A hospital exam confirmed her worst fears her son has been sodomized. Asked who was responsible, the toddler said, “Mr. Ray.” “Mr. Ray” was…a teacher at the McMartin preschool, which the boy had been attending. Later, when the boy was questioned by local police, he named other children whom he claimed also were present during the sexual abuse.”

Journal Articles

Mental Health Links & Suicide Resources Australia (may be heavy for survivors) http://www.paulpizzolo.org/mental_health_resources.shtml

TORONTO CONFERENCE – The Men’s Project, with the assistance of a grant from the Ministry of the Attorney General, will be hosting a conference in Toronto in March 2008. MEN OF COURAGE: The First Provincial Conference on Male Sexual Victimization Monday, March 17th and Tuesday, March 18th 2008 Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, 123 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario http://themensproject.ca/section.php?ID=15&Lang=En&Nav=Section

Commentary: Response to 17 February 2003 Media Reports on Loftus’ Bugs Bunny Study Jennifer J. Freyd, University of Oregon http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/bugs.html

Consider This, Skeptics of Recovered Memory – Ross E. Cheit – ETHICS & BEHAVIOR, 8(2). 141-160 – Some self-proclaimed skeptics of recovered memory claim that traumatic childhood events simply cannot be forgotten at the time only to be remembered later in life. This claim has been made repeatedly by the Advisory Board members of a prominent advocacy group for parents accused of sexual abuse, the so-called False Memory Syndrome Foundation. The research project described in this article identifies and documents the growing number of cases that have been ignored or distorted by such skeptics. To date, this project has documented 35 cases in which recovered memories of traumatic childhood events were corroborated by clear and convincing evidence. This article concludes with some observations about the politics of the false memory movement, particularly the tendency to conceal or omit evidence of corroboration. Several instances of this vanishing facts syndrome are documented and analyzed. Abstract is at http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327019eb0802_4?journalCode=eb

Rebuttal to Brain stains article : November 30, 2007 – Scientific American, Inc. Attn: Editor and Chief 415 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10017 Dear Editor: Regrettably the authors of the article “Brain stains: Traumatic therapies can have longlasting effects on mental health,” Kelly Lambert and Scott O. Lilienfeld chose to provide a onesided, misleading and unscientific account of the dissociative disorders (DD), including dissociative identity disorder (DID). Although we will not comment on the specific case they present, we would like to correct some of their misleading statements and assumptions, and thereby give the reader a more accurate view of this field and of the overt and/or hidden family problems that most often contribute to the development of this kind of psychopathology. Readers may get the impression from the article that there is no research supporting the validity and reliability of DID when, in fact, various studies show that: – DID fulfills the same requirements for diagnostic validity as other psychiatric diagnoses (e.g., 1). – The validity of the DID diagnosis is further supported by cognitive (e.g., 2) and brainimaging research (e.g., 3-6). – Epidemiological studies have found DID in both Western and non-Western cultures, thus the suggestion that it is a Western “culture bound” syndrome contradicts the evidence (e.g., 7-8). – Dozens of studies using various methodologies, retrospective and prospective, support the reality of people forgetting and later recovering traumatic memories (e.g., e.g. 9-10). – Various studies (e.g. 11) have shown independent corroboration (e. g., through longterm scars, medical archives, etc.) of many DID patient accounts of earlier trauma. – Epidemiological studies show that the dissociative disorders, including DID, are not uncommon in both clinical and community samples from various cultures (e.g., 12-13).- Many individuals with DID were diagnosed by therapists who did not use hypnosis or initially believe in the diagnosis (e.g., 14-15). – The authors repeatedly talk about a “recovered memory therapy,” yet provide no evidence that such a therapy modality exists. We are not aware of any colleagues who have ever been trained in such a therapy, nor can we find evidence for that label in any of the training programs of which we are aware. The authors appear to be engaging in a straw-man argument here. The preceding is by no means an exhaustive list of the myriad ways in which the article ignores relevant literature. Although it may be true that a clinician could shape or exacerbate an individual’s symptoms, iatrogenic effects can occur in the treatment of any kind of condition, medical or psychological. Such a proposition does not invalidate the existence of patients suffering from true DID. The finding that many more patients are diagnosed with DID now than were decades ago may be consistent with an iatrogenic hypothesis, but an alternative — and perhaps more compelling — hypothesis would be that valid and reliable measures of DID have only recently been developed, available, and employed in this and other cultures. The fact that one of the authors of this article is an Associate Editor of Scientific American Mind makes these scholarship-related infractions especially problematic. The readership deserves much better than partisan, biased tracts. – from the President and Executive Council, International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation http://www.isst-d.org/education/sciamerican-ltr.pdf

Information on Retractors of Child Sexual Abuse – Some researchers believe “while some of the retractions are likely to be accurate, they are small in number compared with the vast number of actual case of child sexual abuse, and it is likely that some of the retractors were actually sexually abused and that many were abused in other ways and have re-activated their traumatic forgetting.” Whitfield M.D., Charles L. “Memory and Abuse – Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma.” Some have suggested that a child may retract their story of abuse due to guilt and a feeling of obligation to protect their family. Some people believe that those who retract previous allegations of incest made against family members may be reacting to the familial stress brought on by their allegations. “Whatever a child says about sexual abuse, she is likely to reverse it. Beneath the anger of impulsive disclosure remains the ambivalence of guilt and the martyred obligation to preserve the family.” Summit, R. The child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome. Child Abuse & Neglect (1983) 7 p177-193

Iatrogenic DID-An Evaluation of the Scientific Evidence: D. Brown, E. Frischholz & A. Scheflin” from The fall-winter 1999 issue of “The Journal of Psychiatry & Law – After going through a variety of research studies on the subject, they conclude: “At present the scientific evidence is insufficient and inadequate to support plaintiffs’ complaints that suggestive influences allegedly operative in psychotherapy can create a major psychiatric disorder like MPD per se…there is virtually no scientific support for the unique contribution of hypnosis to the alleged iatrogenic creation of MPD in appropriately controlled research…..alter shaping is not to be confused with alter creation.” p. 624

Child Abuse Negl. 1985;9(4):457-67. Child sexual abuse: a study of prevalence in Great Britain. Baker AW, Duncan SP. Of 2019 men and women (aged 15 years and over) interviewed as part of a MORI Survey of a nationally representative sample of Great Britain, 10% reported that they had been sexually abused before the age of 16 (12% of females; 8% of males). There was no increased risk associated with specific social class categories or area of residence. For all types of sexual abuse, the mean age of victims when first abused was significantly lower for females. Subjective reports of the effects of sexual abuse indicated that the majority (51%) felt harmed by the experience, while only 4% reported that it had improved the quality of their life. We estimate that there are over 4.5 million adults in Great Britain who were sexually abused as children, and that a potential 1,117,000 children will be sexually abused before they are 15 years of age. At least 143,000 of these will be abused within the family….PMID: 4084825 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=4084825&cmd=showdetailview&indexed=google

Child Maltreatment, Vol. 2, No. 2, 91-112 (1997) DOI: 10.1177/1077559597002002001 Videotaped Discovery of a Reportedly Unrecallable Memory of Child Sexual Abuse: Comparison with a Childhood Interview Videotaped 11 Years Before – David L. Corwin…Erna Olafson…This article presents the history, verbatim transcripts, and behavioral observations of a child’s disclosure of sexual abuse to Dr. David Corwin in 1984 and the spontaneous return of that reportedly unrecallable memory during an interview between the same individual, now a young adult, and Dr. Corwin 11 years later. Both interviews were videotape recorded. The significance, limitations, and clinical implications of this unique case study are discussed. Five commentaries by researchers from differing empirical perspectives who have reviewed these videotape-recorded interviews follow this article. http://cmx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/2/91

Opinion – Take action against childhood sexual abuse – DL-Online – 1/2/08 Recent news stories about sexual abuse of children in Alexandria and elsewhere should do more than make us disgusted and angry. It should make us act. Consider something that happened in Duluth about a year ago: A 70-year-old man was arrested for sexually abusing a 7-year-old girl who was being cared for at a child care business run by the man and his wife. When an investigator asked the man, “Why a child?” The man replied, “Because it’s easy. Sadly, statistics indicate just how “easy” it is: More than 39,000 sexual assaults are estimated to be committed each year in Minnesota — the majority against children. One in four girls and one in six boys will have been abused by the age of 18. Some estimates put the number of childhood sexual abuse survivors in America at 39 million.

http://www.dl-online.com/articles/index.cfm?id=33117&freebie_check&CFID=80444300&CFTOKEN=62213239&jsessionid=88306cabd6ee19472776

The Most Dangerous Book You May Already Be Reading By:Elizabeth Loftus Ph.D. Dr. Marlene Steinberg Respond…Elizabeth Loftus’ commentary on Stranger in the Mirror: Dissociation: The Hidden Epidemic illustrates the elaborate mythology and misrepresentations surrounding the field of dissociation. As many people are aware, Loftus is not a licensed clinical psychologist and has never diagnosed or treated a single person through psychotherapy. In addition, respected professionals have documented misrepresentations, scientific errors, erroneous conclusions and ethical breaches in regard to her research. Like all myths, however, Loftus’ assertions fall to stand up when compared to the facts. Indeed, there are hundreds of scientific publications documenting advances in the field of dissociation….Unfortunately, myths about dissociation that ignore scientific evidence to the contrary are still being perpetuated, delaying accurate diagnosis and treatment for survivors of abuse or trauma. One such myth suggests that treatment of dissociative disorders is focused on eliciting memories of abuse from the patient, regardless of whether such memories exist. Another myth suggests that a dissociative disorder can be magically created after reading an informative book….Marlene Steinberg, M.D., is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, and has private practices in Connecticut and Massachusetts. http://www.strangerinthemirror.com/psytodayresponse.html and http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/index.php?term=pto-20001101-000031&page=4

EDITORIAL – Archiving Dissociation as a Precaution Against Dissociating Dissociation Judith Herman (1992) famously observed, “The knowledge of horrible events periodically intrudes into public awareness but is rarely retained for long. Denial, repression, and dissociation operate on a social as well as an individual level” (p. 2)….Herman (1992) goes on to note: “Like traumatized people, we have been cut off from the knowledge of our past. Like traumatized people, we need to understand the past in order to reclaim the present and the future. Therefore, an understanding of psychological trauma begins with rediscovering history” (p. 2). We are at risk of forgetting the hard work and lessons learned by our predecessors. Thus, in addition to preserving our current knowledge, it is important to learn and preserve Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, Vol. 8(3) 2007 Available online at http://jtd.haworthpress.com by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1300/J229v08n03_01 1 http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/articles/freyd2007.pdf

Duggal, S., & Sroufe, L. A. (1998). Recovered memory of childhood sexual trauma: A documented case from a longitudinal study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 11(2), 301-321. This account contains a prospective report of memory loss in a case in which there is both documented evidence of trauma and evidence of recovery of memory. http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/lg/taus_cr.html

Memory, Abuse, and Science: Questioning Claims about the False Memory Syndrome Epidemic – Kenneth S. Pope ABSTRACT: Careful assessment of purported scientific discoveries and the resulting interpretations is a responsibility of every scientist. The area of memory, particularly memory for abuse, has recently seen new, highly publicized claims. These include the proposal of a new diagnostic category, the false memory syndrome; claims about the ease with which extensive autobiographical memories can be implanted; and estimates of the extent therapists use risky practices likely to cause false memory syndrome. This article suggests questions to evaluate these claims and the methods used to promote them. Implications for clinical standards and malpractice are discussed….Memory, Abuse, & Science: Questioning Claims about the False Memory Syndrome Epidemic–is the award address for the American Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public Service. It was published in American Psychologist, vol. 51, no. 9, pages 957-974. http://www.kspope.com/memory/memory.php

Idaho Releases Yearly Report on Sexual Abuse 1/24/2008 The Idaho Attorney General’s yearly report on sexual abuse cases is out. It shows one disturbing fact that has not changed in all these years. It’s that the abuser is almost always a person known and trusted by the victim and the victim’s family, as with the Bonneville County case of Scott Wolfley, now admitting to molesting a young relative. Of all 430 criminal cases filed in Idaho between July 2006 and June 2007 against adult and juvenile defendants, there were just three cases in which the defendant was a stranger to the victim. Seventy-two percent were acquaintances, 8% were natural parents, 6% were step-parents and 9% were other relatives. The full report : http://www2.state.id.us/ag/sexual_prosecution_reports/2007IdahoProsecutionOfChildSexualAbuseReport.pdf http://www.kpvi.com/Global/story.asp?S=7770431

The official journal of the International Society for the Study of Dissociation (ISSD), published between 1988 and 1997. https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/handle/1794/1129

Memories of childhood abuse: dissociation, amnesia, and corroboration. Chu JA, Frey LM, Ganzel BL, Matthews JA Am J Psychiatry. 1999 May;156(5):749-55….Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Program, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA….Participants were 90 female patients admitted to a unit specializing in the treatment of trauma-related disorders. Participants completed instruments that measured dissociative symptoms and elicited details concerning childhood physical abuse, sexual abuse, and witnessing abuse. Participants also underwent a structured interview that asked about amnesia for traumatic experiences, the circumstances of recovered memory, the role of suggestion in recovered memories, and independent corroboration of the memories. RESULTS: Participants reporting any type of childhood abuse demonstrated elevated levels of dissociative symptoms that were significantly higher than those in subjects not reporting abuse. Higher dissociative symptoms were correlated with early age at onset of physical and sexual abuse and more frequent sexual abuse. A substantial proportion of participants with all types of abuse reported partial or complete amnesia for abuse memories. For physical and sexual abuse, early age at onset was correlated with greater levels of amnesia. Participants who reported recovering memories of abuse generally recalled these experiences while at home, alone, or with family or friends. Although some participants were in treatment at the time, very few were in therapy sessions during their first memory recovery. Suggestion was generally denied as a factor in memory recovery. A majority of participants were able to find strong corroboration of their recovered memories. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood abuse, particularly chronic abuse beginning at early ages, is related to the development of high levels of dissociative symptoms including amnesia for abuse memories. This study strongly suggests that psychotherapy usually is not associated with memory recovery and that independent corroboration of recovered memories of abuse is often present. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10327909?dopt=abstractplus

Childhood trauma and perceived parental dysfunction in the etiology of dissociative symptoms in psychiatric inpatients. Draijer N, Langeland W. Department of Psychiatry, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Am J Psychiatry. 1999 Mar;156(3):379-85…..One hundred sixty inpatients consecutively admitted to a general psychiatric hospital were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Structured Trauma Interview…..The level of dissociation was primarily related to reported overwhelming childhood experiences (sexual and physical abuse). When sexual abuse was severe (involving penetration, several perpetrators, lasting more than 1 year), dissociative symptoms were even more prominent. Highest dissociation levels were found in patients reporting cumulative sexual trauma (intrafamilial and extrafamilial) or both sexual and physical abuse. In particular, maternal dysfunction was related to the level of dissociation. With control for gender and age, stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that the severity of dissociative symptoms was best predicted by reported sexual abuse, physical abuse, and maternal dysfunction.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10080552?dopt=abstractplus

from LMS article has graphic depictions of abuse Mayans’ sacrifices were boys Reuters 1/23/08 MEXICO CITY — The victims of human sacrifice by Mexico’s ancient Mayans, who threw children into water-filled caverns, were likely boys and young men not virgin girls as previously believed, archeologists said on Tuesday. The Maya built soaring temples and elaborate palaces in the jungles of Central America and southern Mexico before the Spanish conquest in the early 1500s. Maya priests in the city of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan peninsula sacrificed children to petition the gods for rain and fertile fields by throwing them into sacred sinkhole caves, known as “cenotes.” http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080123.wmayans0123/BNStory/Science/home

Ex-NFL star Herschel Walker reveals in upcoming book he has multiple personalities – Ex-NFL star Herschel Walker reveals in upcoming book he has multiple personalities 1/18/2008 Atlanta (AP) — Georgia football great Herschel Walker has multiple personalities — a revelation in an upcoming book that surprises the man who coached the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner….”Breaking Free” will chronicle Walker’s life with multiple personality disorder,

according to Shida Carr, a publicist at Simon & Schuster. http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news?slug=ap-walker-multiplepersonalities&prov=ap&type=lgns

describes abuse – from LMS Packaging abuse of women as entertainment for adults TheStar.com – Packaging abuse of women as entertainment for adults – Cruel, degrading scenes `normalized’ for generation brought up in dot-com world 1/26/08 Antonia Zerbisias Living Columnist….According to the Internet Filter Review, worldwide porn revenues, including in-room movies at hotels, sex clubs and the ever-expanding E-sex world, topped $97 billion in 2006. That’s more than the revenues of the top technology companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink….Every second, 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography….That’s a lot of women who, for whatever their reasons, and most likely they are economic, are being tortured….There’s a huge market for the domination of women….Robert Jensen, a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, has been tracking the trend for years. In his new book Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity, he writes with alarm about how the “cruelty line” in mass-market pornography is driving up. At the same time, the “normalization” line – “the measure of the acceptance of pornography in the mainstream of contemporary culture” – is also up, sharply. “If pornography is increasingly cruel and degrading, why is it increasingly commonplace instead of more marginalized?” he writes. “In a society that purports to be civilized, wouldn’t we expect most people to reject sexual material that becomes evermore (sic) dismissive of the humanity of women? How do we explain the simultaneous appearance of more, and increasingly more intense, ways to humiliate women sexually and the rising popularity of the films that present those activities?” http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/296391

Recall of Childhood Trauma: A Prospective Study of Women’s Memories of Child Sexual Abuse – Linda Meyer Williams – Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1994, Vol. 62, No. 6, 1167-1176 Copyright 1994 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0022-006X/94/S3.00 SPECIAL FEATURE One hundred twenty-nine women with previously documented histories of sexual victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked detailed questions about their abuse histories to answer the question “Do people actually forget traumatic events such as child sexual abuse, and if so, how common is such forgetting?” A large proportion of the women (38%) did not recall the abuse that had been reported 17 years earlier. Women who were younger at the time of the abuse and those who were molested by someone they knew were more likely to have no recall of the abuse. The implications for research and practice are discussed. Long periods with no memory of abuse should not be regarded as evidence that the abuse did not occur…In the past decade, however, several major retrospective studies have independently documented the extent of child sexual abuse and suggest that our early assessments of its prevalence were gross underestimates. The best research indicates that between one fifth to one third of all women have experienced sexual abuse in childhood (Finkelhor, in press; Finkelhor, Hotaling, Lewis, & Smith, 1990; Kilpatrick, Edmunds, & Seymour, 1992; Peters, Wyatt, & Finkelhor, 1986; Russell, 1984, 1988; Saunders, 1992). http://www.hss.caltech.edu/courses/2004-05/winter/psy130/Debate2Williams1.pdf

October 13, 2008 · Filed Under Newsletter 2008 - Issues 78 - 83

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