Thoughtful examinations of abuse and memory

March 5, 2022 7:58 AM

Can you point me to retrospective writing and analysis about the McMartin Preschool trial, the Satanic Panic, and/or 80s and 90s conceptions of recovered memory?

I am specifically looking for writing that is not reflexively denialist or protective of abusers. Stuff that assumes abuse is real and widespread, and that looks back with thoughtfulness toward what was going on through a lens that is feminist. I know who Elizabeth Loftus is and have the basic outlines of the overreach and misunderstandings about memory that took place, but I want to better think about what was going on culturally in these moments.

Surely someone has written about why for example pre-school workers were specifically identified as supposed perpetrators in the context of a time when more women then ever had joined the paid workforce. So like, cultural analysis is the kind of thing I'm looking for, but open to suggestion.

posted by latkes to Human Relations (11 answers total)

You may be interested in the You're Wrong About podcast, which has covered this and related topics. I haven't listened to the entire backlog yet, but some of the early episodes are fresh in my mind, and they may be the kind of thing you're looking for. For example, I specifically remember the presenter making the point that these phenomena can be seen as an overcorrection to an era during which very real and widespread child abuse was minimised or denied. I though that this was an interesting observation. I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of other cultural details that came up. The podcast cites various written sources, so it may also be a good way to find related written materials.
posted by confluency at 8:29 AM on March 5, 2022 [13 favorites]

For another podcast suggestion, Behind the Bastards has a pretty good two-part episode on the Satanic Panic.
posted by ToddBurson at 9:00 AM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

I found this book, which is really a collection of essays, interesting.
posted by Ardnamurchan at 9:06 AM on March 5, 2022

Google the Boston Globe archives and the Fells Acres case. It was huge at the time, and led to a lot of thoughtful pieces.
posted by Melismata at 10:02 AM on March 5, 2022

The CBC Satanic Panic podcast takes a look at a town that was impacted and interviews the woman who was the lead police investigator at the time.

If you have specific questions for someone who was a victim of ritualized abuse in that spirit at that time (not as part of a worldwide conspiracy, but where the abusers numbered greater than one), you can MeMail me. I might only respond when I've got space, so don't fret if it's not right away.
posted by warriorqueen at 10:11 AM on March 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

A focus of work for Sarah Marshall, host of the above mentioned “You’re Wrong About” podcast. They also did a 3 episode cover of the satanic panic if you look back through the episodes
posted by raccoon409 at 10:31 AM on March 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

A very good book on this topic is Satan's Silence, by Debbie Nathan and Michael Snedeker. Remembering Satan by Lawrence Wright is also very good and talks about issues like the ones you’re referring to, although it focuses mostly on one case.
posted by holborne at 10:46 AM on March 5, 2022

I enjoyed this account, My Lie: A True Story of False Memory by Meredeth Maran. She believed her father had abused her during the height of the Satanic Panic and came to realize that it didn't happen. Interesting first person account.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 3:34 PM on March 5, 2022

The American Hysteria podcast has a couple of very well researched episodes on these topics (and others that relate).
posted by Miko at 3:55 PM on March 6, 2022

I thought We Believe The Children by Richard Beck, which is mostly about McMartin Preschool but also talks about the Satanic Panic in general, was really good and well-researched. He definitely writes about the anxieties around women in the workforce and how displacing real abuse issues onto fictional "Satanists" enabled people to elide actual abuse in their own communities.
posted by Nibbly Fang at 8:48 AM on March 7, 2022

Charles Fernyhough's Pieces of Light is an accesible text on memories in general, and does a good job describing how easy it is to create false memories and some of the societal implications that come from that.
posted by sindark at 4:07 PM on March 7, 2022