Professor Jean
La Fontaine who headed the governments' official inquiry into SRA
explains how the Satanic Ritual Abuse Panic was created and why the myth won't go away |

It
is over 20 years since the rash of allegations that rituals of devil
worship, including the sexual abuse of children, the sacrifice, and
(sometimes) eating, of animals, children and even babies as well as
other extreme acts of depravity were being conducted across the U.K.
In 1994 I reported to the Department of Health that in the 84 cases in England and Wales that were the basis of my research, I could find no supporting evidence for the existence of such a satanic cult.
The allegations have not stopped however, although they no longer get the publicity they used to have as, officially, satanic or ritual abuse no longer exists. It is not mentioned in guidance to social workers on the subject of abuse of children.
However, a particularly unpleasant case of false SRA accusations that
occurred in Hampstead in 2014 has recently been widely reported in the
press (covered in the BFMS newsletter in Sept.2015).
The persistence of these allegations into the twenty-first century
repeats the questions that I thought I had answered at the end of the
twentieth! These are,
(1) How is it that ‘victims’ can tell stories of gruesome experiences that they never had?
(2) How is it that adults, many of them sensible, educated people, believe these stories?
These two questions are also raised by the cases of so-called ‘historic
abuse’.
The answers are interrelated though I shall try and deal with
them separately here.
Believe the Children
Prof.. La Fontaine's Expertise
The
value of Prof. Jean La Fontaine's academic research over the emotional
advocacy which has come from the 'believers' side is that Professor
Fontaine was the only academic to have full access to the case notes of
every social work department involved in every claimed case of Satanic
Abuse during the 1990 hysteria.
Unlike campaigning therapists and social workers who had partial
information on SOME cases, only La Fontaine, by government decree, had
access to ALL cases and therefore her research is the most complete, the
most informed and the most accurate of any independent commentator on
the SRA myth.
Report Well received
Prof. La Fontaine's official report The Extent and Nature of Organised and Ritual Abuse
got a good reception. We have compiled a montage of rare historic
cuttings as a backdrop to several key interviews on the BBC in our
latest SAFFUTUBE presentation here Included in this are interviews with Joan Coleman, of RAINS and the Health Minister Virginia Bottomley.

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One of the best- known organisations promoting the allegation that
children were being abused by worshippers of the devil in the late
twentieth century was Believe the Children. [Ed:
Believe The Children started as a pressure group by parents who
believed their children had been satanically abused in the infamous
McMartin Pre-School SRA allegations in the U.S. in the mid 1980s but
after the longest running trials in US history, were found to have no
substance whatsoever. Whilst the trials and allegations were ongoing it
influenced all SRA accusations in the U.S. and the embryonic growth of SRA ideas in the U.K. ].
The title Believe the Children referred to the myth that it was
young children who had told of the satanic abuse. It was supported
by the firm belief, almost dogma, that such children do not lie and
therefore that what they disclosed about the existence of satanic or
ritual abuse was indubitably the truth.
However, the stories that were publicised as what young
victims told social workers, foster parents and other sympathetic adults
in claimed U.K. cases were actually nothing of the sort. They were what
adults said the children told them and, as I was able to show, there
were various reasons why this was not what the children said.
Most children are quite quick to pick up what adults want from them,
although a four year old boy in one case suffered 33 questions about
ghosts before he began to talk about the ghosts at his home.
Some children were particularly adept at fulfilling the prejudices of adults and it was noticeable that
in any case that involved several children, there were only one or two
who were the main source of the authorities’ alleged information. In
some cases, these children told the others or ‘explained’ to the less
sensitive what had allegedly happened. Others incorporated bits of films and
other television material that they had seen and remembered and one
slightly older girl, when pressed for details said in astonishment: “But
I was in my dream”, clearly indicating what she was using as an account
of what had happened to her.
In most cases there was pressure on the children to respond to requests to “tell”.
When they did not, it was generally thought by their inquisitors that the devil-worshippers
had prevented them from doing so, using magical procedures such as
spiders on the wall or “trigger words” which, when spoken, silenced the
children.
I need only refer briefly to the effect of mistakes in transcriptions
of interviews that altered what was said. In one case these errors were
carefully elucidated by a consultant who checked their accuracy, finding
over and over again that mistakes in transcribing altered what the children actually
said. The report might record ‘No’ as an answer when a video recording
showed a child responding ‘Yes’ or vice versa.
Using leading questions,
the alleged stories of other children’s alleged stories and promises of
rewards were other means by which counterfeit responses were obtained. The results
usually reflected and confirmed the adults’ preconceptions.
There are some recognisable parallels with cases of recovered memories.
First, note the parallel with the popular dogma that ‘victims’ should always be believed.
Det. Supt. Kenny McDonald, the investigator of allegations of
‘historic’ child abuse in Dolphin Square, an experienced police officer,
recently pronounced the alleged victim’s claims as credible and true BEFORE any investigations had been concluded. [Ed His pronouncement was later castigated by his superiors and he was moved off the case: see http://saff.nfshost.com/panoramavip.htm for full background]
Well-known therapists such as Valerie Sinason, have insisted
that therapists must discard the previous understanding that a
patient’s story is true for the teller, though not necessarily for the
hearer, and convince themselves of the reality of the patient’s account. This approach, while no doubt
easing the strain for victims who try to recount what happened, risks
serious miscarriages of justice. Belief in sincerity is not the same as a
conclusion, based on good evidence, that the truth has been uncovered.
A second parallel can be drawn between the vulnerable children who
were pressured by the authorities to ‘tell’ everything they had
suffered and the vulnerable men and women, sometimes disturbed, often
depressed, who felt pressure from the counsellor, psychotherapist or
analyst to search their memories for what the questioner ‘knew’ must be
there. The silence of the children and the blankness of patients’
memories were both taken to mean the existence of serious trauma and/or
the ability of the perpetrators to control what their victims were able
to say. Very few of those who believed in the existence of satanic
cults were prepared to believe that silence meant that there was nothing
to say.
"Very few of those who believed in the existence of satanic
cults were prepared to believe that silence meant that there was nothing
to say."
However
not all children were young and vulnerable in this way. The teenagers
who figured in some cases resembled the adults in some cases of historic
abuse in that they were active participants in the creation of the stories of what they had suffered. Here
again it was pressure to tell that encouraged the expounding of
horrific stories of what they had seen and had suffered themselves. As
one near-teenager explained:
“ You lot are into these things and the police
and social workers wanted to hear them so I thought I had to say
something and I went from there”.
Teenagers, like ‘survivors’ of ritual abuse, have many
opportunities to learn from each other and from printed materials what
is expected. Some of them chose the people to listen who showed a
disposition to believe everything that was said. The lengthy sessions
with these confidants, with social workers or therapists were occasions
when the ‘story’, whether of ‘satanic’ or ‘historic’ abuse was put
together. [Ed: See news cutting in rightmost panel for classic example of this co-authoring by believers and 'victims' of Satanic Abuse stories]
Apart from the dogma that victims must be believed where did the pressure to ‘tell’ come from?
There
are several elements that make up the deep convictions which caused it.
In half the cases I studied the children had suffered sexual abuse,
usually in their homes, and in many of those cases and in some others
they had been badly mistreated as well. As one campaigner put it:
‘It was hard to believe that [ordinary] people could be capable of such evil’.
For evangelical Christians an explanation was provided by the
perpetrators’ alleged allegiance to the devil and this explanation was
accepted by the irreligious who did not themselves believe in Satan. The
argument that the cult members may believe in him was seen to be
sufficient.
Equally, it is important to stress that the alleged sexual abuse of the
teenagers concerned was far less well established. For example when one
of them had an abortion, the identity of the father was never mentioned
and in other cases the girls’ accounts were clearly fabrications.
All encompassing sexual abuse symptoms - Satanic Indicators
Another
idea, drawn from what has been said to be a misreading of Freud,
asserted that most, if not all psychological illness or damage, came
from earlier traumas caused by sexual abuse.
[Ed: Freud claimed that most 'complexes' resulted from the repression
of unacceptable sexual desires, not that complexes were created by sexual abuse ]
‘ Experts’ in the diagnosis of trauma in children circulated lists of
the ‘indicators’ that pointed to the greatest trauma: ritual abuse.
Many of these 'ritual abuse indicators', such as bed-wetting were common symptoms of
psychological disturbance and therefore, not surprisingly, occurred in
the children taken into care.
These were used to ‘prove’ the
validity of the ‘indicators’. The use of indicators to identify the
children who had suffered ritual abuse made lengthy, unproductive and
distressing interviews with the children themselves less necessary and
they rapidly became commonplace.
A very important part played in causing the pressure to tell was
the conviction that only by ‘recovering’ the memory or recounting the
experience could healing from the trauma begin. (1)
A foster-mother recorded in her notes when the children she fostered “really needed to talk”.
The pressure put on ‘victims’ was justified as it was for their own
good. Of course it also contributed to the chances of identifying the
perpetrator but what was largely concentrated on was not the identity of
the guilty but the detail of what happened.
The
authority of experts who spoke at conferences and on television, and
who constructed lists of ‘indicators’ of satanic abuse were taken as
guaranteeing the validity of their views. Such people claimed to possess
knowledge of which those who listened were ignorant.
They reminded
their listeners that when it was discovered that children might be
abused and even killed by their parents many people refused to believe
that it was so. But time showed that they were wrong not to accept what
was shown to be the truth; similarly they said, time would show the
existence of satanic abuse, (2)
It is the presence of crusaders seeking to convert others to their belief which underlies both satanic abuse and false
memories. Listeners were asked to believe what they were told, not to accept conclusions based on evidence.
The cases, whether of recent satanic abuse or recovered
memories of it, reveal vulnerable victims under pressure to construct
stories that will both authenticate their status as victims and heal
them in the telling.
Jean La
Fontaine is emerita Professor of Social Anthropology at the London
School of Economics, and a past President of the Royal Anthropological
Institute. She is the author of a report to the Department of Health,
The Extent and Nature of Organised and Ritual Abuse: Research Findings,
and Speak of the Devil: Tales of Satanic Abuse in contemporary England
(Cambridge University Press: 1998).
(1) Ed: This belief, was also perhaps corrupted from a misunderstanding of
Freud's theory of analysis. Freud maintained that an emptying of the
contents of the conscious mind during analysis could result in morally
unacceptable repressed ideas from the unconscious floating to the
surface in a more acceptable guise. Note that these were not
'memories' but repressions; such as a desire to have sex with
one's mother [ Oedipus complex ] or father [ Electra Complex ]. ]
(2) [Ed
27years later, despite a world-wide hunt by tens of thousands of
believers there has not been one proven case of Satanic Ritual Child
Abuse conforming to the predictions of believers].
This article was first published in November 2015 by the BFMS website
Copyright 2015 http://bfms.org.uk/jean-la-fontaine-on-satanic-ritual-abuse-panic/
BFMS Website: The Website of the British False Memory Society http://bfms.org.uk/
Ends:
Have you read La Fontaine's SRA report or
are you a victim of the conspiracy to obscure the truth which has
destroyed the lives of thousands?
Has there been a tacit conspiracy of omission attenuating distribution and
availability of The government's official report by Prof. La Fontaine "The Extent and Nature of Organised and Ritual Abuse: Research Findings" ?
The SAFF believe that the difficulty in obtaining it has lead to the
perpetuation of the lies and the damage the myth has done to society
over the intervening 21 years since its publication.
Although
heralded nationally at the time and covered at length in most national
and local newspapers, as well as on radio and TV, it is now almost impossible to obtain.
It cannot easily be
found in a search of the HMSO website.
It cannot be found in a search of
the new TSO website and it is not readily found in as search of the
government catalogue of publications or the British Library.
Though we did find mention of it in the National Library of Scotland!
The
owner of the Sorcerer's Apprentice bookshop (which was firebombed by
fundamentalists over the Cook Report's discredited claims) tells us that
even when it was first published HMSO seemed to put hurdles in front of
every purchase of it.
The Sorcerers' Apprentice Bookshop has been in
business for 40 years and stocked 20,000 books on its shelves so was
used to regularly ordering rare treatises from publishers across the
world. He says: "Never did we have as much trouble as
when we tried to order "The Extent and Nature of Organised and Ritual Abuse: Research Findings".
First
HMSO imposed a minimum order value. Then would not invoice. They
demanded pre-payment but
would not accept an order unless on one of their pro-forma invoices;
which had to be requested.
Sometimes that pro-forma would never arrive. Eventually, after dozens of
attempts, even though it
was crucial to the bookshop owners own history, he had to give up.
He
says over the years that people regularly ask him for copies of the
report but he cannot
help them and directs them to HMSO, though HMSO doesn't actually deal
with the public. These people presumably have also tried elsewhere
and
failed to get a copy of it.
Occasionally a second hand copy might pop
up on Amazon.com but citizens will find it exceedingly difficult to obtain a
vital public document to breach the SRA myth and this difficulty has played into the hands of the pro-SRA lobby
which appears to be able to get feminist publishers, radical social work publishers and left-wing
publishers to print and distribute their pro-SRA propaganda by the cartload. Was
there a conspiracy to hide this crucial information - or is it just
another example of the stupidity of government bureaucracy and the
small-mindedness of HMSO?
To help you obtain a copy new or second hand here are the
details and ISBN courtesy of the National Library of Scotland:
Title: The Extent And Nature of Organised and Ritual Abuse,
Subtitle: Research Findings
Author: Prof. Jean La Fontaine
Corporate Author: Great Britain, Department of Health
Publisher H.M.S.O
Date published: 1994
Place: London
ISBN: 0113217978, 9780113217977
Meanwhile you can read a précis review of it from
http://www.religioustolerance.org/ra_rep01.htm
Or even better, obtain Prof La Fontaine's own detailed hard cover book
"SPEAK OF THE DEVIL" written shortly after her government report and encapsulating all the essential research she completed on
the SRA issue but did not have space to discuss in the official report,
coupled with an overview of the witch-hunt mentality and its social
implications.
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL:
TALES OF SATANIC ABUSE IN CONTEMPORARY ENGLAND
by J.S. La Fontaine.
Cambridge University Press,
1998. 224pp.
ISBN-10: 0521629349
ISBN-13: 978-0521629348
This excellent book was purchased and distributed widely therefore can
be obtained second hand relatively easily on the web. Amazon had a dozen copies available last time we looked.
To whet your appetite here's a link to a partial review of it:
http://www.academia.edu/239737/Speak_Of_The_Devil_by_Jean_La_Fontaine
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Valerie Sinason's 'Devil Report' is Invalid on standard research grounds
Professor La Fontaine has sent the SAFF these pertinent
extracts from a formal letter she has written to Bruce Clark of the DoH
department which authorised Sinason's 'research' into Satanic Ritual Abuse
' 1. The only valid reason for repeating a piece of work is that
there is evidence that renders its conclusions suspect. There is no
mention of such evidence and it seems unlikely that there was any
because the proposed research by Valerie Sinason and Dr Hale did not
propose to use comparable data. Moreover my report, The Extent and
Nature of Organised and Ritual Abuse, ( ISBN 0113217978 HMSO 1994 ) was
extensively reviewed by the Research Department's peer review
requirement. "Complaints" about conclusions are not evidence about the
work, merely about the views of the complainers, and should not
be considered in themselves as reasons for funding further research.'
'Funding; - A better explanation is due..'
'2. Ms Sinason's research is presented as though it were funded by
the DoH in the normal way. It was not. It was not funded by the
Research Section of the DoH (a fact that you omit to mention), there was
no peer review of the proposal and neither of the applicants had
research experience. I was told by Dr Hale in the summer of 1998 that
the research report to the DoH was nearly finished. Now you deny you
have it but refrain from mentioning that this means it is nearly 2 years
overdue. What has happened? Given that public money has been involved I
think a better explanation than was offered is due.
'Professor Jean La Fontaine, emeritus professor of anthropology, LSE
BANNED DOCTOR VOWS TO CONTINUE WAR ON SATANISM
Dr
Jim Phillips is a deluded believer in Satanic Ritual Abuse. His
interference in the proper treatment of mentally ill patients created
many of the 'victims' of SRA who acted as the foundation of the myth
for those who wanted to persuade you it was real.
Jim Phillips was featured in award winning documentary maker Antony Thomas's 1993 film "In Satan's Name" (click on Jim's photo above to see a SAFFutube excerpt of his interview with Jim)
An
article reproduced below from the Birmingham Post reveals how many of
the early SRA 'victims' were worked up from a pool of mentally ill
people who needed proper help but got sucked into the SRA controversy
and were indoctrinated with SRA motifs and ideas.
When
the Police tell us that there have been 500 calls and cases of
abuse following a TV appeal on the issue it is people of
this ilk, with unsubstantiated and mostly imagined cases, who
often ring in and in the process distort reaction to the claims.
BANNED DOCTOR VOWS TO CONTINUE WAR ON SATANISM
A Birmingham doctor who claims Satanism is rife in Britain has vowed to
carry on treating patients despite a General Medical Council ban.
Dr Jim Phillips who runs a controversial project for victims of child
sex abuse, plans to move his clinic to Hertfordshire to make new start.
The GP was suspended from practice by the GMC last Thursday, days
before the screening of a television documentary in which he claimed one
in ten Britons was a Satanist.
Dr Phillips alleges at least one member of the Royal Family and a
former prime minister are active devil-worshippers, along with half the
Conservative Party, Cabinet members and 20 percent of the police force.
Yesterday Dr Phillips said:
"There is one great big conspiracy of
corruption against me but I am not going to be beaten.
"Members of my group here are dedicated to the work I do and several
have promised to move south with me."
The doctor, who lives in a one-room flat above his surgery in Bristol
Road South, Northfield, set up the Jupiter Trust in 1989 to treat adult
victims of sexual and satanic ritual abuse.
His clientele is largely
made up of vulnerable young runaways with histories of severe mental
illness, crime and drug addiction.
Most joined the therapy programme
after visiting his NHS surgery.
Multiple Personality Disorder diagnoses 100 people in one Body
Dr Phillips claims his patients are all
suffering from multiple personality disorder, a condition unrecognised
by medical authorities in Britain.
He believes the trauma of abuse causes separate identities to be
created within an individual, with up to 100 different personalities in
a severely disturbed patient.
Through group counselling and hypnotherapy
sessions, he claims patients can gradually cast off their adverse
identities to be left with their 'virgin' unspoiled self.
He alleges at least half a dozen schizophrenic and psychopathic
patients of the 350 who have passed through his clinic have been cured.
The doctor admits many of his patients do not realise they have been
sexually or physically abused until he tells them.
30 Minute Questionnaire Finds SRA from Dreams
He claims h
e can
make the diagnosis within 30 minutes by studying their responses to two
questionnaires and asking them about the contents of their dreams.
References to fire, water, crucifixes and witchcraft indicate the
patient may have fallen prey to Satanic abuse.
The more ticks a patient
places on a questionnaire about their emotions the more seriously Dr
Phillips says they have been abused.
Patients Do Not Remember Abuse Before Phillips Diagnoses It.
"Some patients are shocked when I tell them they have been abused as
children, but they come to realise my diagnosis is correct" he said
"
Anyone With a Mental Illness Has Been Abused
"If my theory is right, anyone with mental illness has suffered abuse
as a child."
Dr Phillips underwent psychiatric treatment himself after attempting
suicide twice in the last year.
He funds the Jupiter Trust himself
making no charge for therapy, and says he is close to bankruptcy.
He plans to appeal against his suspension. A locum is currently running
his 1400 patient NHS surgery.
Source: Birmingham Post, 18 July 1993
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Undoubtedly Jim Phillips' is a sad case and he obviously has his own inner demons to tackle.
He is as much a victim of the SRA myth as are his patients.
We
have great sympathy for his personal predicament but it is not
acceptable for a general practitioner who does not specialise in
psychiatry to be encouraged to use his authoritarian position to
interfere with the proper psychiatric treatment of patients by
indoctrinating them with ideas and fantasies about Satanic Ritual Abuse
of which they were previously oblivious and over which they have no
defence.
This locks them into being a statistical commodity to be
exploited by therapists on the make to 'prove' the existence of
SRA to the police and government. Because SRA is a myth it leaves
these patients in an incurable position.
The government and the police should now get a firm grip on this
phenomenon which has corrupted and tainted child protection for the
past 25 years. These people need help, not another witch-hunt.
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