“These cases are just like the daycare abuse cases.”
“Now, there are hopeful signs that this insanity is coming to an end. Many of the worst day care cases have been overturned, and innocent people have been released from prison. Many families are being reunited as their children come to realize that the, quote, "memories," were false of events which never occurred.” - Mark Pendergrast, at the FMSF Day of Contrition Conference. [1]
“Suggestion is the true common denominator. Why? Because prosecutors who are interrogating children... in an illegitimate fashion are suggesting to them the answers that they want them to produce, and when psychotherapists who would build a practice around recovered memory gradually convince their clients that they were sexually abused in childhood, it is suggestion that they are using” - Richard Gardner, at the FMSF Day of Contrition Conference. [2]
Refutation
Citations
[1] Pendergrast, Mark. (1997, January 14). Don’t Demonize: A Message Of Compassion And Hope. [Conference Presentation]. Day of Contrition Revisited, Salem, MA, USA.
[2] Gardner, Richard. (1997, January 14). The Spin-Off of Daycare Hysteria: Epidemic Accusations of Sexual Abuse in Custody Disputes. [Conference Presentation]. Day of Contrition Revisited, Salem, MA, USA.
[3] Gardner, Richard. (1993, March 1). Apparatchiks Turn ‘Child Abuse’ into ‘Witch Hunt.” New Jersey Law Journal, 17.
It turns out Gardner exaggerated when he said, “After examining the alleged victims, the accusing parents, and Ms. Michaels, I was convinced that she did not engage in the variety of abominable acts attributed to her.” Aware that few children and no parents were examined in the civil cases, I wrote Dr. Gardner and inquired about how many children and parents he interviewed. His response indicates he “only evaluated two children” and that he did not evaluate any parents. Correspondence from Richard Gardner to Ross Cheit, September 6, 2001.
[4] Doe, Jane (1991, Summer). How Could This Happen? Coping with A False Accusation of Incest and Rape. Issues In Child Abuse Accusations, 3(3).
Author identified in Freyd, Pamela. (1991, November 15). I am “Jane Doe.” Letter to Carole Roscielny.
[5] Heaney, K. (2021, January 6). The Memory War Jennifer Freyd accused her father of sexual abuse. Her parents’ attempt to discredit her created a defense for countless sex offenders. The Cut. https://www.thecut.com/article/false-memory-syndrome-controversy.html
[6] Landsberg, Michele. (1996, February 11). Beware of false prophets peddling false-memory hype. Toronto Star. A2.
[7] Hoult, Jennifer. (2005 & 2014). "Remembering Dangerously" & Hoult v. Hoult: The Myth of Repressed Memory that Elizabeth Loftus Created. Consider the Evidence for Elizabeth Loftus' Scholarship and Accuracy. https://www.rememberingdangerously.com/
[8] Cheit, R. E. (2014). The witch-hunt narrative: Politics, psychology, and the sexual abuse of children (pp. xx, 508). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199931224.001.0001
[9] From the Mouths of Babes. (1993, October 22) ABC News 20/20, 3.
[10] Huffman, M. L., Crossman, A. M., & Ceci, S. J.. (1997) ‘Are False Memories Permanent?’: An Investigation of the Long-Term Effects of Source Misattributions. Consciousness and Cognition 6, 482–490, 488.
[11] Elliott, D. M. (1997). Traumatic events: Prevalence and delayed recall in the general population. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 811-820.
[12] Dalenberg, C. J. (1996). Accuracy, timing and circumstances of disclosure in therapy of recovered and continuous memories of abuse. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 24(2), 229–275.
[13] Williams, L. M. (1995). Recovered memories of abuse in women with documented child sexual victimization histories. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8, 649-673.
[14] Salter, A. (1992). Accuracy of expert testimony in child sexual abuse cases: A case study of Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield. Unpublished manuscript.