Richard Beck (3) (1986–)

This a book is an agenda piece of the "author" instead of history or quality reporting.

This "author" and I use that word loosely, is certainly a revisionist and conspiracy theorist. He thinks the only sexual abuse is father - daughter incest (that obsession with Freud) and that it probably occurs very rarely. The whole McMartin case was a fraud and the woman who started it was severely mentally ill from the start. And the author was too obsessed with convincing that pedophilia and child sexual abuse are actually okay instead of the horrible, life destroying crime against humanity it is.

The "author" hates psychology. He thinks that mental health and the effects of the trauma of sexual abuse are all made up and that abuse has no actual effect on children. Thankfully there is a lot of evidence to prove the "author" wrong.

DO NOT READ this book. Especially if you want to learn about the McMartin case. There are better books out there.
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We Believe the Children by Richard beck is an account of the hysteria that arose in the 1980s around allegations of daycare child abuse and associated satanism. Those of us old enough to remember this will find some of the details familiar, though they are presented well.

It seems the issue with this book, based on some reviewers, is that Beck tries to understand and explain the "perfect storm" that created this hysteria and part of what he finds offends their love of Reagan and the conservative 80s. I found the portion of the responsibility placed on conservative politics to be but part of Beck's entire argument and it is not misplaced. To oversimplify part of the argument: if the places taking care of children can be demonized then women will go back to being housewives and mothers and men can get back to being in charge. That statement is both true and false, in that Beck does not claim that Reagan or conservatives (with the possible exception of the "moral" majority since they were willing to subvert facts for their goals) actually thought and advocated for the hysteria with these goals in mind. He is saying that the backlash from feminism's gains had made many conservatives want the 1950s version of the family back and part of the concern, all along, was how would children handle spending part of their childhood in daycare. This was a concern from those opposed to feminism's advances as well as every parent who made the decision to work and wondered if it was the right thing to do. So yes, that aspect of society at that time, as represented by Reagan and the "moral" majority, did indeed see this as a reflection on liberals having the audacity to think that every person, male or female, should be able to choose whether to work or not. And it was used, early on, as just such a weapon. Beck does point out other aspects of why this occurred, but if a reader can't get past the role conservatism played then they are blind to the many other aspects. There was no single cause, Beck says as much. It was what I just mentioned, it was pseudo-science run amok, with encouragement from certain segments, there were individuals who simply liked the limelight and played it up.

This work is fine for anyone not familiar with the cases that make up this hysteria. I would recommend reading other accounts as well, particularly articles from the period to get a feel for how crazy it was.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (meer)

We Believe the Children: A Moral Panic in the 1980s by Richard Beck is a highly recommended examination of the panic over alleged horrific abuse by day care workers in the 1980's. Beck is primarily focusing on the history of the allegations, why it may have happened, and several other topics related to the discussion rather than presenting new information about this time in history. I vividly recall all the outrage and panic coverage over these cases in the 1980s when the McMartin Preschool became a whispered household word and accusations of satanic ritual abuse was seemingly everywhere.

"[I]n California, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Massachusetts, Florida, Tennessee, Texas, Ohio, and elsewhere, day care workers were arrested, charged, tried, and convicted of committing horrible sexual crimes against the children they cared for. These crimes, social workers and prosecutors said, had gone undetected for years, and they consisted of a brutality and sadism that defied all imagining. The dangers of babysitting services and day care centers became a national news media fixation. Of the many hundreds of people who were investigated in connection with day care and ritual abuse cases around the country, some 190 were formally charged with crimes, leading to more than 80 convictions."

I also recall some of the more sensational and less than stellar media coverage surrounding the outbreak (Geraldo Rivera) as well as coverage on 20/20 and 60 minutes. For all the accusations, outrage, and charges, though, no evidence was found for many of the claims. The McMartin case, one of the longest and most expensive trials in history, resulted in no convictions.

Beck, an editor at n 1, a New York-based literary magazine, examines how social workers, therapists and police officers helped induce children to tell elaborate stories about abuse that never took place. The methods used by these professionals and investigators encouraged children to lie and tell those investigating what they wanted to hear. The whole atmosphere at the time was akin to a witch hunt, and Beck does make the comparison to the Salem Witch trials, with the difference being the accused witches were later given an apology.

There is a lot of extraneous information included in this presentation of the facts, including multiple personality disorder and recovered memory therapy along with anti-pornography efforts and Christian concerns about the family. Some of this extra information, while interesting, could have been reduced or eliminated. Becks ultimate theory as to why he thinks the societal hysteria took place is interesting, although I'm not sure I totally agree with his conclusions.

This is well written and well researched look at the fear that created a cultural disaster. Beck includes plenty of documentation to support the research in his presentation. My advanced reading copy included the footnotes and the final book will have an index.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of PublicAffairs for review purposes.

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