Chapter 4,‘Organized abuse and the pleasures of disbelief’, uses Size’s (1991) insights into cite political role of enjoyment to analyze the hyperbole and scorn that has characterized the skeptical account of organized and ritualistic abuse. The central argument of this chapter is that organized abuse has come to public attention primarily as a subject of ridicule within the highly partisan writings of journalists, academics and activists aligned with advocacy groups for people accused of sexual abuse. Whilst highlighting the pervasive misrepresentations that characterize these accounts, the chapter also implicates media consumers in the production of ignorance and disdain in relation to organized abuse and women’s and children’s accounts of sexual abuse more generally.

Organised Sexual Abuse