SURVEYING FAMILIES ACCUSED OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE - A COMPARISON OF BRITISH AND NEW-ZEALAND RESULTS

Two independent surveys from opposite ends of the globe, the UK and Ne w Zealand, completed by families which include a family member accused of sexually abusing a child, have produced remarkably similar results . The majority of accusations were made by well-educated white women a bout their biological fathers and/or their mothers, based upon memorie s often recovered within a therapeutic context, many years after the i ncidents were supposed to have taken place. Accusations included dispr oportionately high rates of rape, bizarre sexual behaviours and satani c ritual abuse in both surveys.