Editing Satanic panic (section)

==Definitions==
The term ''satanic ritual abuse'' is used to describe different behaviors, actions and allegations that lie between extremes of definitions.{{sfn |Edge |2001 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA378 378]}} In 1988, a nationwide study of sexual abuse in US [[Day care sex abuse hysteria|day care agencies]], led by David Finkelhor, divided "ritual abuse" allegations into three categories—cult-based ritualism in which the abuse had a spiritual or social goal for the perpetrators, pseudo-ritualism in which the goal was sexual gratification and the rituals were used to frighten or intimidate victims, and [[Psychopathology|psychopathological]] ritualism in which the rituals were due to [[mental disorder]]s.<ref name=Finkelhor>{{cite report |last1=Finkelhor |first1=David |last2=Williams |first2=Linda Meyer |last3=Burns |first3=Nanci |last4=Kalinowski |first4=Michael |year=1988 |title=Sexual Abuse in Day Care: A National Study; Executive Summary |location=Durham, North Carolina |publisher=University of New Hampshire |id={{ERIC|ED292552|url-access=free}}}}</ref> Subsequent investigators{{Who|date=March 2016}} have expanded on these definitions and also pointed to a fourth alleged type of Satanic ritual abuse, in which petty crimes with ambiguous meaning (such as [[graffiti]] or [[vandalism]]) generally committed by teenagers were attributed to the actions of Satanic cults.<ref name="pmid1471565">{{cite journal |last1=Belitz |first1=J. |last2=Schacht |first2=A. |title=Satanism as a Response to Abuse: The Dynamics and Treatment of Satanic Involvement in Male Youths |journal=Adolescence |volume=27 |issue=108 |pages=855–872 |year=1992 |pmid=1471565}}</ref><ref name="pmid8356163">{{cite journal |last=Young |first=W.&nbsp;C. |title=Sadistic Ritual Abuse: An Overview in Detection and Management |journal=Primary Care |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=447–458 |year=1993 |doi=10.1016/S0095-4543(21)00400-0 |pmid=8356163}}</ref><ref name="pmid1962303">{{cite journal |last=Ahmed |first=M.&nbsp;B. |title=High-Risk Adolescents and Satanic Cults |journal=Tex Medicine |volume=87 |issue=10 |pages=74–76 |year=1991 |pmid=1962303}}</ref>

By the early 1990s, the phrase "Satanic ritual abuse" was featured in media coverage of ritualistic abuse but its use decreased among professionals in favor of more nuanced terms such as multi-dimensional child sex rings,<ref name=Lanning>{{Citation |first=Kenneth V. |last=Lanning |title=Investigator's Guide to Allegations of 'Ritual' Childhood Abuse |year=1992 | url = http://www.pointnet.ca/media/igtaorca.pdf| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20031025012607/http://www.pointnet.ca/media/igtaorca.pdf| url-status = dead| archive-date = October 25, 2003}}</ref> ritual/ritualistic abuse,<ref>{{cite book |last=Hudson |first=Pamela S. |title=Ritual Child Abuse: Discovery, Diagnosis, and Treatment |publisher=R&E Publishers |location=Saratoga, California |year=1991 |isbn=978-0-88247-867-8}}</ref> organized abuse{{sfn |Bibby |1996}} or [[Sadomasochism|sadistic]] abuse,<ref name=VS/> some of which acknowledged the complexity of abuse cases with multiple perpetrators and victims without projecting a religious framework onto perpetrators. The latter in particular failed to substantively improve on or replace "Satanic" abuse as it was never used to describe any rituals except the Satanic ones that were the core of SRA allegations. Abuse within the context of Christianity, Islam, or any other religions failed to enter the SRA discourse.{{sfn |Clapton |1993 |p=25}}

===Cult-based abuse===
Allegation of cult-based abuse is the most extreme scenario of SRA.{{sfn |Edge |2001 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA362 362–63]}} During the initial period of interest starting in the early 1980s the term was used to describe a network of [[Satan]]-worshipping, secretive intergenerational cults that were supposedly part of a highly organized [[conspiracy (crime)|conspiracy]] engaged in criminal behaviors such as [[forced prostitution]], [[illegal drug trade|drug distribution]] and [[pornography]]. These cults were also thought to sexually abuse and [[torture]] children in order to coerce them into a lifetime of [[Theistic Satanism#Preconceptions and myths|Devil worship]].{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n132 3–4]}} Other allegations included bizarre sexual acts such as [[necrophilia]], forced [[ingestion of semen]], [[Blood as food|blood]] and [[feces]], [[Human cannibalism|cannibalism]], [[orgies]], liturgical parody such as pseudosacramental use of feces and [[Urine drinking|urine]]; [[infanticide]], sacrificial abortions to eat [[fetus]]es and [[human sacrifice]]; satanic police officers who covered up evidence of SRA crimes and desecration of Christian [[grave (burial)|graves]].{{sfn |Edge |2001 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA362 362–63]}}{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |p=[https://archive.org/details/evilincarnaterum00fran/page/127 127]}} No evidence of any of these claims has ever been found;<ref name=Lanning/>{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n132 3–4]}}{{sfn |LaFontaine |1998}} the proof presented by those who alleged the reality of cult-based abuse primarily consisted of the memories of adults recalling childhood abuse,{{sfn |Brown |Scheflin |Hammond |1998 |p=55}}{{sfn |Edge |2001 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA362 362–63]}} the testimony of young children{{sfn |Brown |Scheflin |Hammond |1998 |p=55}}{{sfn |Edge |2001 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA362 362–63]}}{{sfn |Victor |1993 |pp=[https://archive.org/details/satanicpaniccrea00vict/page/n95 16–17]}} and extremely controversial confessions.{{sfn |Edge |2001 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA362 362–63]}} The idea of a murderous Satanic conspiracy created a controversy dividing the professional [[child abuse]] community at the time, though no evidence has been found to support allegations of a large number of children being killed or abused in Satanic rituals.<ref name="Putnam1991">{{cite journal |last=Putnam |first=Frank W. |year=1991 |title=The Satanic Ritual Abuse Controversy |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1258327 |journal=Child Abuse & Neglect |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=175–179 |doi=10.1016/0145-2134(91)90062-I |issn=0145-2134 |pmid=2043969 |id={{ERIC|EJ429989}}}}</ref>{{sfn |Frankfurter |2006 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ysTcp21NfP0C&pg=PR13 xiii]}} From a law enforcement perspective, an intergenerational conspiracy dedicated to ritual sacrifice whose members remain completely silent, make no mistakes and leave no [[physical evidence]] is unlikely; cases of what the media incorrectly perceived as actual cult sacrifices (such as the 1989 case of [[Adolfo Constanzo]]) have supported this idea.<ref name=Lanning/>

===Criminal and delusional satanism===
A third variation of ritual abuse involves non-religious ritual abuse in which the rituals were [[delusion]]al or [[obsessive–compulsive disorder|obsessive]].<ref name=Finkelhor/> There are incidents of extreme sadistic crimes that are committed by individuals, loosely organized families and possibly in some organized cults, some of which may be connected to Satanism, though this is more likely to be related to [[sex trafficking]]; though SRA may happen in families, extended families and localized groups, it is not believed to occur in large, organized groups.{{sfn |Brown |Scheflin |Hammond |1998 |pp=64–65}}

===Acting out===
Investigators considered [[graffiti]] such as the [[pentagram]] to be evidence of a Satanic cult. Ambiguous crimes in which actual or erroneously believed symbols of Satanism appear have also been claimed as part of the SRA phenomenon, though in most cases the crimes cannot be linked to a specific belief system; minor crimes such as vandalism, trespassing and graffiti were often found to be the actions of teenagers who were [[acting out]].<ref name="pmid1471565"/><ref name="pmid8356163"/><ref name="pmid1962303"/>

===Polarization===

There was never any consensus on what actually constituted Satanic ritual abuse.<ref name=deYoung2007>{{cite journal|last=de Young |first=Mary |author-link=Mary de Young |year=2007 |title=Two Decades After McMartin: A Follow-Up of 22 Convicted Day Care Employees |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYZ/is_4_34/ai_n25466116/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925172921/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CYZ/is_4_34/ai_n25466116/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 25, 2008 |access-date=August 11, 2008 |journal=Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=9–33}}</ref> This lack of a single definition, as well as confusion between the meanings of the term ''ritual'' ([[Ritual#Religious perspectives|religious]] versus [[Ritual#Psychology|psychological]]) allowed a wide range of allegations and evidence to be claimed as a demonstration of the reality of SRA allegations, irrespective of which "definition" the evidence supported.{{sfn |Bibby |1996 |pp=205–13}} Acrimonious disagreements between groups who supported SRA allegations as authentic and those criticizing them as unsubstantiated resulted in an extremely polarized discussion with little middle ground.<ref name=Fraser>{{cite book |last=Fraser |first=GA |publisher=American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. |year=1997 |title=The Dilemma of Ritual Abuse: Cautions and Guides for Therapists |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4CMHRXz5qsQC&pg=PA105 105–17] |isbn=978-0-88048-478-7}}</ref>{{sfn |Edge |2001 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA362 362–63]}} The lack of credible evidence for the more extreme interpretations often being seen as evidence of an effective conspiracy rather than an indication that the allegations are unfounded. The religious beliefs or [[atheism]] of the disputants have also resulted in different interpretations of evidence, and as well as accusations of those who reject the claims being "anti-child".{{sfn |Edge |2001 |pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=LLOtSiH2E1cC&pg=PA362 362–63]}}{{sfn |Clapton |1993 |pp=18–22}} Both believers and skeptics have developed networks to disseminate information on their respective positions.{{sfn |Bibby |1996 |pp=27–28}} One of the central themes of the discussion among English child abuse professionals was the assertion that people should simply "believe the children", and that the testimony of children was sufficient proof, which ignored the fact that in many cases the testimony of children was interpreted by professionals rather than the children explicitly disclosing allegations of abuse. In some cases this was simultaneously presented with the idea that it did not matter if SRA actually existed, that the [[empiricism|empirical]] truth of SRA was irrelevant, that the testimony of children was more important than that of doctors, social workers and the criminal justice system.{{sfn |Clapton |1993 |pp=18–22}}