McMartin Case: ‘Begging for Answers’

As a psychotherapist working primarily with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and having previously worked for many years with abused children and their families, I am outraged at the decision to drop the charges against five of the McMartin defendants.

When former Dist. Atty. Robert Philibosian first filed these charges, many of us in the field of child sexual abuse, being aware of the massive cultural denial that pervades society around this issue, were skeptical that the children would be believed or that the defendants would ever be held accountable.

Yet as the case proceeded and the harrowing stories described by the children were publicized, it seemed impossible that these could be discounted. And indeed, not only Philibosian’s office but also a grand jury and a judge found “probable cause” to believe all defendants guilty.

That Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner and a team of legal experts could then decide to release five of the defendants is an appalling statement of society’s refusal to admit that such violence against children is a reality.

Legal experts are not the ones who listen hour after painful hour to the stories of child victims and adult survivors of sexual abuse. Those of us who do, who hear of the terror, the enforced secrecy, the threats, the humiliations, the total objectification of the child, stories painstakingly revealed with no goal except emotional healing, we know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the stories are true. No fantasy, no TV show, no suggestion, could evoke these experiences if they had not happened. To deny them is to revictimize the victims.

Society pays for such denial. The child victim becomes an adult with emotional and psychological scars. The statistics are overwhelming in terms of alcoholism, drug abuse, overeating, prostitution, delinquency and psychological disorders. Children have to find ways to survive adult victimization.

The McMartin children are no exception. They will undoubtedly do what countless other have done before them, namely internalize the blame, the shame, the self-hatred, and the guilt.

In other words, they will grow up believing they are bad, unworthy and unlovable.

Many will resort to self-destructive behaviors to avoid the pain of remembering. Some will be the abusers of tomorrow. And those of us who believe them will have the task of trying to help them heal, and trying to find ways to deal with our own rage, frustration and grief.

SHELA ANDERSEN

Los Angeles