Media Treatment of the ‘Hilary in Hiding’ Case

To say the least, the available evidence, physical and circumstantial, weighs rather heavily against Foretich, but that’s not the part that disturbs me most.

As Rosenberg goes out of his way to be “fair” to Foretich, even though Hilary is plainly terrified of being in her father’s company, he seems to insist on viewing the problem of child sexual abuse as something “personal.” He seems horrified that something so “personal” as Hilary’s interviews with her therapist were aired.

The fact is that there is nothing “personal” about child abuse. It involves millions. It is in no way an individual psychiatric problem for victims and perpetrators; it is symptomatic of the large-scale abuse of women and children in male-dominated societies.

There must be a broad outreach to the population--through legislation, re-education on family roles and a change in attitude toward the status of women and children and the sacred cow of male authority in the family. In the interest of these goals, then, the Hilary story can and should be told.

J. MURPHY, Los Angeles