First Advisor
Thomas Dunn
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Thesis
Date Created
5-1-2021
Department
College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Psychological Sciences, SPS Student Work
Abstract
In 2016, The United Nations International Labor Organization published a study estimating that 3.8 million adults and 1 million children were victims of forced sexual exploitation worldwide, 99% of them were women and children. A 2014 study from the same organization estimated the profits from sex trafficking and forced sexual exploitation to be 99 billion dollars annually. In 2018, the founder of NXIVM and others within the organization were arrested and then later improsoned for running a sex trafficking cult that masqueraded as an organization for motivational leadership training. Colin Bately and three females associated with him were arrested in Kidwelly, Wales in 2010 for raping children and had been doing so for decades. They coerced vulnerable children into the cult through occult practices and brainwashing techniques. TIm Ballard of OURescue.org, an organization that in conjunction with government agencies infiltrates child sex trafficking rings to arrest perpetrators and rescue the children, has repeatedly informed the public that these organizations are also involved in harvesting the organs of these children for profit in the black market, (Ballard, T., 2021). Although these high profile organizations have shed light on the darker elements within our society and there have been some known, high profile cases involving ritual abuse, much of the research on the needs and treatment for survivors of ritual abuse has taken a backseat to controversy. This paper attempts to explore how the controversies of the 1980s and 1990s surrounding ritual abuse impacts treatments for survivors today.
Rights Statement
Copyright is held by the author.
Recommended Citation
York, Mary Catherine, "Satanic Ritual Abuse From Then to Now: The Impact of the Controversies of the 1980s and 1990s on the Treatment for Survivors of Extreme Abuse" (2021). Undergraduate Honors Theses. 56.
https://digscholarship.unco.edu/honors/56