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MORAL PANIC PITFALLS
Was Satanic Panic Invented to Keep Women at Home?
Childcare scandals and the working woman
For us 80s kids, satanic panic was everywhere.
“You know that pasta ad? If you look close, the spaghetti spells 666.”
“If you listen to ‘Stairway to Heaven’ backwards, they tell you to worship the devil.”
“Did you know KISS stands for Kids in Satan’s Service?”
At 12, I thought this was just playground talk. I never knew adults also believed these urban myths.
I never knew that a case against preschool employees accused of satanic ritual abuse was the longest and most expensive trial in US history (seven years and $15 million).
And I never knew one of the intentions behind satanic panic was to return working women to where the conservative majority thought they belonged — the family home.
What is satanic panic?
Satanic panic is a 1980s conspiracy theory that claims satanic cults committed prolonged abuse, mostly in childcare centres, across the US.
The very thought of such atrocities led to moral panic throughout the country. Not for the first time, and not for the last, communities embarked upon organised investigations with a decidedly witch-hunt flavour.
Parents dug under preschools, searching for secret tunnels. Books about horrific recovered memories became bestsellers. And, between fighting crime, police exchanged tips on identifying satanic and pagan symbols.
Throughout the 80s and 90s, consumer goods corporation, Proctor and Gamble, sued various individuals who claimed their logo, a moon crescent with a man’s face gazing at 13 stars, was a symbol of the devil. The company continued to file lawsuits to clear its name as recently as 2007.
The resources of countless FBI agents, police officers, lawyers and social workers were tied up investigating hundreds of ritual abuse allegations. People went to prison, children and their families were traumatised, and millions of dollars were spent on prosecutions.
