Chapter 7: Satanic Panic

As heartbreaking and upsetting as some of the stories in this book have been, there was something about this chapter that made me feel the most appalled.  Reading about the children in Gilmer who were sexually abused by their own family and manipulated by caregivers, and of the coercive methods of treatment used and transportation of them across the state was devastating.  For whatever the reason, the idea of Gilead in the Handmaid's Tale came to mind.  It was a somewhat random connection but still very relevant at the same time.  Throughout the story of June, I repeatedly thought to myself, "How in the world can someone endure so many traumatic events and come out okay??" It was literally trauma after trauma for her, and I just couldn't find it possible that she would be able to recover from it all, assuming that she somehow managed to leave Gilead behind.  And as a kid, all that trauma is without a doubt guaranteed to completely change you, impacting you and essentially dictating how the rest of your life will play out.  The back of the book even states the question, "How can traumatized children recover?" I ask myself this question, frequently.

Adding to this all, the notion that memories can be created and basically implanted into the minds of people is incredibly disturbing.  Like the Microsoft Word document that once opened is automatically available to be edited.  A memory can be retrieved and edited to an interpretation that the author creates.  Because these memories are so malleable, it does not take much effort to change and make an "edit" to these memories.  Even more concerning is the idea that a memory can be entirely fabricated.  Just the other day, this literally happened to me. I was having a conversation with some friends and we were recalling a time where a friend of ours had done something absurd. One of my friends reminded us of something else that had happened during that incident, and after briefly deliberating and digging through my memories, I thought "Oh yeah you're right, I remember that." Not long after that, another friend was quick to correct the comment, stating that the event had not happened the way that the first person had described it. And he was right. But somehow, I was convinced and could have sworn that I remembered things happening the way that my first friend had described them. I had imagined something in my head that had never actually happened.  Thinking about how easy it would be for a child to recreate narratives or be convinced by someone of an event that never occurred is scary, whether you think about a therapist working with a child or as a child being subjected to abuse and lies.