Parental Alienation Syndrome or Pedophilia...?

[bliss_eternal]

I'm watching Dateline NBC. I have to be honest, this story is pissing me off. Children just don't start reaching under skirts and saying, "....relax, relax,...it's ok" without being shown that sort of behaviour.

What do you think?

Was Peggy Bailey right to kidnap her daughter and live underground to protect her child? Or is Bill a father that has been wronged?

Apparently this was a re-aired broadcast and was unable to pull up a story to link to this. The players names are Bill Bailey(alleged abuser), Bethany Bailey(alleged abused daughter) and Pam Bailey (the mom--kidnapped her daughter). The name of the story on Dateline NBC was On the Run.

On edit--I found this, I can't vouch for this particular link--but it's all I could find.

http://cincinnatipas.com/dateline-ontherun.html

Also on edit--an expert has stated that parental alienation syndrome is bullshit, and a part of the flaw of the legal system. He stated that the system frequently does not take the child's word on such issues and should, at the very least utilize more child professionals to measure such cases. I'm glad to see this, as it validates my concern that children can not make up such things and should be listened to, and have their fears honored and be protected.

[bloom]

1. You might find this interesting - about a different/similar show.

"Fathers' rights activists, both male and female, are LIVID over this documentary. Stand Your Ground, a men's rights forum that has bashed me in the past, includes a post where one person referred to N.O.W. as "The National Organizaton for Misandrist Bitches" and the documentary as "a smearfest". This poster is really angry that this documentary is going to air, even after lots of ugly email and phone calls to PBS from fathers' rights activists. This poster said "I used to dislike feminists, but now I absolutely hate them. I used to think conservatives who labeled feminists "anti-family" were exagerating and overreacting. Now I realize they are completely right. God, this pisses me off. These feminazis going destroy America (and the rest of the Western world)."

Yup, abused women who are trying to protect their abused children are going to "destroy America and the rest of the Western world". Heaven forbid.

At least one fathers' rights supporter at Stand Your Ground got all twisted and pissy over N.O.W. referring to fathers' rights groups as "bogus". That was great to see.

I'm glad that PBS didn't back down under the pressure from these angry people. All those ugly e-mails and phone calls had little effect at all. They are angry again that they didn't get their way. This documentary needs to air, and it will."

http://trishwilson.typepad.com/blog/2005/10/the_national_or.html

"“...When we began this project over a year ago, our goal was to produce a documentary about domestic violence and children. We had no preconceived notions about the issue … no specific agenda to prove or disprove. The finished documentary is simply a result of where countless hours of extensive research and interviews took us. These are the real stories of real women who lost custody of their children when Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) was used as scientific proof in their family court cases. These were the stories we found over and over again.

There have been a number of concerns raised regarding Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) and how it is addressed in the piece. We do not make the assertion that the phenomenon of alienation does not exist, simply that PAS is wrongly used as scientific proof to justify taking children away from a protective parent. We as filmmakers are in no position to determine the scientific validity of PAS. However, the fact remains that the American Psychological Association (APA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) have not recognized PAS as legitimate science...."

http://trishwilson.typepad.com/blog/2005/10/angry_fathers_r.html

[bliss_eternal]

3. OMG--how disturbing...

seriously. I don't know what to say. I had NO idea there was an entire movement along with this term. :wow:

I don't care what these losers think or say. I think Peggy Bailey is a hero. If I was in her position, I would hope to have had as much courage to do what she did--to protect her child.

[ismnotwasm]

2. Oh God

It seems like every day something is being broadcast about sexual abuse of minors or children. Most abusers are men. And that holds true statistically whether the abused victim is male or female. I understand that most men are not abusers in that way. But that doesn't change the basic facts. And children need to be believed. A lot of what I know is anecdotal, or from statistics.

I had psychology teacher one time who was a Freudian analyst. (A bit of a strange duck) He understood the criticisms of Freud and felt many of them valid, but he also spent quite a bit of time defending him. What he said was that the women who were treated by Freud tended to be from wealthy, influential families. He surmised that some of the holes in Freudian theory came from him not being able to tell the truth because of the influence of these families, some of them royalty--That these women, the hysterics, had been sexually abused by male family members, or fathers. So Freud left that part out. I don't know it that has any truth at all, but it made me think.

[melnjones]

4. I'm torn on the issue...

Had my parents divorced when my sisters and I were younger, we would have been victims of PAS. No doubt in my mind. Even given the fact that I was in college, one sister was in high school and one was in middle school, my mom tried her darndest (and still does) to turn us (and the rest of the community...small towns suck) against my father. My dad got custody of both girls, thankfully, because it really WAS the best living situation, but he still got screwed on a lot of stuff like child support, etc. I'm sure the PAS thing is used unfairly against mothers who really are protecting their children, probably more frequently than I even realize, but being one who has seen first hand that sometimes fathers really ARE discriminated against simply because they are male, I feel I have to put in my $.02 on the issue.