Ross Cheit is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Brown University, where he has been teaching since 1986. His most recent book, The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology and the Sexual Abuse of Children, was published last year by Oxford University Press. Cheit graduated from Williams College and received a J.D. and Ph.D in Public Policy from the University of California-Berkeley.
The Unacknowledged History of Child Sexual Abuse in America
This presentation will describe some of the findings from Ross Cheit's recent book (The Witch-Hunt Narrative: Politics, Psychology, and the Sexual Abuse of Children) about highly-contested child sexual abuse cases from the 1980s and early 1990s. Cheit found considerable evidence that contradicts the widespread claims about “hysteria” during this era. Those findings will be connected to contemporary developments in the Catholic Church and at Penn State. The presentation will conclude with some observations about silence and the power of speaking up.
