The memory war

The origins of a controversial defence. When Jennifer Freyd accused her Father of sexual abuse, her parents formed an organization called the False Memory Syndrome Foundation to discredit her. This started a defence strategy employed by countless sex offenders, from Bill Cosby to Harvey Weinstein. Katie Heaney explores the unreliable nature of the pseudoscientific false-memory narrative and the long-lasting impact it will have on many victims. "How should a parent respond to allegations of decades-earlier abuse from an adult child? If you believe yourself — or your spouse — to be innocent, how should you sound on the phone? What should you do in the days and weeks after a bombshell like that? You might believe your child, or you might not. You could try to support her either way. You could cut her out of your life."