Societies are prone to rampant, unreported abuse of their most vulnerable whenever they’re so repressed and authoritarian that you’re not allowed to say the truth aloud, when any person or group is considered sacred. Anyone in 1960 or so who had known about the Catholic Church’s child-sex ring would have been torn to shreds by media and institution alike if they had dared to blow the whistle. Protecting the accepted order of things was given preference over protecting children.

Families are no different. Their “rulers” can also be savage if there are no checks and balances. A gigantic movie star like Joan Crawford could do as she pleased in a buttoned-down America as long as she gave the public the face it wanted. And the result was terrible child abuse. Christina Crawford, who shocked the nation with her book Mommie Dearest in 1978, was attacked even then for presenting the facts. Some people still wanted the lie. Here she is interviewed by Phil Donahue that same year.