One Australian woman who cared for her ritually abused grandchildren noted that ‘cults do everything in reverse’. Positive principles and attachments are inverted, with the intention of justifying the child’s abuse. Research into ritual abuse by Scott (2001) was undertaken in Britain but found much the same phenomenon:

Involvement in ritual abuse seemed to mean inhabiting a world in which ‘moral precepts do not hold’ but where a justificatory ideology was provided that went way beyond the 'cognitive distortions’ of 'ordinary’ sex offenders.

An occult belief system deals with the problem of cognitive dissonance not by redefining sexual abuse as harmless or desired by the victim, but by reversing 'good’ and 'evil’. From this Sadeian perspective, cruelty and violence are 'natural’ to man and denials of this essential truth are mere hypocrisy.

— Scott (2001)

In the context of organised sexual exploitation, rituals are not only the expressions of a perverse ideology, but mechanisms for power and control. In the infamous Belgium paedophile scandal, survivor Regina Louf noted the function of the perpetrator’s ‘satanic’ performances:

When they received new victims into their network, it was extremely important that they shouldn’t speak to anyone about what had happened to them. That’s why they organised ‘ceremonies’… The only aim of these rituals was to totally disorient the victims.

— Regina Louf (Bulte and de Conick, 1998)

A likely hypothesis is that the ultimate function of ritual abuse is that of camouflage. In Australia and overseas, constructive efforts on behalf of tortured and trafficked children have often been derailed by disbelief and scepticism generated by the bizarre ritualistic practices of the perpetrators.

Herman (1992: 8) notes: ‘Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator’s first line of defence. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim. If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure that no one listens.’ Ritual abuse has effectively achieved all three goals.