The high-profile Bridget Marks custody case in New York has put the gut-wrenching issue of sexual abuse allegations in custody battles in the headlines, and Marks has become a cause celebre for many feminists. In that case the court determined that Marks had coached her four year-old twin girls to claim that they had been sexually molested by their father, and judge Arlene Goldberg switched custody from the mother to the father. False allegations of sexual abuse are an important part of a pathology dubbed "Parental Alienation Syndrome," wherein one parent tries to turn his or her children against the other parent.

Feminists assert that Parental Alienation Syndrome is a fathers' rights hoax--"junk science"--which unscrupulous fathers use to wrest custody from decent, loving mothers. The fathers' rights movement sees PAS is a damaging epidemic--one which family courts usually turn a blind eye to.

Gloria Allred is America's most prominent feminist attorney. Forensic consultant Dean Tong is the author of Elusive Innocence: Survival Guide for the Falsely Accused, and is one of America's foremost experts on false accusations of sexual abuse. Allred and Tong debated Parental Alienation, false allegations of sexual abuse, and the Marks case on His Side with Glenn Sacks.

To learn more about Parental Alienation Syndrome and the Bridget Marks case, see:
1) Glenn's radio commentary--In Defense of Arlene Goldberg (print & audio available)
2) Judge Arlene Goldberg's Order Granting Custody (see second decision)
3) pro-Marks opinion column Courts see moms as guilty till proven innocent (New York Daily News, 6/21/04)
4) pro-Marks newspaper column Twins' daddy twists knife (New York Daily News, 6/17/04)
5) Bridget Marks: Mommy Dearest by Michael P. Tremoglie (MenNewsDaily, 6/12/04)
6) Parents Who Have Successfully Fought Parental Alienation Syndrome by Jayne A. Major, Ph.D.
7) Dean Tong's Tribute to Richard Gardner, MD (MensNewsDaily, 5/28/03).
8) Steven Carlson (AKA the Child Custody Coach) has an informative page on PAS
9) His Side--The Heart of Darkness: Parental Alienation Syndrome (2/8/04) with Jayne A. Major, Ph.D., of Breakthrough Parenting, and family law attorney Jeff Leving.
10) The National Organization for Women-New York's page opposing Parental Alienation Syndrome
11) PAS info on the late Richard Gardner's website
12) Some see today as 'Fatherless Day' (Stockton Record, 6/20/04)