Felicity Goodyear-Smith (MB, ChB, DipObst, MRNZCGP) is a GP who has specialised in the field of sexual abuse. She is the founder of the organisation COSA, Casualties of Sexual Allegations.
Why are you a skeptic - Felicity Goodyear-Smith
7 February 2022
This week, long time skeptic Felicity Goodyear-Smith tells us her story...
History denied is history repeated
1 February 2009
Today, gonorrhoea infections in young girls are taken as certain evidence of sexual abuse. Yet there is an extensive but now-forgotten literature showing that this is not necessarily the case. This article is based on a presentation to the NZ Skeptics 2008 conference in Hamilton, September 26-28.
The Danger of Absolute Safety
1 February 2000
Paper prepared for the 1999 Skeptics Conference, Auckland, 28-29 August.
True Believers
1 August 1996
Some police are still guilty of scepticism, but retraining is on its way
A Small Step Towards Common Sense
1 November 1994
In a landmark case on September 30, a 59-year-old man, Bill1, was acquitted by a jury in the Auckland High Court on charges of sexually abusing three of his daughters about 20 years ago. The complainants alleged sodomy and rape, and indecent acts such as the insertion of a coat hanger in the vagina causing bleeding and loss of consciousness. The women claimed they had suppressed the memories which had only resurfaced in later life. All three daughters had attended therapy and made claims for damages from the ACC before they laid the criminal charges against their father. Two of the daughters reported memories of events happening in their cots when aged one year old or less. Bill was defended by Mr Peter Williams, QC, who dismissed evidence based on "recovered memories" as dangerous and fallacious.