Fear

BBC News, Adults 'scared to go near kids', 26 June 2008 
The law says that adults must be vetted if they want to work with children. But have we gone too far and created a climate of suspicion. Professor Frank Furedi of Kent University has written a report that says we have. Many adults are afraid to interact with children for fear of being  labelled as paedophiles, a report has claimed.

Beckford, Martin; Baroness Neuberger: Children will grow up not trusting anyone in Britain's risk-averse society. Children are growing up not trusting anyone, an influential peer has warned, as Britain's society becomes increasingly suspicious and risk-averse. The Telegraph, UK, 23 Sep 2008

Boykin, Sharahn D.- Don't 'be alone with other people's children' - Sex abuse allegations raise discussion - delmarvanow.com, December 7, 2008
"Don't get caught up in the feeling that someone needs you or someone loves you." 

Castles, Simon, The bogeyman myth; In seeking to protect our children from pedophiles, we are also, sadly, undermining the healthy bonds between men and children; The Age ( Australia ), July 8, 2007  
There is a terrible paradox here. Good men are staying away from supervising children for fear of how they will be perceived, and yet at the same time many parents - and particularly single mothers - desperately want their children, especially their sons, to be exposed to good male role models.

De Leon, Virginia & Learning, Sara, A Chilling effect; Spokesman Review, April 18, 2007
Changing times and a growing awareness of child abuse have led to greater distrust of adults who work with children, prompting stricter rules in churches, Boy Scouts and other organizations. That means less one-on-one contact between children and adult mentors, so relationships that could steer at-risk kids away from trouble take longer to build. 

Early Childhood Council [New Zealand], Absence of men from childcare 'national disgrace'; 25 September 2006
'The paedophile hysteria' of the 1990s had caused good men to vacate roles caring for children.
'We have created a culture in which it can be dangerous to reputation and future for a childcare male to cuddle a distressed child, to change a nappy or express affection. This anti-male bias, however, does not change the fact that children need to experience men as nurturing.' 

Filler, Daniel M. - Terrorism, Panic and Pedophilia; Virginia Journal of Social Policy & the Law, Vol. 10, No. 3 - Abstract 
A new rhetoric has surfaced [...] linking terrorism, Islam and pedophilia. By connecting these concepts, moral entrepreneurs lay the groundwork for a very different response to new terrorism. [...] 
By framing Muslims as the equivalent of pedophiles, advocates may attempt to argue for such policies as the moral equivalent of sexual offender civil commitment. 
This article suggests that civil rights advocates develop counter-narratives to address any such developments. 

Franz, Paul, Under Siege; Sunday News & Lancasteronline.com, Aug 03, 2008 
Tom Armstrong believes sex offenders have become the 'lepers of our society.' He believes men like the three he invited into his Mareitta home can change. His words can't convince those protesting in front of his house.

Furedi, Frank, Thou shalt not hug, The New Statesman (UK), 26 June 2008 - About: Frank Furedi and Jennie Bristow, Licensed to Hug, 26 June 2008 
British society no longer trusts grown-ups to interact with children. In a controversial new report, Frank Furedi and Jennie Bristow argue that the culture of "vetting" adults is damaging relationships between the generations.

About
Furedi, Frank, Licensed to hug: 
Gubb, James; Licensed to hug; Permalink, June 26, 2008 
The dramatic escalation of child protection measures has succeeded in poisoning the relationship between the generations and creating an atmosphere of suspicion that actually increases the risks to children, according to a new study released today by Civitas.
In Licensed to Hug Frank Furedi, Professor of Sociology at the University of Kent, argues that children need to have contact with a range of adult members of the community for their education and socialisation, but 'this form of collaboration, which has traditionally underpinned intergenerational relationships, is now threatened by a regime that insists that adult-child encounters must be mediated through a security check'.

Hume, Mick, Castrate this sick debate. Not another British paedophile panic? The unhealthy obsession with child sexual abuse should stop. Full stop. Mick Hume; spiked-online; 14 June 2007  
The public obsession with paedophiles is also an expression of how deeply many of us now mistrust each other, and indeed ourselves, in a fragmented society of insecure individuals. The paedophile becomes not just the shadowy stranger out there, but the beast within the community, within the family, maybe even within you. This is the fear the government's latest 'awareness' campaign about abuse at home can only feed. It is already having a destructive impact on not just adult-child but also adult-adult relationships, as men feel wary of volunteering to work with kids and children are 'protected' from unsupervised contact with grown-ups.

Johnson, Boris, Come off it, folks: how many paedophiles can there be?  (Boris Johnson is MP for Henley), The Telegraph (UK),  09/11/2006 
The problem is the general collapse of trust. Almost every human relationship that was sensibly regulated by trust is now governed by law, with cripplingly expensive consequences. I blame the media, I blame the judges, I blame the lobby groups, and in
particular I blame the cowardly capitalist airline companies that give in to this sort of loony hysteria.

McGivern, Mark, Men are too afraid to help a crying child; Three in four fear being called a perv;  Daily Record, UK, 17 February 2007 
Three in four men would think twice before helping a crying child in case they are accused of being a paedophile, a poll claims. And one in four would ignore the distressed youngster completely, the survey revealed.

McKeen, S, Just hating pedophiles won't keep children safe - Torches and pitchforks will not drive the monsters from our realm; The Edmonton Journal (Canada), October 10, 2008 
Neither prosecution nor protest will protect our children from pedophiles. Our common sense and humanity might. But on this issue, both are in short supply. [...]
Why not create a support and accountability network like Alcoholics Anonymous for pedophiles? 
Good idea. So good, in fact, that it's been around for years. A mostly unheralded and underfunded program known as COSA, or Circles Of Support and Accountability [...]

Morrison, Richard, Peter Pan(ic): is it a paedophile nightmare, or an innocent tale? The Times ( UK ), December 29, 2004  
[The declaration of Nico about Barry] however, hasn’t stopped some modern commentators from declaring Barrie to be a paedophile — with the additional implication that we are somehow legitimising paedophilia if we continue to enjoy Peter Pan. And it’s certainly true that if a grown man today exhibited such a desire for intimacy with children to whom he was not related (or even to whom he was), he would attract cries of “pervert” at the very least. 
Such a stance, however, raises three large questions: [...].

Newsvote, Child safety rules 'scare' adults; Newsvote.bbc.com.uk, 13 December 2006 
Adults are scared of working with youngsters because of strict child protection rules.

Zaslow, Jeffrey, Are We Teaching Our Kids To Be Fearful of Men?  online.wsj.com, August 23, 2007  
When children get lost in a mall, they're supposed to find a "low-risk adult" to help them. Guidelines issued by police departments and child-safety groups often encourage them to look for "a pregnant woman," "a mother pushing a stroller" or "a grandmother." 
The implied message: Men, even dads pushing strollers, are "high-risk." 
Are we teaching children that men are out to hurt them? The answer, on many fronts, is yes.