Fear
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.'
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.
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.
Zaslow, Jeffrey, Avoiding
Kids: How Men Cope With Being Cast as Predators;
online.wsj.com,
September 6,
2007
Last month, I wrote about how our culture teaches children to fear men [*see the artcle here above]. Hundreds of men responded, many lamenting that they've now become fearful of children. They said they avert their eyes when kids are around, or think twice before holding even their own children's hands in public.
Men, do you find yourself limiting contact with kids for fear that you'll be accused of being a predator? Is there anything that can be done about this societal problem?