Men afraid of children, this makes me sad

[CancelMyService]

I saw this story in the local paper and it really depressed me. The gist, for those who don't want to read the link, is that men as a whole are becoming extremely wary of being near children in public for fear of being labeled a pedophile. Most men surveyed say they wouldn't approach a lost child at a shopping mall for fear of someone thinking they were up to no good.

What upsets me is the whole To Catch A Predator fad is causing more damage than anyone seems to realize:


1. Pedophiles, disgusting as they are, are not as common as people think. The internet makes it easier for them to do what they do, but shows like TCAP have the public convinced every male is a child molester until they prove otherwise.

2. Public shaming doesn't cure pedophilia. You'd think that the fact that there's people who get busted on TCAP who know about the show and went to the bait house anyway would be a hint.

4. The hysteria ensuing when someone is charged will guarantee that person's life is ruined if they turn out to be innocent. All it takes is one completely unsubstantiated claim to completely destroy a life.


So you have paranoia and the "someone think of the children" mindset used to get the public thinking there's a molester around every corner.

I never thought of anyone looking at me strangely when I'm out with my nephews, and if anyone tries to imply anything they're likely to get a hands on lesson of MYOB.

[Rapscallion]

I can't remember if we covered it on here or on CS, but as a happily single bloke I avoid areas where children congregate. Suspected child molesters are lynched around here. A national newspaper ran a set of pictures on their front page of known paedophiles, along with areas where they were known to live etc, and the results were several beatings/evictions - mostly of people who were innocent.

The best one? A paediatrician's surgery had bricks thrown at it by a particularly dumb mob.

Yeah, I'm not taking the risk. I don't mind being around children if there's someone else around, but I'm not risking my neck for the 'privelege'.

Rapscallion

[Greenday]

I've caught weird looks from people when I'm out with my lil cousin, and I'm only 19 years old. Now THAT'S nuts.

And women complain about sexism...

[Kelshir]

I am extremely careful about little children and how I am around them. I work retail, will not approach, wave back, or even talk to, any child that appears under the age of 15-16. Why? Because all it takes is one person making one claim to ruin my life.

It is sad, but that is the way it has become, at least in America, I cannot speak for other countries.

[protege]

As I was watching Tru TV (aka Court TV) the other night, there was a 'beach patrol' type show on. During one of the episodes, some woman called that a man was "taking pictures of little kids." Imagine his surprise when the guard came over and asked to see what he was doing. He had to prove he was taking pictures of *his* kids, just because someone thought otherwise.

[Seshat]

Brief digression:

And women complain about sexism...

The fact that misandry (hatred of men) and sexism against males is rife and widespread doesn't invalidate the presence of misogyny and sexism against females.

If people wish to discuss this digression, please start another thread.


And back to the main topic:

I've mentioned this before, but this very phenomenon has robbed the world of at least one great early-childhood teacher. This is the reason my brother didn't become an early-childhood teacher. If he'd been my sister rather than my brother, he'd almost certainly be doing that now. But because of his gender - no.

[Boozy]

YES! to everything CancelMyService said.

This is what media-sponsored fear-mongering does to a society.

Anyone who doesn't want to live in that kind of society needs to get a grip.

And read some real news.

[ArenaBoy]

What doesn't help at all is the fact that the Internet plays a part. Add in that insipid show, the save the children part, and the media's tendency to exaggerate something to great effect and you get what we have now. The masses tend to let fear and paranoia get them to a point that it's quite sad.

[MystyGlyttyr]

It does make me sort of worry about my cousin...what with his having triplet daughters and all. Hopefully, those kids are so loud with their "Dadas" at this point that there won't be any confusion later.

[rahmota]

This is one reason I do not enjoy going out in the city with the kids. One wrong nutjob thinking you're overly affectionate or something and your life can be ruined. Society needs a bit of an enema as its been taken too far.

So yeah I agree with Cancel's comments and say that people need to get their noses back in their own business and stop looking for evil in every shadow. I am all for protecting kids just make sure you're protecting them from the right things.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Plus, constantly smothering kids and wrapping them in cotton wool out of fear of pedophiles lying in wait round every corner is just going to create problems later on in life and is certainly not going to help kids either short or long term.