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I'll never forget when my two oldest kids (now in their 20s) went to one of those early head-start kind of places when they were a kid. One week the lesson was

I'll never forget when my two oldest kids (now in their 20s) went to one of those early head-start kind of places when they were a kid. One week the lesson was on inappropriate touching. I know this because both kids spent the next month inappropriately touching everybody they met -- with some very humorous results. Of all the things that have changed in the last 40 years or so, this thing we've done where we've trained everybody to be afraid of each other is probably the worst. Every day parents are bombarded by statistically highly-unlikely events that they take to be commonplace. It's made an awful impact on the fabric of society. Very sad.

oiuhjyftgrdgh 16y ago
There was a campaign like that in the UK - the kids were given dolls with somewhat impressive external genitals. If the kids touched the genitals that was evidence that they were being abused. Apart from the fact that dolls of adults with penises are rather unusual and likely to produce an odd reaction - the same logic suggests my nieces are being abused by the lion from Lion king.
simias 16y ago
All the french people in the audience will remember the Outreau trial ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outreau_trial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outreau_trial ) where several innocent people spent years in prison and one commited suicide, all that based on the lies of two persons and bogus psychiatric expertise of the children. The media also took a big part in this debacle. I think it really made people realize something here, I don't think this could happen again anytime soon. I hope you won't have to live something like that in the US to make things change. People should be presumed innocent unless proven guilty, not the other way around. The modern western society would have us think otherwise (and not only for child molesting, see CCTV, airport screenings, ...).
- bmastenbrook 16y ago
  Ah, but we did live through it in the '80s with the satanic abuse hoax, and we didn't learn anything. In fact, the people involved in pushing the hoax were rewarded with higher office. See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281204575003341640657862.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870428120457500... for a good writeup of the case.
- nickluft 16y ago
  In reading about these child abuse cases I was struck by how familiar they sound to the Witch Trials of the 17th Century. We have prosecutors convinced they have discovered a hidden evil and that it is more widespread than people like to think. They sometimes have children as witnesses. They have false confessions from the accused. And we have bodily investigations of "secrete places" either to confirm that sexual abuse has taken place or the devil "knew" was familiar with the accused. And we have bizarre stories of strange practices, which are credulously believed. It is like there is some universal process going on here. Communities require these expressions of hidden evils. And if you doubt the veracity of these claims then you are suspect too. I don't think this paranoia is a new phenomenon to human society. What changes is the topic, but not the underlying need we have in human society for these expressions. Examples of Witch Trials. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hopkins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hopkins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials

oiuhjyftgrdgh 16y ago

There was a campaign like that in the UK - the kids were given dolls with somewhat impressive external genitals. If the kids touched the genitals that was evidence that they were being abused. Apart from the fact that dolls of adults with penises are rather unusual and likely to produce an odd reaction - the same logic suggests my nieces are being abused by the lion from Lion king.

simias 16y ago

All the french people in the audience will remember the Outreau trial ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outreau_trial http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outreau_trial ) where several innocent people spent years in prison and one commited suicide, all that based on the lies of two persons and bogus psychiatric expertise of the children. The media also took a big part in this debacle. I think it really made people realize something here, I don't think this could happen again anytime soon. I hope you won't have to live something like that in the US to make things change. People should be presumed innocent unless proven guilty, not the other way around. The modern western society would have us think otherwise (and not only for child molesting, see CCTV, airport screenings, ...).

bmastenbrook 16y ago
Ah, but we did live through it in the '80s with the satanic abuse hoax, and we didn't learn anything. In fact, the people involved in pushing the hoax were rewarded with higher office. See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704281204575003341640657862.html http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870428120457500... for a good writeup of the case.
nickluft 16y ago
In reading about these child abuse cases I was struck by how familiar they sound to the Witch Trials of the 17th Century. We have prosecutors convinced they have discovered a hidden evil and that it is more widespread than people like to think. They sometimes have children as witnesses. They have false confessions from the accused. And we have bodily investigations of "secrete places" either to confirm that sexual abuse has taken place or the devil "knew" was familiar with the accused. And we have bizarre stories of strange practices, which are credulously believed. It is like there is some universal process going on here. Communities require these expressions of hidden evils. And if you doubt the veracity of these claims then you are suspect too. I don't think this paranoia is a new phenomenon to human society. What changes is the topic, but not the underlying need we have in human society for these expressions. Examples of Witch Trials. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hopkins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Hopkins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials