Stranger Danger – Is Every Man a Suspect?
by Mary Jackson (August 2009)
It is insane, and 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.
A kindly adult outside the family can act as confidant, mentor and safety valve, as Esther Rantzen, founder of Childline, explained in a Daily Mail article denouncing hysteria about child abuse:
Child Maltreatment:
forced marriages, and in Islam, a girl is deemed marriageable at just nine years of age. In an article for the London Times on the connection between paedophilia and terrorism,
The most you can attribute to them is a relationship between men and women different from that of us Westerners, in which — as in many parts of the Arab world — wives are often very young girls of 11, 12 or 13 who because of family negotiations are given in marriage to men much older than them. But that is not paedophilia, it is a question of Arab culture.
This has to stop. Adults should talk to children in public, whether to joke, teach, comfort, or if need be to admonish. Normal adults, that is. Or are we prepared to leave the field clear for paedophiles and psychopaths?
in December 2008
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