Male nannies/childminders

"And what is that as a % of the male population? What % of those crimes are against children?"

I don't have those stats, nontheless it would be prudent to be 10 to 20 times more cautious when employing males than females to work with vulnerable people.

And thinking about it, considering the overwhelming dominance of women in caring roles, its still pretty shocking that vulnerable people are still more likely to be abused by males.

Isn't it the case that something in the region of 95% of sexual crimes and about 90% of violent crimes are perpetrated by males?

And what is that as a % of the male population? What % of those crimes are against children?

Isn't it the case that something in the region of 95% of sexual crimes and about 90% of violent crimes are perpetrated by males?

In the light of this wouldn't it be appropriate and sensible to be 10 to 20 times more cautious about giving males access to vulnerable people than females? Since by simply not employing males you will have significantly reduced the likelihood of those vulnerable people being abused?

A friend of mine is a primary school teacher and was horrified to find out the creator of an amazing internet resource for teaching those years ('sparkle' something -I can't remember) was found to have been guilty of child porn use or some such thing. Being 'amazing' with kids doesn't preclude being a manipulative abuser.

I'm not saying all men are abusers - that would be preposterous, but as others have mentioned here, male abusers are determined to get close to vulnerable people despite it meaning they are breaking the gender mold to a certain degree to do so.

To suggest all this reality shouldn't be relevant when employing men to work with the vulnerable is (and this is probably the only time I'll use this phrase in my life) 'political correctness gone mad.'

DH applied to do a course in childcare and some of the comments were shocking. Lots of, "so why do you want to work with children?" comments, usually with raised eyebrows.

What a shame an interesting post on a thoughtful subject has degenerated to the paedophile hysteria debate.

To answer the original post, I had to work briefly in a small primary school last year which had 3 male teachers in year 6, 4 and 1. They were all very professional teachers and, like all teachers, had their own individual style of teaching which the children responded to well. From what I can see over the last few years, male teachers at primary level is increasing as I have come across male primary teachers of all sizes and descriptions (young and single just out of teaching college, older family men, men in gay partnerships etc) which must be a good thing for staff and pupils to have that balance. As far as I know, none of the men I have come across have incurred any kind of suspicion from parents or other staff or seem to have considered the possibility of it themselves.

I met one man who was training in a nursery environment who was very highly thought of by parents but has sinced moved into primary Key Stage 1. I know only one single man who is training to be a child-minder and he has had comments from the trainers and other women to the effect of "so are you doing this alongside your wife?" but, on discovering that he isn't, their reaction has been very encouraging and positive.

So let's hope that times are changing and young children will reap the benefits.

Have none of you heard of Vanessa George?

I had a male teacher at primary school and he was fantastic, every child in the school loved him. He was an ex miner, both his sons went on to become teachers too.

Men and women are both equaly able to abuse children, not just sexually but in other ways.

Eatsbrains
Yes paedophiles will seek out ways to be close with children, but that applies just as much to women as men. In fact the attitude of suspicion of men in childcare makes it very easy for a woman to be in a position to abuse a child.

Meanwhile childcare will always be 'women's work'. People can't complain that it is seen like this when they won't employ a male nanny themselves. It will only be an equal opportunities job when they are equally considered. At the moment only a minority of women would employ one, and then they probably have boys and not girls.

I agree with Eats. I don't think she's demonising at all.

We live in a culture where if a non male non adult says a male teacher touched her, doubt is instantly cast. That's my issue.

eatsbrains, while I'll agree that some paedophiles seek out positions of authourity, I would repeat that most seek out the vulnerable mothers of yet-more vulnerable children. The vast majority of child sexual abuse takes place within the family, but you seek to demonise all fathers who change nappies?

off to bed night!

I am not talking about anecdotal evidence. As a previous worker with children I have been on many training courses about preventing child abuse, where research is presented showing that paedophiles seek work and situations that will being them into contact with children. This is not rocket science and is extremely well known, so I am not sure why you are denying it.

What I'm saying sixer is that it's ridiculous to generalise all men as potential rapists/molesters/abusers, from your anectdotal evidence. It's like the recent case of a man being forced to move on a plane as he was sitting next to an unaccompanied child, yet the only case of molestation on a plane was by a woman! I wonder if Eats would be fine with people not wanting their child to be in a class with black children, as they are more likely to murder, and if I had a bad experience with a black person as a child? Again, ridiculous generalisations and paedophile/molestation hysteria abound and we wonder why no men want to go into childcare.

Drater, that's only what is recorded by the NSPCC. How much isn't recorded?

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8022861.stm
yet another to read Eatsbrains and Kim. Do you want me to continue, or have you got the point yet?

Drater, from the NSPCC website:

'Nearly a quarter of young adults (24.1%) experienced sexual abuse (including contact and non-contact) by an adult or by a peer during childhood.

One in six children aged 11-17 (16.5%) have experienced sexual abuse.

Almost one in 10 children aged 11-17 (9.4%) have experienced sexual abuse in the past year. Teenage girls aged between 15 and 17 years reported the highest past year rates of sexual abuse.'

And both male and female teachers are known to children, so would fall within your 90%.

or how about this for women?
www.channel4.com/programmes/breaking-a-female-paedophile-ring

Good and bad from both sexes, we as parents have to trust what we are faced with. It's not always the males.

EatsBrainsAndLeaves You are being ridiculous, the majority, 90% of sexual abuse ocuurs by people known to the person being abused, and even so, the likelihood of being abused is miniscule... You are shocking me with your ridiculous attitudes, no wonder no men want to work in childcare when there are ignorant people such as yourself around...

Kim147 www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2664802/Paedophile-nursery-woman-told-Name-your-victims

It is well researched that men who seek to sexual abuse children do seek out work that gives them access to children. That is an indisputable fact.

It may well be that what attracts some men to work in schools is that there are a lot of female teachers and that creates an environment they would prefer to work in.

It would perhaps be interesting to know how children's behaviour differs in traditional boys' school where most teachers are male and boys' schools where there are many female teachers. One issue that teachers do sadly have to deal with is abuse of one child or teenager by another, and I wonder how the likelihood of that happening differs within different kinds of school cultures.

Kim, I am concerned that in society in general, there is an attitude that men need to be protected from allegations of abuse and that people who are not adult and male frequently lie about abuse. It seems that in institutions that are male dominated, abuse is less likely to be challenged (the Catholic church immediately leaps to mind).

So while I am happy with male teachers teaching my children, it could be that teachers do a good job because they are in a profession with many women in it, which stops a culture of masculinity developing.