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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think there is not a paedophile on every corner

120 replies

ChaoticAngelofAnarchy · 07/02/2011 21:43

or in every swimming pool, or every park or every newsagents, supermarket etc etc and people need to stop being so paranoid.

Yes, the other thread prompted this (so sue me...I don't really care) but I've seen this paranoia in rl and on other threads and sometimes in posts on threads that are not about this.

OP posts:
Tee2072 · 07/02/2011 21:45

Or kidnappers.

Mumcentreplus · 07/02/2011 21:45

Thread about a thread?..not cool..(like I care)Wink

ellina · 07/02/2011 21:54

No. But would you understand why a parent of an abused child might feel like this?

iwanttolearn · 07/02/2011 21:55

I totally agree. I don't want to have to worry about being murdered, raped, mugged, etc every time I turn a corner. It would just make me a paranoid nutcase...

A few of my friends worried about staying in hotels after Michaela Harte was killed for interrupting a robbery in her room... Yes, things like this do happen, but what's the use in being obsessed over it?

MilkNoSugarPlease · 07/02/2011 21:56

YANBU!

This mentality that people have makes me so angry...

Hulababy · 07/02/2011 21:57

Of course there isn't. YANBU/

iwanttolearn · 07/02/2011 21:58

yes, I would understand if it had already happened to a child, but to suspect everyman isn't good either. women can be paedos, too. Not many people think about this though.

tethersend · 07/02/2011 21:58

A bit of paedo-hysteria is a small price to pay for heightened awareness and prevention of child abuse IMO.

tethersend · 07/02/2011 22:00

Most paedophiles are known to the child- so they may not be on every corner, but they might be your mate's dad.

Tysonandthehouseelves86 · 07/02/2011 22:00

Nobody knew my step father was a paedo, except my sister and I of course. And guess what, he went swimming, and the park and newsagents and the supermarket. It is never bad for people to be extra vigilant. And for people who have been abused it is very sensible to be aware. So in my honest opinion, YABU.

PotPourri · 07/02/2011 22:00

yabu. All for not being a jibbering paranoid wreck, but don't be complacent for goodness sake

weblette · 07/02/2011 22:00

Well as someone abused as a child my nonse-dar is certainly not switched to paranoid.

winnybella · 07/02/2011 22:01

Yes, tether, but this hysteria is usually directed to random strangers and not to family members/friends which statistically are most likely to be abusers.

ChaoticAngelofAnarchy · 07/02/2011 22:08

ellina I could understand why the parents of an abused child would feel like this, I could understand them being wary of strange people but to suspect every lone man (or even women as they too can be paedophiles as a pp said) would be wrong. It would be like every woman who had been raped saying that every man was a rapist.

Could anyone live their life like that...suspecting everyone? This is a genuine question btw.

OP posts:
ChaoticAngelofAnarchy · 07/02/2011 22:11

As already said most paedophiles are family members or friend's of family so therefore less likely to be random lone males in swimming pools or parks.

OP posts:
Pan · 07/02/2011 22:11

Biggest offending group, statistically proportionate??White hetrosexual males in relationships at the time of offending.

Pan · 07/02/2011 22:12

and not in swimming pools or on street corners.

allsquareknickersnofurcoat · 07/02/2011 22:12

Another one where a bloke I knew was a paedophile. Lived across the road and had a direct view into my room for years, which gives me the heeby jeebies, but doesnt make me paranoid for my own DC!

The OP on the other thread is a nutter!

Thingumy · 07/02/2011 22:13

Agreed pan,sadly through personal experience.

tethersend · 07/02/2011 22:14

I know winnybella- but my point is that so-called 'paedo hysteria' is not paranoia. If anything, it is a safe perception of paedophiles being easy to spot and lurking on corners than the disturbing and harder to accept reality that they may be in your school, your house, your bed. And that you can't tell who they are by looking.

So, in effect, paedo hysteria raises awareness of abuse- but, conversely, doesn't go far enough.

Pan · 07/02/2011 22:14

I am sorry this happened, thingummy.

MsKLo · 07/02/2011 22:15

Well you just don't know do you and why get so nasty about the other thread and retaliate with a thread? That is nasty and unreasonable!

Pan · 07/02/2011 22:16

hysteria clouds the issues. Respect for children is the real issue, not heightening worry levels in a random manner.

Saltatrix · 07/02/2011 22:16

Stranger danger is really really rare, most perpetrators are known to the family and not the weird guy across the road with twitchy eyes

BeerTricksPotter · 07/02/2011 22:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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