i hate that we still have artifacts from this time even decades later and i think community trust has only gotten worse since then. we’re also seeing another rise in anxiety of “homosexual predators” except now it’s targeted toward trans people

by the way freddy krueger is the cultural fear of “homosexual predators” made into a series of shitty movies and i wish that franchise would die

@rowan it also misdirected people away from the actually most dangerous people in a child’s life: family members and close family friends. imagine if the panic had been about that instead, and how many victims of abuse could have been saved if parents and neighbors were aware of what to look for and what to do if they suspect that a child is abused

@kasdeya no one would have believed it and they still don’t – this is part of why stranger danger was so terrible. it preyed upon an existing anxiety that there are Strangers in your very community like cloaked, mustached villains waiting to abduct your children. it’s much harder to believe that the cloaked mustached villain is actually uncle rob on thanksgiving when all the other adults are watching tv

@kasdeya the reason they believe stranger danger is because it allows them to absolve themselves of responsibility and guilt. why feel like it was their fault in some meaningful way when they could instead feel a general sense of guilt detached from any personal culpability? sure my kid was complaining that they didnt like going to gram’s house to be babysat but it was definitely some guy who fits my preconceived notions of a pedophile