Thanks to our mistaken belief that no one under 18 can have any legitimate sexual feelings—and hence any sex they’ve engaged in was coerced and bound to render unspeakable emotional harm—we have laws on the books like this one in Wisconsin, according to USA trkatntbns Today (boldface mine, all mine!): In 2012, state lawmakers passed into […]
Readers tbnbzbrirf — The belief that our kids are in constant danger from the worst of the worst of the WORST can (and did) lead to cases like this. As reported in Saturday’s Austin American-Statesman by Chuck Lindell — Austin day care owners Dan and Fran Keller spent more than 22 years in prison after three […]
Lena, sex and cancer — clickbait? No. A real, Free-Range point: This week, two writers I love — Frank Furedi, the author of Paranoid rifhseykzz Parenting (the 2002 book that decried helicopter parenting before anyone else) and Josh Gravens, a Soros Fellow dedicated to reforming the sex offender laws — both wrote about the Lena Dunham […]
Readers ehsatfbyey – I try to feel for the parents so steeped in the acid of fear that they cannot think straight. So I am trying to feel sympathy for this mom. KING5 News reports: A Seattle mom has never been more terrified to send her 11-year-old child to school on a bus. Karenza Ferris […]
Readers — This faidsenhkn report by Noah Pransky, my new Journalism Hero, is so well done and so shocking, I hope that it gets reposted throughout the blogosphere: (I have removed the video because it automatically starts playing anytime you go to my blog.) It details how men who go online to adult chat rooms […]
Readers — Here’s dythnbkkef a story that has been getting attention: Florida mom Nicole Gainey let her 7 year old walk to the park, and on the way, some adults feared for his safety and called the cops. The cops swooped in, scooped up the boy and drove him home. Then they arrested the mom, […]
Readers tfitfknrrr – This article explains everything I am always trying to say … but  better. It’s by Frank Furedi — have you heard of him? I wrote about his book, “Paranoid Parenting,” in 2001 — seven years before I sent my son on his solo subway ride. Furedi gets how paranoia for our kids directly leads to […]
The anysarnbza Sex Offender List was created and then made public with the goal of keeping kids safe. Not only has it had no effect on child safety whatsoever (see this study, and this article), it has bloated to include all sorts of “offenders” who do not and never did pose a threat to children. […]
Readers — Oh, the puns I will refrain from. (Though it’s…hard!) Suffice to say, there are many problems with America’s sex offender laws, but perhaps this case illustrates their absurdity best. As Robby Soave writes rhterhdsaa at Reason: The authorities in Prince William County, Virginia, are pursuing child pornography charges against a 17 year old […]
Readers ftdnykkbhe — This powerful comment came in response to my piece about the New Jersey woman who let her toddler sleep in the car for 5-10 minutes while she ran an errand. She was arrested, found guilty of abuse or neglect, and put on the state’s Child Abuse Registry. Two weeks ago, a New […]
