Are Men more suspicious?

[Ghostpanther]

...so who gives them the right to brand someone a pedophile over it.

The Laws of that land do. If you do not like them, do not travel there or if you live there, work to get them changed. But every country has the right to make what ever laws they want. In some countries girls are permitted to be married as young as 11. 12 being fairly common. But keep in mind..to stay on topic, it is mostly "men" who are making those stupid young age laws. In the US I am thinking the youngest age anyone can get married is 16 of any state. But I may be wrong.

[Deleted]

The Laws of that land do. If you do not like them, do not travel there or if you live there, work to get them changed. But every country has the right to make what ever laws they want. In some countries girls are permitted to be married as young as 11. 12 being fairly common. But keep in mind..to stay on topic, it is mostly "men" who are making those stupid young age laws. In the US I am thinking the youngest age anyone can get married is 16 of any state. But I may be wrong.

In one state you can marry a 16 year old and in the next you are a pedophile for having sex for someone 15. Makes sense to me.

[Deleted]

I think our culture is developing a proclivity to see pedophilia everywhere, yes.

Same reason I grab my phone and wallet in my pockets when walking next to a young black male (when they are wearing their "gansta" youngster cloths).

Same reason...well just add any random stereotype really. It's spoon fed stereotyping since I was born. I try personally try to control it, but you can't control your first "instinct".

[Cosmic Janitor]

Mostly because the US is very terrified of sex. In the US sex is scarier to people then violence. Which is a culture shock to people from europe, where its the reverse. And then people wonder why violence is so high in the US...

Even countries which are less scared of sex behave that way. I could draw a few very sexist remarks in that direction, but I will refrain from it to not derail this thread. There are a couple of medical reasons for a legal age which are rather plausible and a couple psychological ones, whats up to debate then is what is the most suitable average age gap between a very young person and an older one as well as the limits obviously. The current solution is rather arbitrary and based on nothing but what certain groups thought at the time, which usually was 50-500 years ago...

No serious politician with an aspriation of staying in that job will ever change that though, because you can never please everyone here and if the limit gets put at even a single day below the current one you will be branded a pedophile or raise it and probably no one the younger generation will ever vote for your party again.

[Ghostpanther]

In one state you can marry a 16 year old and in the next you are a pedophile for having sex for someone 15. Makes sense to me.

Does to me too. Where do you draw the line?....14....13..12...11......what makes 18 a adult? Why do you have to be 21 to buy cigarettes if you are already a adult at 18?

[Deleted]

Yes, I'm more suspicious of men than women. Personal experiences.

[Tastyfish]

I think our culture is developing a proclivity to see pedophilia everywhere, yes.

Cause it's the ultimate accusation. It's one of those things everyone is like, "oh yea no" over.

[Wildtree]

Interesting topic..... I guess the answer is yes...
It's probably related to the circumstance, that I try to think really really hard, and cannot recall a case where a pedophile woman alone (I know couples been caught before) got caught. I'd like to think, that this was certainly the case, but the overwhelming amount of men getting caught outweigh it for my memory.

[rayvio]

Interesting topic..... I guess the answer is yes...
It's probably related to the circumstance, that I try to think really really hard, and cannot recall a case where a pedophile woman alone (I know couples been caught before) got caught. I'd like to think, that this was certainly the case, but the overwhelming amount of men getting caught outweigh it for my memory.

a large part of that is to do with societies attitude towards it. a much smaller amount of accused female child molesters go to court than males because it's so much more difficult to build a case against them. partly as a result of this the public hear about many, many more male child molesters than female and the idea that significantly more males than females commit abuse gains more popularity making it even more difficult to prosecute a female child molester and so the cycle goes on and on. it's difficult enough to build a case in any circumstances (it's nothing like SVU would have you believe, at least not in the UK anyway and I doubt it is in USA but the reality would likely be too depressing for TV) but in the majority of cases a female defendant garners a lot more sympathy than a male and child abuse cases are far from being an exception

[Dunefire]

Yes, from and early time since the hunter/gather times of Cromagnon man its been reinforced. Are women as alert now, some are some aren't. Its changed radically in the last 50 or so years to make it more universial

[Kurioxan]

I think you might have it backwards.

I dont think that its men being more suspicious, but the cultural assumption that women cant do bad things or have nefarious intentions and are overlooked/ignored when in an odd situation instead, this creates the disparity more than necessarily assuming that a guy has always bad intentions.
Or maybe its a mix of both, but considering that humans are naturally suspicious and we live in a time of paranoia, women are still largely overlooked when in "odd situations" might be an indicative that its the reverse of the situation.

What you say completely applies to minorities though.

[rayvio]

not sure I'd say that humans are naturally suspicious, it seems to be something we're taught. children in fact tend to be extremely trusting to the point that they have to be taught some paranoia to avoid them being taken advantage of. I think paranoia is a survival instinct we develop over time

[Baracuda]

I think men are the norm, it's women that are considered less suspicious.

[D-Throes]

Suspicious? No. Realists? Yes. Everybody lies.

this^ everyone has their secrets no doubt...

[lawow74]

In suspicion of pedophilia, Hell yes men are targeted far more than women, and usually far more critically. There's a strong current of feeling like a woman attracted to young boys is doing a good thing, though primarily towards teenage boys. Especially if she's good-looking. I read some time back about the dearth of male elementary school teachers and the lack of a male role model for the children, and of course one of the primary reasons is the exceedingly harsh perception that a man who wants to be around young children must be a pedophile. Comments from men who've done the job and how it hurts to have to refuse a hug from the children, who only seek comfort and are disappointed as a result, because of the danger it could pose for them in perception by others.

[Baracuda]

In suspicion of pedophilia, Hell yes men are targeted far more than women, and usually far more critically. There's a strong current of feeling like a woman attracted to young boys is doing a good thing, though primarily towards teenage boys. Especially if she's good-looking. I read some time back about the dearth of male elementary school teachers and the lack of a male role model for the children, and of course one of the primary reasons is the exceedingly harsh perception that a man who wants to be around young children must be a pedophile. Comments from men who've done the job and how it hurts to have to refuse a hug from the children, who only seek comfort and are disappointed as a result, because of the danger it could pose for them in perception by others.

Or they just don't want to change diapers :d

[Tojara]

Yeah they are naturally suspicious.

If you're affectionate at all around children you're probably going to get weird looks, despite all of the good intentions in the world. As such it's better to keep a safe distance, otherwise you'll likely be considered a pedophile or a child molester. I don't have to look at the statistics to know that it's far more likely that men commit these crimes more often than women, but overall the number is still statistically small. For every thousand people there are going to be a few bad apples.

Our media sensationalizes pretty much everything and you would swear that violence, racism, rape and all of that sort of thing are rising at an alarming rate. More often than not, it actually isn't. We just get to hear fucked up stories from every Continent, Country, state, province, city or small town. Decades ago you would hear nothing, lol.

[THE Bigzoman]

I think our culture is developing a proclivity to see pedophilia everywhere, yes.

I've yet to see a kneejerk perception towards a woman in that sense in any situation.