User:Herostratus/Fear of children

Fear of children is a term with two distinct meanings:
 * 1) A phobia triggered by the presence or ideation of children or infants
 * 2) Dislike of children or youths, or both, as an emotional state or social phenomena, and which is commonly an impetus for political opposition to youth equity or insufficient concern for the needs of children, or both.

Pedophobia (American English), paedophobia (British English), or pediaphobia are medical terms for psychiatric fear of children. These terms come from the Greek roots παιδ- paid- (child) and φόβος -phóbos (fear). The terms, along with ephebiphobia (fear or hatred of teenagers) are also sometimes used for dislike of minors. Pedophobia is not to be confused with Pediophobia, which is fear of dolls.

Pediophibia as a phobia
Pedophobia is a specific phobia, a type of phobia commonly caused by trauma, often childhood trauma. It is an irrational fear of children, including babies; sufferers commonly have a low tolerance for ill-behaved or noisy children, and in extreme cases any presence of children can induce anxiety attacks.

The fear of children has been diagnosed and treated by psychiatrists, with studies examining the effects of multiple forms of treatment. Studies have identified the fear of children as a factor affecting biological conception in humans.

Pediophibia as a social phenomenon
Pedophobia in the social or political sense can include an expanded definition of -phobia as covering a broad range of negative emotions, including disdain, prejudice, fear, and aversion (similar to its use in terms such as Anglophobia, Bibliophobia, etc.) and sometimes of pedo- as referring to older minors and young majors as well as, or instead of, children. Pedophobia is also sometimes used to describe inattention to the needs of children.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin, a founding editor of Ms. magazine, diagnosed America as having an "epidemic of paedophobia", saying that, "though most of us make exceptions for our own offspring, we do not seem particularly warm-hearted towards other peoples' children."

One author suggests that the cause of the fear of children in academia specifically extends from adults' distinct awareness of the capacity of children: "Children embarrass us because they point ever too cleverly and clearly to our denial of personal, material, and maternal history."

One report suggests that the source of current trends in the fear of children have a specific source: James Q. Wilson, a professor at UCLA's School of Management, who in 1975 helped inaugurate the current climate of pedophobia when he said "a critical mass of younger persons... creates an explosive increase in the amount of crime."

Sociologists have situated "contemporary fears about children and childhood" as "contributing to the ongoing social construction of childhood", suggesting that "generational power relations, in which children's lives are bounded by adult surveillance" affect many aspects of society.

Efforts to combat pedophobia
Efforts to combat inattention to the needs of children or opposition to youths (or both) is a focus of several international social justice movements addressing young people, including children's rights and youth participation. Major international organizations addressing pedophobia, either outright or by implication, include Save the Children and Children's Defense Fund. However, some organizations, particularly those associated with the youth rights movement, claim that these movements perpetuate paedophobia.

Social service, human rights, and social justice organizations have been tackling the fear of children for dozens of years. The United Nations has created the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is implicitly designed to address pedophobia by fostering intergenerational equity between children and adults.

Pedophobia is distinctly addressed by academia, especially evidenced since the creation of the field of youth studies. The influence of the fear of youths in American popular culture is examined by critical media analysts who have identified the effects of pedophobia in both Disney and horror films.

Other authors and scholars, including Henry Giroux, Mike Males, and Barbara Kingsolver have suggested that the popular modern fear of youths stems from corporatisation of mass media and its complicity with a range of political and economic interests. Males perhaps goes the furthest, and wrote an entire book exploring the subject.