Welcome to the Reading Room

Here are some news stories and articles which might be of interest to you. I've posted the opening section, and if you want to read more, you can click on "Read the whole article" to go to the original item. You'll find a variety of things here -- current news, political analysis, opinion pieces, articles about religion -- things I've happened to read and want to share with you. It's your Reading Room, so take your time. Browse. You're certain to find something you'll want to read.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Childhood, stalled

Let kids grow up — and stop fighting phantom boogeymen

by Lenore Skenazy

The little boys in the little girls’ room have gotten a lot bigger lately.

“We were just at the Museum of Natural History, and I took my son into the women’s bathroom with me and we got some looks,” says a Queens mother named Jennifer.

That’s not so surprising — her son is 9. He’s almost as tall as she is!

“ ‘Do I have to go in the girls bathroom?’ ” Jennifer recalls him asking. “I hesitated a moment and thought: ‘Maybe I should let him go. The bathrooms are right next to each other. Maybe I’ll stand right by the door and he’ll be very fast.’ But then I panicked.”

Bingo! That is exactly the word. We are in the midst of a Pedophile Panic. What Communists were to the ’50s, pedophiles are today: A horror we imagine under every bed — and inside every stall. The reality, though, is a lot less terrifying.

Read the whole article.

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