Moral Panic

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Recommended: The positive and negatives of moral panic

Moral panic is the intense feeling formulated throughout the population dealing with threatening issues concerning shifts in social order. In order for moral panic to spread over a community there must be concerns and comments frequently made about a person’s or persons’ negative behavior impacting the society. Age-of-consent laws were constructed to avoid moral panic attempting to reduce social concerns about children, and children’s sexuality in order to protect the innocence of children. It is important that children abide by the laws created for their protection. Two of the most alarming social concerns that impact children’s behavior are adolescents being forced to make reasonable decisions before they have fully matured, and being apart of this technology based world today. Age is not a huge factor in determining a child’s maturity level. According to Laurie Schaffner “socially, majority status represents an age of reason, rights, and responsibility,” although it varies when adolescents can be permitted to adulthood. (Schaffner, pg. 189) For the purpose of positive and effective development children must encounter constant nurturing from parents, or guardians. The love, affection, and support an adult can provide for an adolescent builds their self-confidence. This is an imperative element in child development. Nurturing gives children the opportunity to apply logic and display characteristics of responsibility. Interacting with family is necessary, but also interacting with others who are not within their immediate family is equally important. This is to ensure a child develops in all aspects, both mentally and socially. The experience of interacting with people outside the family will test and determine whether a... ... middle of paper ... ... when children are considered to be an acting adult. Depending on the child’s experience and involvement with the community he or she is from the child may develop faster or slower than the average age of consent. Females generally mature faster than males. But if any adolescent has been molested, or put in a situation requiring reasoning they will be more knowledgeable of what’s right and wrong. Sometimes the issues with children that mature faster than others or before social structures allow them to be are the examples being set for children maturely underdeveloped. In conclusion, moral panics relate to social concerns about children and children’s sexuality because children follow the actions of adults. With the lack of positive examples left to children the follow the more moral panics created causing more social concerns for the children of the future.

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