fear of children fear of children fear of children, hatred of children, or occasionally called paedophobia, is fear triggered by the presence or thinking of children or infants. it is an emotional state of fear, disdain, aversion, or prejudice toward children or youth. paedophobia is in some usages identical to ephebiphobia. fear of childrenother namespedophobia, paedophobia, pediaphobiaspecialtypsychiatry part of a series ondiscrimination forms institutional structural attributes age disability genetics hair color hair texture height looks size language race / ethnicity nordicism skin color rank caste class religion sex sexual orientation social acephobia arophobia adultism anti-albinism anti-autism anti-drug addicts anti-homelessness anti-intellectualism anti-intersex anti-left handedness anti-masonry aporophobia audism biphobia cronyism elitism ephebiphobia fatphobia gayphobia gerontophobia heterosexism hiv/aids stigma homophobia leprosy stigma lesbophobia misandry misogyny nepotism pedophobia perpetual foreigner pregnancy sectarianism supremacism black white transphobia non-binary transmisogyny trans men vegaphobia xenophobia religious ahmadiyya atheism baháʼí faith buddhism catholicism christianity post–cold war era druze falun gong hinduism persecution untouchability islam persecution jehovah's witnesses judaism persecution lds or mormon neopaganism non-muslims eastern orthodox oriental orthodox copts protestantism rastafari sikhs shi'ism sufism sunnism zoroastrianism ethnic/national african afghan albanian american arab armenian australian austrian azerbaijani bosnian brazilian british canadian catalan chechen chilean chinese croat english filipino finnish french fulani georgian german greek haitian hazara hispanic hungarian igbo indian canadian and us indigenous peoples indonesian iranian irish israeli italian japanese jewish khmer korean kurdish malay mexican middle eastern mongolian montenegrin muhajirs pakistani palestinian pashtun polish quebec romani romanian russian scottish serb slavic somali tatar thai tibetan turkish ukrainian uyghur venezuelan vietnamese manifestations blood libel bullying online lgbt compulsory sterilization corrective rape counter-jihad cultural genocide defamation democide disability hate crime dog-whistle politics eliminationism economic education employment ethnic cleansing ethnic conflict ethnic hatred ethnic joke ethnocide forced conversion freak show gay bashing gendercide genital modification and mutilation genocide examples glass ceiling hate crime lgbt hate group hate speech online homeless dumping housing indian rolling infantilization language minoritization lavender scare lynching mortgage murder music native american mascots occupational segregation opposition to immigration persecution pogrom purge red scare religious persecution religious terrorism religious violence religious war scapegoating segregation academy sex-selective abortion slavery slut-shaming violence against transgender people victimisation violence against men violence against women white flight white genocide conspiracy theory white power music wife selling witch-hunt policies age of candidacy babel proclamation blood purity blood quantum citizen, speak turkish! crime of apartheid dialect card disabilities catholic jewish environmental racism ethnocracy ethnopluralism gender pay gap gerontocracy gerrymandering ghetto benches internment jewish quota jim crow laws ketuanan melayu article 153 kinder der landstrasse law for protection of the nation mccarthyism msm blood donation restrictions nonpersons numerus clausus (as religious or racial quota) nuremberg laws one-drop rule racial quota racial steering redlining same-sex marriage (laws and issues prohibiting) segregation age racial religious sexual sodomy law state atheism state religion symbole ugly law vergonha voter suppression welsh not white australia policy countermeasures affirmative action anti-discrimination law cultural assimilation cultural pluralism diversity training empowerment environmental justice feminism fighting discrimination hate speech laws by country human rights intersex rights lgbt rights masculism multiculturalism nonviolence racial integration reappropriation self-determination social integration toleration related topics bias dehumanization go back to where you came from oppression internalized power distance prejudice reverse discrimination social exclusion social stigma stereotype threat civil liberties diversity intersectionality multiculturalism polyculturalism political correctness white privilege racial bias in criminal news (us) racism by country reverse racism the talk (us) woke (us) amatonormativity gender roles heteronormativity male privilege masculism second-generation gender bias medical model of disability autism neurodiversity social model of disability allophilia ethnic penalty oikophobia christian privilege religious intolerance eugenics net bias snobbery speciesism police brutality prisoner abuse 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. causes 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 people's 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 decrease efforts to decrease inattention to the needs of children or opposition to youths is a focus of several international social justice movements addressing young people, including children's rights and youth participation. major international organizations addressing discrimination, 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 discrimination. the united nations has created the convention on the rights of the child, which is implicitly designed to foster intergenerational equity between children and adults. 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. terminology paedophobia is the british english spelling, and pediaphobia is another alternate spelling. the terms come from the greek roots παιδ- paid- (child) and φόβος -phóbos (fear). pedophobia is not to be confused with pediophobia (fear of dolls) or podophobia (fear of feet).