Thankfully, most of them are pathetic losers. In Japan, they
have a special name for men like that and they're seen as
pitiful beings, sad and lonely, and I suspect that's true. But
even if the percentage of predatory ones is small, they're out
there. What pisses me off is that they make ALL MEN look bad. If
I ran a police force, I'd hire people like you who know how to
identify them at a glance to at least tip off the authorities to
take a closer look. If they're harmless? They're harmless. But
if they're not, maybe they can get some sort of intervention and
assistance so that they never offend. === I don't know. That's
where it's tough. There's people all around the world trying out
different solutions but I don't think any of them have the
perfect answer. There's organizations that have been working on
fixing this for longer than either of us have been alive and
they don't have the answers either. Now some of them would be
easy to spot. If someone is collecting pictures of boy's bare
feet, well, there's a good chance that's somebody who might be a
future problem. Yet, if they're not doing anything wrong besides
that, they can't be prosecuted for anything. Never understood
the foot thing. But identification gets harder if they get more
clever. In behavior, there's not much difference between being a
person helping kids out with an honest purpose and a person who
is building their trust for the purpose of having illicit
encounters. Same words. Same contact until they cross over that
line. Yet, if all men were banned from working with kids, a lot
of good will never happen. Kids need male role models, mentors,
teachers and guides in their lives. Women can do a great job,
but some things require a unique perspective and style. So, I
don't know. I guess the best that can be done is teaching
skepticism. It's good to trust people but know when to be
skeptical of them as well. Teach good "bullshit spotting" to
kids. i don't think it helps to try to teach kids to not talk to
all strangers: that doesn't work. But what *can* be taught is a
"sense of awkward" and give them the ability to handle
themselves in potentially very awkward situations if they find
themselves there. There's not always trusted adults around to
turn to. In your case, can you think what you might have done
differently? Do you have any advice you could give your younger
self that would have improved things for you? Is there advice
you could give your younger self that he would have listened to?
