Ruth Archer:
The other thing to remember is that this is not a new situation, and I don't think there are any studies to demonstrate that actual ratios of paedophiles has shot up - our awareness of it has simply increased. So the danger is no greater than when we were kids, and as with all dangers, it needs to be kept in perspective.

That's something I've pondered as well. I recall that a gang of us - aged about 14-16 - would meet in a coffee bar after school (I'm talking about 1960 here). There was a well-known character, a much older man, who was known to us all as someone to be avoided. He used to sidle up to us (in his brown raincoat!) while we were chatting and smoking at the table and make some suggestive remark. Did we report him to the police? Run home to our parents? Run in fear? Oddly enough - no - we just told him to f**k off, and that's what he did! However, his behaviour and ours might have been very different if we'd been alone and not in such a public environment...