I post on a mom message board and all the responses I got accused this man of being a pedophile.
My 7 year old daughter is in school with another little girl whose dad I am friendly with. The dad, who is a very sweet man, made a comment to me that he did not think that putting leggings on little girls (as pants) was appropriate. Everybody on the mom forum had a field day and said that I am befriending a dirty pedofile and that I was naive.
The moms said that if a man saw something wrong with leggings then there is simething wrong with him.
Can somebody tell me if there something inherently wrong with his comment?
Hi, Life to Christ
I am Bill . . . nice to see you and meet you . . . God bless you
I notice you have the "Catholic" logo. If you are sharing among Catholic moms, may be there is some pedophilia-phobia going on there, which has people over-think and mis-react. And you mark yourself as "talkative" > may be you can let things talk too much in your mind. Ones can think and talk too hastily.
Yes, there are pedophile predators who are married, possibly in order to maintain a "supply" of ones they can use. So, it is needed, that we become able to tell the difference. As we have tragically seen, even seminary trained and years-experienced religious leaders have not been able to tell the difference.
But if we make sure with God . . . any of us can tell the difference. Those mothers possibly were able to "gang" together, without making any real evaluation > this is how people of religious groups can be > just copy-catting each other, going along with whoever the leader or ringleader is. So, such mothers could be at high risk of being fooled as a group by a real predator.
My opinion is that if a man were a pedophile, he could tend to welcome children wearing clothing which would leave their legs showing, and clothing which would "imitate" how hot women dress. To my knowledge, there are mothers who dress their children in ways that are poetic with how older women dress in order to attract attention. They do this intentionally. But other mothers may not be trying to dress their kids in a "sexual" way, but they are copy-catting what others have made popular.
I suspect that there are pedophile people behind the scenes of child fashion and how children are presented in movies and on TV. And surely some mom in a group could be a ringleader promoting scanty dress codes so she can eyeball other mothers' children. And she could accuse that man of what she is really guilty of, herself!
So, "Test all things; hold fast what is good." (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
Do not just conform and go along with whoever acts like he or she is the big shot.
If mothers attacked this man, possibly they are in denial about how they have been dressing their kids.
But . . . while there are pedophiles who would welcome seeing children barely dressed, I understand there can be other pedophiles who can feel guilt and shame and therefore not feel right about being allowed to look at a lightly dressed child; and so a guilty feeling pedophile might encourage modest dress.
So, each person is unique. Only God knows. Make sure with God. Have faith, trust our Father to personally communicate with you.
There are predators, by the way, who have claimed their victims were acting "seductively". Well, a little child might be copy-catting how she saw a woman acting with a man. The child, of course, would not have a clue what it meant. But an evil person can see things the way he wants them to be, welcoming the child's behavior as an excuse. And a predator can blend in to seem the same as everyday people. Some number of religious people use their religious acting as their own camouflage, and a predator can put on the same act so they trust him.
So, Jesus says, "'Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.'" (John 7:24)
Ones have evaluated pastoral candidates by their acting and talking, and so predators have put on the act they know religious leaders are looking for, and they have been able to pass themselves off to be even pastors . . . but only because ones of religious culture were judging them by superficial standards which any actor can put on.
So, if these women were making such a conclusion only by what is showing, they are at risk of fooling themselves into trusting such an evil person and not knowing the difference!
But Jesus takes care of His sheep > John 10:1-30 > even His "sheep" (not only His leaders) can tell the difference. A sheep can
smell if someone is really living God's love or putting on a show.