I don't understand why there is such a commotion over these clowns. As if this is anything new.
I've been conditioned from a young age to be afraid to walk alone at night, to watch my back when I'm alone, to be cautious of anyone when it's dark out. I always knew to never follow anyone into the woods, not just clowns. Strangers were strangers, despite a mask on their face. As an adult, and as a female, this feeling of trepidation has always stayed with me. Women in general have always had to be on high alert when walking through the park at night, going through a parking garage, checking the back seat of their car before getting in. We've always been afraid of being hurt or attacked, of being followed or chased, clown or not. This "new" fear, is not new at all. This clown craze changes nothing.
The people under the masks, the ones with actual intentions of harm, are the same threat they've always been, and it hasn't changed just becasue they may be dressed as a clown. People are afraid of the masks. They could be completely dressed in clown attire, but without the mask, it's just not as scary. If we can see their face, it's not as big of a threat. But there have always been criminals and predators who wear masks.
There's a few things to keep in mind when thinking about this clown chaos:
1. There's only been 100 sightings, most of which are in the Northeastern and Southern parts of the US.
2. No one has gotten seriously injured or died from one of these clowns. On the contrary, a 16-year-old boy with a clown mask pushed up onto his head was stabbed to death by a 29-year-old man in Pennsylvania. So if anyone should be afraid of getting hurt by clowns, it's the clowns themselves.
3. This is just mass hysteria. Sociologist Robert Bartholomew at Botany College in New Zealand has studied mass hysteria for decades. He said that social media has aided in the current clown scare.
“Social media plays a pivotal role in spreading these rumor-panics which travel around the globe in the blink of an eye. They are part of a greater moral panic about the fear of strangers and terrorists in an increasingly urban, impersonal, and unpredictable world.”
Social media spread the first sighting of a clown in the woods in South Carolina like wildfire. After that, social media exploded and posted all the stories of clown sightings, most of which were copycats, pranksters, and people with bad senses of humor. This has led the population to believe that the clowns are a bigger matter than they really are.
In contrast, let's remember a few things about the real issue: real life predators.
1. Stalking is an early indicator of other forms of violence. In fact, 76 percent of women murdered by a person they know or an intimate partner were stalked first. Despite this startling statistic, less than one-third of states in the U.S. classify stalking as a felony if it's a first offense.
What this means: You're more likely to be harmed by someone you know than these "killer clowns."
2. In regards to children, 9 percent are kidnapped by a relative, and 3 percent are abducted by a non-family member; however, even then, the kidnapper is someone the child knows. Only 100 kids (less than 1 percent) are taken by complete strangers, and almost half of them come home.
What this means: Child abductions are rare, and when they do happen, your children are more likely to be kidnapped by a family member than by a clown.
3. Three out of four rapes are committed by someone the victim knows. 59 percent are committed by acquaintances, 34 percent by family members, and 7 percent are committed by strangers. Out of 1,000 rapes (that were reported), six rapists are incarcerated. Keep in mind that two-thirds of rape cases are never actually reported.
What this means: You are more likely, male or female, to be sexually assaulted by someone you know, than by a clown.
4. Out of 1,000 robberies, 20 burglars are incarcerated. Out of 1,000 assault and battery crimes, 33 perpetrators are incarcerated.
What this means: You are more likely to be robbed, than be attacked by a clown.
All this clown panic is doing is distracting us from the real issues. Most of the people behind the clown masks have no intentions of violence. They're just jumping on the bandwagon, real-life trolling, and as the band Insane Clown Pose said, "...it's just jackasses being jackasses".
So let's take a step back, breathe, and stop giving these clowns more fuel for their fire. Let's spend more of our efforts and energy on real crime being committed and what we can do to help real victims.
