Touch, Fear, and Child Protection: Immoral Panic and Immoral Crusade

Abstract

This contrarian article revisits the concept of moral panic as applied by the author in previous writing on intergenerational touch, child abuse, and child protection, in terms of its current utility in analysing related policy and practice. Engagement in the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Seminar Series, Revisiting Moral Panics prompted a reconsideration of the author's deployment of the concept, supported by some historic and more recent theoretical debates. To this end the article: refers to the author's research focusing on touch in various in loco parentis contexts; revisits various approaches to moral panic to inform current understanding; and considers the applicability in related contexts of focusing on the notion of ‘crusade’ rather than on ‘panic’. Finally the paper explores the author's current conception and understanding of these phenomena, prompting an argument that not only is the notion of ‘panic’ inadequate, but the use of ‘moral’ is also questionable; suggesting the label ‘immoral’ to be more appropriate.