5 Silly Moral Panics That Worry Parents (Unnecessarily)

If there's one thing that we parents do consistently, it's worry. Since the dawn of parenthood itself, we have tended to interpret rumors and myths as signs that our children are in grave danger, and that society as we know it is threatening to collapse. For the last several decades, there have been waves of moral panics from parents who believe, whole-heartedly, that benign or non-existent fads are harming our children. In every case, these panics have been baseless. Here are a few of the biggest moral panics to strike American parents in recent decades.

1. People are Making Drugs for Kids

To some parents, drug dealers lurk around on street corners, hoping to serve some expensive, dangerous drug to an unsuspecting child. I've never understood what these imaginary drug-dealers' motives are for such actions, but the idea is rampant. According to a common moral panic, drug dealers sell products like strawberry-flavored meth, PCP-laced lollipops, and kids' tattoos loaded with LSD. Although these products do exist, they are made and sold to adults aiming to avoid the foul taste or the suspicious appearance of psychoactive drugs.

2. Role-Playing Games Lead to Cults, Suicide

Since the internet has made RPGs more mainstream, moral panics about tabletop games such as Dungeons and Dragons have become less significant. However, fears about fantasy games are still alive and well in some strictly religious groups. I have known several teenagers-- yes, even in 2012-- whose parents forbid role-playing games because of the completely false belief that they are gateways to satanic cults, murder, and suicide.

3. Harry Potter Leads Kids to the Occult 
This trend spiked during the Ots, when Harry Potter was the prevailing name in children's literature. Today, the Harry Potter series of books are still tremendously important to tweens and young teens-- and, despite a decade and a half of "Satanic" influence, there is no evidence that the books have led to a spike in occultism among fans. Still, many a fundamentalist family maintains that fantasy stories are detrimental to our kids' well-being.

4. Your Daughter's Bracelets Mean She's a Harlot

Colorful bracelets, and the idea that they have hidden meanings, have always been popular among kids. Friendship bracelets, slap-bracelets, jelly bracelets, WWJD bracelets, Power Beads and SillyBandz have all made their rounds through middle schools. And with each wave of this decades-old trend comes a misconception among parents: that the colors of the bracelets secretly signal that a girl is sexually available for specific favors. Although giggly rumors about the bracelets have certainly made their way around, kids do not-- and have never-- made a habit of signaling sex with colorful bracelets.

5. Girls are Giving Away Oral Sex at "Rainbow Parties" 
This moral panic is based in an urban legend unintentionally spread by Oprah in 2005. According to the rumor, which persists years after the inaccurate reporting, "Rainbow Parties" are popular among teenage girls, who wear different shades of lipstick and then take turns making "rainbows" on the phalluses of boys. No such party has ever happened, but it has enough shock appeal to persist-- and to worry the heck out of unnecessarily concerned parents.

6. Kids Today are Having Tons of Unprotected Sex

Almost every generation of parents has believed this, and every single one of them has been wrong. For today's teens, it's demonstrably untrue. The rates of birth control and condom use among teens is well on the rise, with eight out of ten teen boys using condoms during their first sexual experiences. Most teens have also had far fewer sexual partners, and at a far later age, than parents tend to assume. For the most part, these moral panics have no basis in reality. Our kids, as it turns out, are doing just fine.