CARAVANNERS are in a tizz over children using caravan park toilets
meant for the opposite sex.
Their concern comes as the number of child sex assaults in Australia
continue to rise.
According to Adults Surviving Child Abuse, one in three girls and one in
six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.
While caravan parks are generally considered safe places for children,
there have been cases of pedophiles at work.
A 43-year-old man was charged in NSW after indecently assaulting a
seven-year-old boy in the toilets of a NSW caravan park.
In another case, a 47-year-old serial sex offender was jailed after
serious sexual assaults on a girl at a Victorian caravan park.
Kyle
a victim
RADIO and TV personality Kyle
Sandilands has revealed how, as a young child, he was the victim of
a sex pervert while on a caravanning holiday in Queensland. He
recently told listeners to his Sydney radio breakfast show about his
terrifying ordeal, which happened during a family holiday at a
caravan park on Bribie Island. He claimed a man exposed himself,
made lewd comments and invited him back to his caravan to watch a
pornographic movie. Kyle dashed to his own caravan but did not tell
his mother until some years later. |
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And depraved pedophile Brett Cowan, in jail for murdering Sunshine State
schoolboy Daniel Morcombe, was a frequent caravan park dweller.
Many parents are now unhappy about their children using caravan park
showers and toilets unaccompanied. And this is where the problem has
arisen ... the task is left mainly to mothers.
The dilemma of children using the wrong toilets at holiday parks has been
raised on Australia's biggest online
caravanning forum.
One member revealed that his "pet hate" was the continual use of female
showers and toilets by women for their sons.
On many occasions older unaccompanied boys had been asked to leave, he
said.
Another member commented: "My wife gets very annoyed when the young lads
are standing there with wide eyes like dinner plates and heads swivelling
around like sideshow clowns.
"She and my daughter both feel intimidated and dare I say, so would most
of the younger females."
Several caravanners said they would never allow young boys to use the male
toilets while alone.
"I can give you plenty of examples why," wrote one.
Another forumite believed there were no no hard or fast answers to the
problem.
"What I find sad is that we as a society have to be concerned/fearful for
our children in this day and age," he said.
"As a young tacker we used to caravan at the old Valla Park at Nambucca
Heads quite often and my parents had no need of fear letting us wander the
park and use the facilities on our own.
"Perhaps six years and under I can understand, but I was only around seven
or eight when we first went there.
"Even using public facilities when out and about for family outings
required no adult supervision for myself.
"Such a shame that our society has denigrated to living in fear of
predators of the human kind."
One member suggested making women's toilets unisex "as long as all
delicate areas can be rendered private".
"I have to say my memory of young males of a certain age is such that they
are not really very trustworthy when it comes to respecting privacy and
decency, so an upper age limit should be imposed," he wrote.
Another thought it was "bad enough" taking his five-year-old grandson to
the playground.
"I can imagine the looks if I walked into a gents' toilet with him, so my
wife takes him to the ladies."