I blame this transition to overprotection on Mean World Syndrome[0]. Our media picks up alarming stories and amplifies them in a way that wasn't happening before.
I concur. It's not just children, women are afraid to walk alone at night, when men are way more likely than women to incur violent attack from strangers.
Women and children are almost always preyed upon by people who know them, not strangers.
Women and children are almost always preyed upon by people who know them, not strangers.