About in the same timeline, we had an older guy in our town when I was growing up that got his jollies fondling little boys' junk through their pants. Everybody knew the guy, he worked at a local hardware store. His wife also worked for a local merchant, so they weren't like big wigs in the community. I don't know how many victims he had, but I know it was considerable. Seems enough kids had experienced it, that it was an inside joke among us and we called him Homo Hal. No one ever did anything, no one ever reported him. Maybe the adults knew and figured it was pretty harmless as long as it didn't go further? Maybe the kids never said anything.
But yeah, that kind of thing wasn't often pursued, we didn't get any stranger-danger lectures. This shit didn't happen, not the bad stuff. we lived in Mayberry, Texas. You have to remember this was about the time Whitman climbed the Tower. That was unimaginable too to that society.
Personally, I went through a quick encounter being accosted by him in the grocery store. Lasted maybe 30 seconds and all I could think was "what in the world is he doing?" I mean this guy was older and everyone liked him, so it was confusing to me at like 6 if he was doing something wrong, and if I was right to stop him or not. Before I could act, he was done and walking off after patting me on the head like nothing had happened, me holding that dozen eggs.
But I don't think it had a lasting effect on me other than the oddity of the moment and the memory. But each kid is different.
So yeah, at least in our little corner of Texas, things were different. So the question to me is, are we better off or worse when you consider all things that have evolved or regressed?