I must call a halt to this thread. It's just getting too silly!
Posted on 12/26/2007 6:19:51 AM PST by Kaslin
Don't send in the clowns
Hospitals are being urged not to decorate children's wards with paintings of clowns in case they upset young patients.
State-funded research has found that in a survey of more than 250 children aged four to 16, all disliked the use of clowns in hospital decor, with even the teenagers seeing them as "scary".
"Given that children and young people do not find hospitals frightening per se - and only express fear about those spaces associated with needles - this finding is somewhat ironic," said Dr Penny Curtis of Sheffield University.
The aim of the Space to Care study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, was to ensure children's needs are part of hospital planning.
Researchers discovered that, although children appreciated colourful walls and ceilings, many found the decor babyish.
The fear of clowns, known as coulrophobia, can cause panic attacks, shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat, sweating, nausea and feelings of dread.
It is one of the 10 most searched-for phobias on Yahoo! search engine.
Earlier this year, organisers of a music festival had to change their fancy dress circus theme after some ticket holders told them they had a phobia of clowns.
The Bestival, held on the Isle of Wight, had asked festival-goers to turn up in curly wigs and large shoes.
Psychologists who have addressed coulrophobia say it usually develops out of some traumatic incident in childhood associated with a clown.
Another factor is the representation of evil clowns in films such as Stephen King's It.
Tony Eldridge, secretary of Clowns International, said their make-up had been toned down in recent years.
Clowns traditionally wore exaggerated make-up so that they could be seen from the back of a theatre or circus, but now that most did children's parties, the make-up did not have to be so loud, he said.
It would be sad if hospitals no longer had pictures of clowns, added Mr Eldridge, who is also a director of the Clown Museum in London.
"We live in a world where everything is banned and it has got rather silly."
I must call a halt to this thread. It's just getting too silly!
I must be in the minority here. I’ve always loved clowns and still do. I certainly dont see what is so scary about them.
Clowns should be nowhere near children, they're evil.
... the Janitor!!
Cases in point:
I can relate to that. I have never liked clowns and have always been scared of them.
I don’t think they are funny. Just my opinion.
This reminds me of a Halloween party I went to a few years ago... one dude showed up dressed as a clown (wasn’t even an “evil” clown)... he walked in the door and a woman already at the party freaked out - we all thought she was going to lose it (look of terror on her face with crying). She left the house and never came back - no telling what happened in her past that caused such a reaction (maybe a hospital clown).
made me laugh :-)
Nice
A friend of mine has the self portrait. He can’t get rid of it. He swears it’s cursed.
Why was this placed in the Extended News sidebar?
Why was this even placed in the Main forum?
Haven’t you learned anything from your last suspension?
This adult doesn’t care for clowns either......they are creepy looking.
Yeah, I think clowns are pretty creepy too. I don’t know why, I’ve never watched/read any horror films about it or anything, and when I was a kid I just thought that they were dumb and ugly. I think that superheroes, animals (not the overly cute-ised ones), or planets and stars would be a better choice.
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