Sexism是性別歧視，racism是種族歧視，而心理分析家Elisabeth Young-Bruehl就認為社會對兒童作為一個群組存在根深蒂固的歧視，這是兒童受到不公平對待和虐待的主因，必須正視。她把對兒童的歧視稱為"childism"。
棍棒底下出孝子
所有歧視背後都是prejudice(偏見)。所以要了解為什麼成人會做出傷害孩子的行為，就先要明白背後的偏見︰
We cannot understand the acts that harm children unless we understand the prejudices that underlie and, in the actor's mind, legitimize them.
Legitimize解使合法。她在Childism: Confronting Prejudice Against Children指出，這些偏見讓虐兒者覺得他們的行為是合法的。
The prevailing images or stereotypes(典型) of children that individual adults and societies use to rationalize(合理化) their feelings towards them are, taken together, their childism.
那這用來開脫childism的偏見是什麼？
Consider the following sentiments(情緒), which are probably uttered(說出來) every day without thought in the United States: "Kids are just wild unless you keep them in line, and that includes hitting them"; "If you don't smack(打) them, they don't get tamed(馴服)"; and the time-honored "Spare the rod and spoil the child."
"Spare the rod and spoil the child"(孩子不打就會寵壞)，這種說法東西方都有。棒下出孝子，嚴師出高徒”這句話所代表的就是同樣的想法。若社會普遍流行這種想法，虐待孩子就是順理成章、合情合理。
These viewpoints are childist: they construct children as wild animals that should be physically controlled - they must be broken or they will not be obedient, useful possessions.
(這些說法是歧視︰因為他們把孩子看作野獸，不用暴力對待，不打垮他們的意志，他們就不會就範，乖乖的成為聽話、有用的擁有物。)
體罰兩面睇
當然，並非所有體罰都是歧視和虐待的。責罰孩子教他不要亂跑到馬路上是一回事，打他令他馴服又是另一回事；後者就是childism的表現。
The parent who hits a child in order to protect it from danger - to teach the child not to run into the road, for example, is doing something very different from the one who disciplines(懲戒) the child in order to break(打擊) him or her; this discipline is rather a violent contest of wills, resembling(類似) the discipline that used to be thought necessary for animal trainers or cowboys but is now recognized as brutality(暴虐行為).
她認為除非社會承認對兒童存有偏見，明白偏見是什麼，否則childism不會消除。但現今美國經濟正處於水深火熱之中，一時三刻情況似乎都不會有重大轉變︰
The situation is not likely to improve as America deals with a new economic crisis. Further escalation(升級) in childism is likely unless the new leadership generation acknowledges that prejudice against children is a social reality as well as a feature of individual psychology(心理) and pathology(病理).
文︰子慧
