Clowns: ugh! Most of my life I've hated and feared these odious creatures. Rewind to 1958, the Santa Claus parade in Toronto. A 4-year-old Me stood with my grandmother watching the parade go by, when suddenly a passing clown bent towards me, his vicious leering face just inches away from mine, and yelled out something like "Bleeahh!" as he went by. The psychological damage is with me to this day -- clowns really, really creep me out. Fast forward to today, and the truth about clowns is coming out -- I'm not the only one with Clownaphobia:
"The news that will no doubt have clowns shedding tears was revealed in a poll of youngsters by researchers from the University of Sheffield who were examining how to improve the decor of hospital children's wards.The study, reported in the Nursing Standard magazine, found all the 250 patients aged between four and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary.
"As adults we make assumptions about what works for children," said Penny Curtis, a senior lecturer in research at the university.
"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable.""
"Universally disliked". I feel so validated.
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