I've only been in the society a few years and I've definitely heard stories of this kind of concern, but they are few and far - between and usually end with "and that's why they're not allowed in anymore".

Perhaps it is true only of our Barony, but we are INCREDIBLY protective of our kids. They never don't have a buddy with them, even to run to the port-o-let 40 feet away. They check in with their parents and/or their supervising adult. At Pennsic last year, an unknown pre-teen wandered into camp and instantly, the flirty and inappropriate conversation stopped and one of the camp moms helped her find her way back to her camp.

And this extends beyond children and teens. Like with any large group, there will be some creeps and some awkwardness. Many of us are comfortable in removing ourselves from the situation and making the offender know that we won't be tolerating this any more. There's an individual in our group that annoys and discomforts me - I informed our seneschal, Baron, and Baroness of the interaction. He is someone who creeps out many girls, so they weren't surprised, and were glad to have details. They made sure I wasn't more than annoyed, and promised to keep an eye on the situation. We're all very good at sensing when someone is uncomfortable and helping to extract them from the situation.

As to whether the fighters (or anyone) would intervene in the case of harassment or assault - I guarantee you they would. I have seen domestic disturbances broken up, I have seen inappropriate physical teasing firmly stopped.

We'll always have rough elements, but we have such wonderful examples of courtesy and bravery and love too. I hope everyone's experiences only get better.