The anti-smacking lobby concentrates on persuading parents not to smack, and the government to prohibit smacking by law. There is much evidence that smacking children is unnecessary and dangerous, and yet smacking continues to be widely practised and accepted in Britain. Our literature review found two underlying reasons for this contradiction: beliefs that children are pre-human becomings rather than real human beings, and support for ‘parents rights’ over children’s human rights. We suggest that the anti-smacking lobby’s important work will have limited effect until it tackles these two issues
