From the child abuse inquiry of the British government (1) (something Thatcher knew) to the child sexual abuse scandal of the Catholic Church (2), the issue is already on our hands: How can we protect the children from assaults like this?
Well, recently a conference held by the University of Cambridge gave the “solution”: Do nothing! Because… pedophilia is something natural!!
Yes, you read correctly.
“Paedophilic interest is natural and normal for human males,” said the presentation. “At least a sizable minority of normal males would like to have sex with children … Normal males are aroused by children”.
Some yellowing tract from the Seventies or early Eighties, era of abusive celebrities and the infamous PIE, the Paedophile Information Exchange? No. Anonymous commenters on some underground website? No again. The statement that paedophilia is “natural and normal” was made not three decades ago but last July. It was made not in private but as one of the central claims of an academic presentation delivered, at the invitation of the organisers, to many of the key experts in the field at a conference held by the University of Cambridge.
Other presentations included “Liberating the paedophile: a discursive analysis”, and “Danger and difference: the stakes of hebephilia”. (3)
One of the attendees and enthusiastic participant from the floor, was one Tom O’Carroll, a multiple child sex offender, long-time campaigner for the legalisation of sex with children and former head of the Paedophile Information Exchange (what is THAT, you might ask…). “Wonderful!” he wrote on his blog afterwards. “It was a rare few days when I could feel relatively popular!”. (3)
And this is not the only case of such a blatant defence of pedophilia.
Ken Plummer is emeritus professor of sociology at Essex University, where he has an office and teaches courses, the most recent scheduled for last month. “The isolation, secrecy, guilt and anguish of many paedophiles”, he wrote in Perspectives on Paedophilia (what is THAT, you might ask…), “are not intrinsic to the phenomen[on] but are derived from the extreme social repression placed on minorities” … “Paedophiles are told they are the seducers and rapists of children; they know their experiences are often loving and tender ones. They are told that children are pure and innocent, devoid of sexuality; they know both from their own experiences of childhood and from the children they meet that this is not the case”. (!) (3)
What is wrong with us? How have we turned into this path? Can just a change in laws (4) prove effective? I am afraid not. We are down a dangerous slope and it is difficult to stop and turn back unless we hit a wall on our way down.
We name other eras as “dark” but it is we who actually live in the darkest era of them all. We have no compass – either in science or in life. We are lost with no where to go. We have flashlights instead of candles, but we do not know where to turn it to…
Just knowing isn’t good enough anymore.
Just analyzing data isn’t good enough anymore.
Just researching isn’t good enough anymore.
There was a time when people were righteous and yet illiterate.
We now have to strive to get to that level again…
