Quote:
Originally Posted by DanaC
Sean: I have to disagree with your analysis of the societal nature of the harm ... However lovingly that relationship is forged (if we hypothetically place ourselves into a society which does not deem it intrinsically wrong) the power difference between an adult and a child is vast. ... Emotional maturity is an essential component of understanding one's sexual self, and without emotional maturity a person has less understanding of what they want/need, and what they don't want/need. ...
That said, I don't see anything 'evil' in being attracted to children. I do think society's red line on acting on that attraction sexually is well placed tho:P
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I can sympathise with what you're saying DanaC, and I realise it seems intuitive, but much of it won't stand close scrutiny.
It's not something I really want to get into in depth becos it isn't really important to me. However harmless adult/child sex might be in the absence of social factors, there is no such thing as an absence of social factors, and current attitudes are unlikely to change in my lifetime. I'm more interested in not having to hide or be ashamed of my orientation, and in having people understand and accept me. Justifying sex with children is unlikely to contribute to that goal.
That said, sexual conduct between adults and juveniles has been elevated in numerous cultures and is common in many other species. There's no evidence that it is intrinsically harmful. Your power analysis (which incidentally derives from Foucault, who was an advocate of paedophilia) applies equally to the power imbalance between the state and the 'sex offender'. It also ignores the power imbalance which forces the child to attend school, where he is bullied and bored, and church, where he is indoctrinated. If the child's body is so inviolate, why do we allow circumcision? If 'emotional maturity' is necessary to participate in sexual pleasure, does this mean sex between children is harmful?
Its never so simple as you think.
Given all that, I think there
are psychological risks for children in being sexually involved with adults. I think the childhood tasks of learning boundaries and identity formation can be disrupted by intense kinds of intimacy. I also think an adult is always in a sense 'in loco parentis' in any relationship with a child, and I think there is a role conflict and an incestuous component to any romantic involvement.
The difference is, I don't see these as absolute and definitive factors, they are simply things that need to be considered. I would certainly say there are good reasons why adult/child sex is forbidden in our culture, but there is no good reason for the kind of anaphylactic hyperbole displayed by TheMercenary. Children have always held an erotic appeal for adults. That appeal isn't limited to paedophiles. We need to be more realistic about it, because the current ideology of the sanctified child, pristine as an alter cloth and fragile as a damselfly, is harming our culture and harming children. It's also turning me and people like me into scapegoats for the feelings that almost everybody has and failures almost everybody is guilty of. Such is the role of the scapegoat.