bobover3 (imported) wrote: Fri Apr 09, 2010 9:38 pm
When I was 19, I was a camp counsellor for a group of 9-year-old boys. 9-year-olds have tiny button genitals and no pubic hair. They're pre-sexual. They don't talk about sex, and have little or no interest in it, even though they're aware that it's an adult preoccupation. I lived with these kids 24 hours a day for a summer, and that's what they're like.
For an older person to compel their participation in any sort of sexual behavior is unavoidably exploitative, because they're ignorant and naive about sex. They don't know what they like or dislike, what people do, or what their sexual identity might be, so they can't have defensible preferences. They're still developing a self-concept. All this makes them pliable and submissive in the face of respected elders. Remember that children are used to obeying adults and accepting instruction from them. Whether or not one chooses to use the feminists' "power" analysis, children have little ability to resist adults who want to have sex with them, especially adults in positions of authority. For this reason, any such sex is presumptively immoral, because children may submit, but they can't truly be said to consent.
That summer, there was a rabbi at the camp who had a "special interest" in one of the boys I cared for, a good looking kid. This rabbi started coming into our cabin silently and late at night. He stood over the sleeping boy, murmuring and caressing his face. My hair stood on end when I saw this, and I asked him to leave. When he kept coming back, I reported his behavior to the camp owner. He claimed to be hypnotizing the boy as a form of psychotherapy. I never heard of anyone being hypnotized after they were already asleep. The rabbi had to leave the camp, but that's all.
I know of similar instances. My 9th grade science teacher worked as a summer camp counsellor, and several boys said he fondled them in their beds. No one said anything because kids back then couldn't even imagine challenging or reproaching an adult teacher. It's that childish submission and silence before adults that makes sex with children an abuse. Kids often feel they can't talk back. It's only years later that they have the strength to speak out.
StefanIsMe mentions that he doesn't act on his feelings. That makes him a respectable adult. No one can be blamed for their emotions, but we're all accountable for what we do. If he harms no one, then I've no quarrel with him. Were I accountable for my fantasy life, I'd have been locked up long ago. That's probably true for most of us. But there's an essential difference between the unleashed id of our dreams, and what we actually do.
As for child pornography, children must be led to sexual behavior and poses for such pictures to be taken. Whoever does this abuses those children. Buying and sharing such pictures makes a market for them, which encourages their production, and the further abuse of children.
The people who rationalize their pedophilia by calling it a high-minded expression of their love and appreciation for children are indulging in nauseating hypocrisy and self-deception. If they really loved children, they wouldn't try to yank them from childish concerns into the alien adult world of sex.
