Some Cuttings From My Scrapbook

As someone who’s interested in current affairs and politics I like to keep my ear to the ground. This unfortunately means that I end up listening to a lot of dog shit.

Yesterday, in my local library, I read my way through as many as ‘a few’ of the more obscure journals and news titles out there and, after literally ‘minutes’ of unstinting scissor-work, have come up with nine news-stories, which you will probably have missed, concerning the ‘disgusting noncing depredations of sick pervy child-perverting sicko paedos‘ (Journal of Periodontology Volume: 86, Number: 12).

Paedos using adult porn to satisfy sick cravings – shocker

The Bootle Champion, 17 February 2015

A paedophile has been convicted for the possession of pornographic images and films involving adult actors.

Paedophile, Terry Robinson, previously convicted for child pornography offences, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment after his computer was found to contain over 15 megabytes of films and images depicting adults engaged in a variety of sexual acts with each other.

Narratives & Perceptions: Paedophiles & Moslems

I’ve noticed lately certain similarities in the ways paedophiles and Moslems are perceived in the popular imagination and portrayed in the media.

I’ve become particularly sensitive to this after having once or twice recently, when discussing the issue with non-paedophile friends, found myself acting in a manner resembling the stereotypical fanatic Moslem – troubling, if not actually ‘scaring’, my friends by the intensity of my convictions.

What I am about to write will be a ‘compare and contrast’ of certain media tropes concerning both groups and as such will be primarily concerned with ‘narrative’ rather than ‘facts’ or ‘truth’. I take what I know about the condition of paedophiles, relate it to how we are perceived, and compare this with what I perceive about the condition of Moslems.

There is an epistemological imbalance here – a lop-sided triangle of knowledge: I can correlate society’s narratives around paedophiles with my objective knowledge of being one, but I can’t do the same for Moslems – I can’t ‘square the triangle’. I am aware of how I perceive moslems (and am also aware of just how subjective and contingent my perceptions are), but I have little idea as to what really goes on in the minds of moslems.

Moreover any impressions I have are problematic because the word ‘moslem’ covers such a huge diversity of attitudes, cultures and beliefs and, because so much of the narrative about Moslems turns around notions of ‘deceit’ and ‘deception’ (as does, of course, the narrative around paedophiles).

Re-blog of “Nakedness of children” by B J Muirhead

Whilst just now reading this essay I had that pleasurable and heady experience of seeing clearly articulated a host of half-intuitions and suspicions, things I didn’t know I knew, things which had till now lay in my mind ‘unhatched’ .

B. J. Muirhead has written an important essay, and I recommend it to anyone interested in Art, ‘the nude’, child sexuality and ‘paedo-hysteria’. There is much that is illuminating, challenging and convincing here, and, as far as I’m concerned, BJMuirhead nails the issue of child nudity in Art. And when one nails ‘Art’, one also nails ‘Culture’ and, by extension, ‘Society’. No mean feat.

This is not an easy essay – I found it it required concentration, I am also sure that this is the kind of essay that can be fruitfully reread several times. BJMuirhead’s clarity comes from his articulating ideas which our culture has, because of the conceptual poverty it enforces round the subject of child sexuality, rendered virtually inarticulable: we are as well furnished with the tools for thinking about child sexuality as are the natives of a culturally isolated tropical island for constructing an igloo.

I just hope that BJ doesn’t (as he hints he might do in his introduction), stop writing about “art, children, “paedophilia” and adult-child sexual relations”.

bjmuirhead

I completely forgot that one has to join academia.edu to read articles and papers on that site. I have decided, therefore, to post the text of this short essay here as well, and will do so with any future articles I may write and publish. If, on the other hand, you want a pdf of the work, then you will have to go there and join in order to download it.

I have to say, however, that I am not sure just how much further work there will be. I am feeling as though I need a change of direction (again), and I have said nearly everything I want to say about art, children, “paedophilia” and adult-child sexual relations. I will, however, make a post about childhood sex arising out of comments made by one reader, though that will be a little way away as yet. In any event, for…

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It’ll soon be Consentinga̶d̶u̶l̶t̶s̶humans’s first half-anniversary.

In that time I’ve published 44 posts, received 14,830 views, 4,032 visits and 546 comments. It’s been exhilarating, stimulating and challenging.

It’s also been quite exhausting.

Like the kid who sets off on a cross-country race as if it were a sprint, I’m a bit prone to over-enthusiasm: I like to throw myself into things thoughtlessly and willy-nilly and then sort out the fine details once I’ve made a mess.

I published some 12 post in my first couple of weeks blogging. I remember how back then I’d wake up early in the morning just bursting to get to my computer and post on some subject that it seemed essential that the world should know about.

Ahh, the reckless innocence of youth!

I’ve gradually slowed down to a rhythm of publishing one post per week, but the posts seem to be getting longer, and harder to research and write – and some recent posts have obtruded into my life much as would a full-time job. If I’m not exactly feeling ‘burnt-out’ but maybe some of my more papery edges are getting a little ‘singed’.

Which is a long-winded way of saying that I’m going to take off a month or so from blogging to re-charge my batteries, pursue some projects that are not paedo-related and to sort out some real-life business that needs sorting out.

When I return I’ll be posting at the more manageable rate of once a fortnight.

So, see you then my friends and comrades – and if I get time I’ll send you a postcard.

 

Found on Youtube – Six Films And Something Different

During the 60s, 70s and 80s the European film industry managed to produce some films about children and childhood of incomparable depth and beauty.

I’m not sure why. Maybe this was a period where our ideas about childhood were changing or subject to competing narratives, a period when ‘childhood’ mattered. Or maybe it was a period when the public was more receptive to subtle, unspectacular cinema than it is nowadays.

In these films there is none of the condescension towards children that is all too common today: these children do not enact a label (victim, cute, knowing, precocious, innocent, funny) as children so often do in contemporary films, they are not defined purely in terms of their relationships with adults.

These films simply take children seriously. The children in these films are complex enough to be mysterious, morally ambiguous; they leave us puzzled and intrigued. Their characters are, like a good poem, open-ended.

‘Consent’ Without ‘The Age of Consent’

“When and if we get there, the biggest obstacle we will face is how we will go about legally discerning what is and is not a consenting relationship? How will we be able to tell when a relationship is abusive or not? How will we know if a child is being threatened or pressured into saying they consented? Children can easily be manipulated by adults and it can be difficult to detect.”

The above is part of a comment left by Josh in response to the blog ‘Rationalization – Can Paedophiles Argue For Children’s Sexual Rights?‘.

When replying to Josh’s comment it soon became clear that it wouldn’t be possible with only a comment’s-worth of time, space and trouble to do justice to the issues he raises. And, to be honest, I’ve never felt sufficiently optimistic about the prospect for children and Kind folk to feel much need to think about the nuts and bolts of how society could work without the age of consent. So it’s with no little trepidation that I put finger-tip to keyboard…

Paedo Humour – Fourth Installment

It’s been a while since I’ve rummaged round in the joke barrel and, what with the mid-winter gloom and the rather serious tone of recent posts, I thought a little light-relief might be in order.

I’ve steered clear of anything that is disrespectful to children, or which is informed with negative, inaccurate ideas about paedophiles. A couple of these, however, are a little darker and less innocent than in the previous three installments (which you can read here, here & here). This may be something to do with my state of mind, or because, if the bottom of the barrel hasn’t quite been reached, I’ve been maybe having to lean in a little deeper to fish the decent ones out.

So take the phone off the hook, pour yourself a glass of wine, turn your best sofa to the log-fire, sit your favourite small child on your lap and together enjoy this selection of the (fourth-)best paedo jokes out there.

(Warning: some of these jokes contain strong language and may not be suitable for small children*)

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I totally smashed the world record today for holding your breath under water – 8 minutes 48 seconds.
It all started when the small girl at the swimming pool said to her father, “that’s the man there Daddy!”

Rationalization – Can Paedophiles Argue For Children’s Sexual Rights?

Rationalization:

“… a rational bolstering up of a belief held on irrational grounds […] When our desires lead us to believe something, our minds construct a rational set of reasons for supposing that belief to be true. The belief does not, however, follow from the reasons; the reasons follow from the belief.”
‘Straight & Crooked Thinking’ – R.H. Thouless

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The accusation of ‘rationalization’ is frequently levelled against paedophiles advocating children’s sexual rights. Such accusations can be explicit:

“[G]o to one of the pro-contacter boards and read the posts of the people there who are arguing for legalization of adult-child sex. It is chock full of just these kinds of rationalizations.“
Todd Nickerson

or implied:

“Because of [..] the obvious selfish nature of the pro-contacters’ ultimate goal“
Todd Nickerson

An accusation of rationalization can leave you feeling that your opponent has a ‘get out of jail free card’

Three Essential Paedo-Reads: “Paedophilia: the Radical Case” by Tom O’Carroll

My first year at university wasn’t an easy one – I’d made the mistake of being as open about my sexuality with my new friends on campus as I had been with my old friends from the sixth-form, who had been tolerant of, and amused by, my sexuality.

On this isolated campus it was possible to go for months only ever seeing students and teachers. So once a week I’d go to sing in the choir and steal glances at a blonde girl of about 11, the daughter of one of the music lecturers, who would sit in the front row of the sopranos.

She’d only be some ten rows diagonally across the hall in front of where I would croak my way through Handel’s Messiah, but she could have been ten miles away for all that she ever noticed my existence. Yet, I’d look forwards to choir practice just for an occasional glimpse of this angel – the only child I’d see all week.

I found myself increasingly isolated and lonely, and troubled by my sexuality.

Road-Maps to a Kinder World – Part Two

Aethenic

The age-old tradition of scapegoating is now as alive as it has ever been. And we are IT, i.e. the scapegoat of choice.

The fear of real-life retribution keeps us from coming out and getting together to try to set things right.

It is, I think, the only way forward. Coming out, whether singly or in large or small groups, and standing up for what is true. And never ever making concessions.

There is absolutely nothing morally wrong with Paedophilia and in fact it can be shown to be a positive influence on children.

But there are many impostors everywhere who would drag us down. I believe that true Paedophilia is a real but alas not very common phenomenon.

For every Paedophile there are perhaps ten child fetishists who do not feel any love for children.

We have a lot to break through. But we must start somewhere, somehow.
Being brave in the face of overwhelming oppositions is the only way forward.

Road-Maps to a Kinder World – Part One

On December the 19th I posted the following

“Are you a regular reader of ConsentingAdultsHumans? What are your thoughts about the way forward for paedophiles and the children they love?

Do you believe there is any hope for us? or are we doomed to perpetual hate and stigma? What future should we aim for?

Most importantly – how do we achieve that future? What should we not be doing? What have we done right in the past and what have we done wrong?

I invite you, kind (or, indeed, un-‘kind’) reader, to submit between 400 and 600 words sharing your thoughts on the right way forward for our love and our community.”

I have received seven responses so far and, adding my own 600 words, I think that this makes for far too long a post. So I’m going to publish it in two parts.

The second part should go on-line in three or four days. I hope that this will give readers more time to give proper attention to each contributor’s ideas.

Moreover, as I type there’s still the space in part two for another 500 – 600 words – so it’s not too late for you to dispense your wisdom!

And before I let the kind reader loose on the cornucopia of wit and wisdom below, I’d just like to express my gratitude to all who have given their time, effort and insight in writing these contributions.

(I have arranged the contributions in the alphabetical order of their authors’ names. Those received during the last day or two will appear in the second part.)

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bjmuirhead

I was going to write out a carefully constructed piece saying what I think needs to be the case, but then I changed my mind. So, just a couple of random thoughts that will not surprise you, in as much as you have read many of my ideas already.

Jealousy (a nightmare)

© Lalla Porter. All rights reserved.

(with due apology, if you should ever come to read this)

 

The girl must have come on to Josh, because on our second morning the boy had just come straight out and asked me if I had a condom he could use. My first reaction had been: at his age, what did he even need a condom for? Then it occurred to me that this was the world I’d dreamt of all those decades ago. Then finally ‘fuck! that cocky little bastard, as if a boy of – what? Eight? Nine? – could fill one of my condoms’.