A few years ago the issue of same-sex marriage hit front pages, prompting many to argue that expanding the definition of marriage would prove a slippery slope. Conservatives warned that there would be no reason to prevent threesomes, foursomes, or more from marrying legally. Liberals, after a Massachusetts court ruling that favored same-sex marriage, moved beyond homosexuality to discuss the plight of transgendered people.
The slope is slippery, yes — but it’s not moving greatly in the direction of either menage a troi or sex change. The very next sexual standard we’re hammering away at is that of age.
Consider the number of recent high-profile cases of men having sex with young children. John Evander Couey. Warren Jeffs. Phillip Distasio. John Mark Karr. For every pedophile caught and prosecuted there are most likely dozens more avoiding the reach of justice.
Consider further that most of these men insist that sex with children should be morally and socially acceptable. Warren Jeffs presided over the forced marriages of young girls to older men. John Mark Karr, who claimed to have had sex with six-year-old JonBenet Ramsey, affirmed his love for her: “JonBenet, my love, my life. I love you and shall forever love you. I pray that you can hear my voice calling out to you from my darkness” (article). Phillip Distasio proclaimed in open court: “I’m a pedophile. I’ve been a pedophile for 20 years. The only reason I’m charged with rape is that no one believes a child can consent to sex. The role of my ministry is to get these cases out of the courtrooms” (article).
Five years ago such statements never hit the mainstream media. Now they’re in the news regularly.
Twenty years ago arguments promoting same-sex marriage never hit the mainstream media. Now same-sex unions are legal in numerous countries and US states.
Is it any wonder what the future holds concerning adults having sex with children?
September 4, 2006 at 4:54 pm
I can see the first step taken by pedophiles. Don’t go for legality between 45 year old men and 6 year old boys, go for legality of 19 year old men with 17 year old girls, then keep working the boundries. After all. I was 18 when I was dating my 16 year old girlfreind (now my wife). Technically, my wifes parents could of had me arrested when she got pregnant.
This small two year difference will be the starting point for pedophiles. Then if not a 18 male and 16 female, why not an 18 year old male and a 16 year old male. Then if thats ok why not a 20 year old male and a 15 year old male and so on.
September 5, 2006 at 7:30 pm
please….please ….please do not try to blur two completely different subjects to prove a point or to make an argument. your discussion might lead a person to believe that you are trying to make the two subjects the same. homosexuality has absolutely nothing to do with pedophillia.
jb
September 5, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Understood. I’ll revise this post to indicate that I don’t believe they’re equivalent. What I was attempting to highlight here was the way social mores change. It begins with a few bold individuals who claim liberty to behave in a way usually frowned upon.
Eighteen is, after all, an arbitrary number, as evidenced by the fact that some states allow people to marry at earlier ages (at least 16, if not earlier). And those earlier ages are, after all, arbitrary numbers. If, as in so many other spheres of life, we are encouraged to take nature as our model, then the age of sexuality would be extremely low (at least the age of puberty, if not earlier). The naturalistic worldview simply doesn’t support sexual taboos such as pedophilia, incest, rape. Empirically speaking, there’s little reason for us to be legislating who can have sex with whom since we find no support for such rules in nature. All it takes is a resolute challenge to blow our foibles over.
Homosexuality used to be taboo; it was challenged by bold individuals who developed a groundswell of support; it is now relatively tolerated. Pedophilia is taboo; it is now being challenged by bold individuals, and from the number of high-profile pedophilia cases hitting the news, the groundswell of support seems to be building. It’s pretty evident where this is going.
September 6, 2006 at 6:10 pm
i do agree 18 is an arbitrary number. the age has not been legislated to be helpful to the adult. it is in place only to protect those who developmently have not fully evolved emotionally as human beings. physically yes. they lack the ability to make proper decisions. 18 is the yuear we can decide to die for our country but we cannot decide to drink responsibly.
what is a taboo? generally it is a set of principles or manners of behavior that appear to of been around but not commonly openly practiced or accepted or legislated for or against until someone is injured. taboo equals cultural reality not neccesarily popular majority. anything outside of whitebread america or “the andy griffith show” can be considered taboo. it is established in locker rooms, board rooms, college campuses, my sons first grade classroom.
pedophilia will never be legalized no matter who is in the news. anyone, even those who live in taboo know that pedophillia hurts children. they NEVER benefit. yet there are cultures in asia that allow pediphillia to exist in the open. pedilphilia cloaked as prostitution is a cultural norm not taboo there. i have heard that families will turn over their daughters to madams for money. do you think the children show up to the brothels as virgins… or do you think somewhere they have already become victims of pedophiles?
September 8, 2006 at 8:07 am
1 Steak,
You say that Pedophilia will never be legal. I am sure someone said the same thing about homosexual marriage back in the 50s (yes I understand they are different). Back to the point about 18 being an abitrary number. Can you say for sure the 15 year old will not BENIFIT? (your term).
September 30, 2006 at 11:05 am
Sexual behavior by adults toward children continues. On 30 Sep 06, CNN is running headlines on four distinct stories:
CNN: Sheriff: School shooter sent letter to say sorry
CNN: House to probe resigning congressman’s notes to teen
CNN: Captive teen calls in rescuers by text message (video)
This last one relates to a molestation and killing that occurred in 2005, but the story made headlines today for a different reason:
CNN: Officials: Inmate got ‘Katie’s Revenge’ tattoo by force
It’s evident that this type of behavior is escalating. More and more men are desiring sex with teens and children, and are acting on (if not completing) that desire — making these stories hit the media on a regular basis. Imagine the number of cases that aren’t making the news …
October 4, 2006 at 11:57 am
Homosexuality has absolutely nothing to do with pedophelia, and I find it insulting that you argue that acceptance of the former is leading society down a “slippery slope” toward the latter.
No, There is an obvious moral difference between the two, and that is that homosexual relationships involve two consenting adults who love each other, and no one is being harmed, whereas child molestation does not involve two consenting parties, and it does harm someone. As long as the consent/harm argument implies a clear-cut distinction, it can be said that the taboo on homosexuality was wrong and should be abolished without similarly repealing the taboo on pedophelia.
October 4, 2006 at 12:16 pm
Thanks for commenting, Riva. You’re actually the second person to read more into this post than it actually says. I certainly did not criticize homosexuality — I focused on the dynamic that causes sexual mores to change. This is the difference between prescriptive and descriptive thought — between advocating or denouncing a position, or merely describing what occurs.
If you reread this post you’ll find no suggestion that homosexuality causes harm. I was not challenging a statement like this (from you):
Instead, I made the observation (not judgment) that the same method used to break down one taboo is now being made to break down another. You may object to such a comparison, but I chose it because homosexuality used to be extremely frowned upon, and now, thanks to a few bold individuals, it is not. So when a few bold individuals begin speaking out in favor of sex with children, we should not think their efforts will fail simply because pedophilia is frowned upon.
Whether or not the taboos against homosexuality and pedophilia are appropriate or justified is an entirely different discussion. And indeed, the discussion regarding sex with children has begun, with proponents on both sides.
October 4, 2006 at 7:03 pm
Another story:
CNN: Dad pleads guilty in beating death of suspected molester
Note the reverse psychology hinted at in this story — the man being charged by the law is the father of the little girl, not the man who touched a child sexually. The horror of this story is in the violence of the beating, not in the molestation itself, which the article waves away:
A story similar to this one is covered in Mourning the Vigilante.