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Fears Grow Over Academic Efforts to Normalize Pedophilia
CNSNews.com ^ | 7/10/03 | Steve Brown

Posted on 07/10/2003 2:47:43 AM PDT by kattracks

CNSNews.com) - Cultural experts who agree with claims that the Supreme Court may have opened the door to legalizing pedophilia in its Lawrence v. Texas decision on private homosexual behavior point to the growing movement within academia to de-stigmatize pedophilia.

Jan LaRue, chief counsel for Concerned Women for America (CWA), a Washington D.C.-based women's public policy group, noted Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the decision "has nothing to do with minors."

"We should hold (the Court) to that and anyone who tries to pervert the ruling even more than it is already by saying that it does protect pedophilia," LaRue told CNSNews.com. "However, the likes of the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) and other pedophiles will certainly use it to seek legitimization for their behavior."

On its website, NAMBLA Director David Thorstad claims: "Pederasty, like homosexuality, has existed, and exists, in all societies that have ever been studied. Homoeroticism is a ubiquitous feature of human experience, as even efforts to repress it confirm. Men and youths have always been attracted to each other, and, like homosexuality in general, their love is irrepressible."

Potential trouble on the Supreme Court

However, restraining the Court may prove more difficult than expected. Responding to criticism aimed at Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) over his conclusions that the Lawrence decision could lead to legalized pedophilia and other sexual acts, the Catholic Family Association of America (CFAA) pointed to a potential pedophilia advocate on the Court itself.

"Given that homosexual advocates are in a full court press to lower the age of consent as low as it can go, and pro-pedophile sitting Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg 's documented advocacy of lowering the age of consent to 12 years old, parents should be horrified that there are so few politicians, like Sen. Santorum, actually defending the family," Timothy Chichester, CFAA president, said April 23.

Chichester was referring to a paper authored by Ginsburg entitled "Sex Bias in the U.S. Code," which was prepared for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in April 1977

The allegation was further substantiated by Robert Knight, director of CWA's Culture Institute, in "Homosexual Behavior and Pedophilia," an article he co-authored with the Family Research Council's Frank York.

"When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an attorney for the ACLU, she co-authored a report recommending that the age of consent for sexual acts be lowered to 12 years of age," the article points out.

Knight and York's footnoted documentation on this is as follows: "Sex Bias in the U.S. Code," Report for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, April 1977, p. 102, quoted in "Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Feminist World View," The Phyllis Schlafly Report, Vol. 26, No. 12, Section 1, p. 3. The paragraph (from the Ginsburg report) reads as follows: "'Eliminate the phrase "carnal knowledge of any female, not his wife, who has not attained the age of 16 years" and substitute a federal, sex-neutral definition of the offense. ... A person is guilty of an offense if he engages in a sexual act with another person. ... [and] the other person is, in fact, less than 12 years old.'"

LaRue said pedophiles may co-opt language used in the Lawrence decision regarding homosexuals; that laws against their behavior are a discriminatory attempt to harm them as a persecuted minority. And they will be supported, she claimed, by academia.

Reclassifying pedophilia already subject to debate

During its annual convention in May, the American Psychiatric Association hosted a symposium discussing the removal of pedophilia along with other categories of mental illness (collectively known as paraphilia) from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

After much criticism following CNSNews.com coverage of the symposium, the APA issued a statement reiterating its position on pedophilia.

But in his 1999 article "Harming the Little Ones: The Effects of Pedophilia on Children," Timothy Dailey, senior analyst for cultural studies with the Family Research Council, chronicled the APA's treatment of pedophilia in the DSM and compares it to the APA evolution of homosexuality.

In DSM revisions, Dailey explained that APA "adds a subjective qualification similar to that which appeared with regard to homosexuality: The individual must be 'markedly distressed' by his own pedophilic activity to be considered needful of therapy," Dailey wrote, adding that in the latest revision, pedophilia "is to be considered a paraphilia when the behavior causes 'clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning.'"

Mary Eberstadt, research fellow at the Hoover Institute, told CNSNews.com: "The evidence is plain: there is indeed an ongoing attempt from within the psychiatric and psychological communities to de-stigmatize pedophilia by de-classifying it as a paraphilia in the first place."

Academic efforts to normalize pedophilia draw fire, praise

For further evidence, Eberstadt points to "A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples," a study published in the July 1998 Psychological Bulletin of the American Psychological Association.

It contended that "negative effects (of child sexual abuse) were neither pervasive nor typically intense, and that men reacted much less negatively than women." It further stipulated that children's feelings about sexual encounters with adults should be taken into effect and that "a willing encounter with positive reactions would be labeled simply adult-child sex."

Publication of the report resulted in a formal denunciation in the House of Representatives, which voted 355-0 to condemn the essay.

In 1999, after being rejected by several publishing houses, the University of Minnesota Press published Harmful to Minors by journalist Judith Levine, including a foreword by former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, who was asked to resign by President Bill Clinton after she endorsed making masturbation part of the public school curriculum.

In the book, Levine contends that pedophiles are "myths" and faults the government for making pedophilia illegal.

"Pedophiles are not generally violent, if there is such thing as pedophiles at all," Levin wrote. "More important, sexual contact with a child does not a pedophile make."

After a flurry of controversy ensued, the University of Minnesota Press issued a press release defending its publication of the work.

"Neither the University Press nor the University of Minnesota endorses the theses of authors it publishes, including that of Ms. Levine. In fact, some within the university may vehemently disagree," said Christine Maziar, vice president for research and dean of the graduate school in the release. "University presses by their nature will publish work on controversial subjects; it's our responsibility to ensure that the procedures and processes of the press foster both academic freedom and quality publications."

Eberstadt, LaRue and others have pointed out that Levine's assertions in the book rest solely on pro-pedophilia sources such as the NAMBLA Bulletin, and Levine's work earned her a book prize from the Los Angeles Times.

The roots of de-stigmatizing pedophilia in contemporary society

Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council director of Marriage and Family Studies, told CNSNews.com that the movement to de-stigmatize pedophilia within academia can be traced back to Alfred Kinsey in 1948.

Knight provided further explanation saying: "This view, argued on the fringe by pedophile authors over the past century, gained enormous respect when Alfred C. Kinsey published his books on male and female sexuality in 1948 and 1953, known collectively as the Kinsey Report.

"Kinsey worked to lower penalties for sex offenders and said he couldn't understand why children were harmed by being sexually touched by adults," Knight continued. "He based this on a series of sex experiments on children as young as 2 months of age. A chapter in Sexual Behavior in the Human Male reports on the molestation of hundreds of boys, with Kinsey concluding that the victims enjoyed the activity."

Sprigg said it was "inevitable" that redefining pedophilia as not being a mental disorder would pave the way for greater social and legal acceptance of that behavior.

But Linda Nicolosi, publications director for the National Association for Research and Therapy for Homosexuality, warned that the concept of mental illness "is not and cannot" be a strictly "scientific" matter, such as a broken leg.

"No one would argue that a broken leg isn't a physical illness," Nicolosi explained to CNSNews.com. "But mental illness is a much more controversial matter; no one has ever come up with a universal definition of mental illness that is consistent across cultures and throughout time."

Nicolosi argued that "as society changes, the definition of mental illness is likely to change along with it. Therefore, as our society comes increasingly to value sexual liberation and children's autonomy, pressure increases on the psychiatric establishment to stop pathologizing things like childhood sexual expression, gender variance and homosexuality."

"The danger arises when the public gives psychiatry too much power; when the layman assumes that psychiatry 'knows something' about sexuality that the moral ethicist does not," Nicolosi said. "Psychiatry cannot tell the layman that homosexuality, or pedophilia, or sado-masochistic sex are 'healthy' because science has no concept of 'healthy sex' that is not values-laden."

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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: apa; catholiclist; cwa; dsmivtr; homosexualagenda; lawrencevtexas; nambla; nicolosi; pederasty; pedophilia; perverts; profamily
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1 posted on 07/10/2003 2:47:43 AM PDT by kattracks
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To: kattracks
I knew this was coming.
2 posted on 07/10/2003 2:56:47 AM PDT by raybbr
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To: kattracks
Where the law doesn't take over, the father will. If I ever have a son who gets molested by some pervert, if the law doesn't handle the situation to my satisfaction, the man will suffer painfully and suffocate on certain body parts.
3 posted on 07/10/2003 2:57:31 AM PDT by Arthur Wildfire! March (Liberty or Death!)
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4 posted on 07/10/2003 2:58:39 AM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: kattracks
"More important, sexual contact with a child does not a pedophile make."

Did I read that correctly?

5 posted on 07/10/2003 4:09:58 AM PDT by rickmichaels (Kiss my ass, Chretien!!!)
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To: kattracks
In my opinion which is not drawn from any legal training this ruling also LEGALIZED prositution.
6 posted on 07/10/2003 4:16:19 AM PDT by GailA (Millington Rally for America after action http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/872519/posts)
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To: kattracks
I say "full speed ahead" to academia on this one. "Academia" is long overdue to be completely discredited in the eyes of the general public, and this issue has the potential to do it. Carry on, profs!

Maybe this is what it will take to get sane, hard-working citizens to stop shelling out colossal amounts of money to send their children to colleges where they are brainwashed with leftist drivel.
7 posted on 07/10/2003 5:24:23 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: kattracks
Dr. Laura has been warning about this development for years. On some occasions, she has spent her whole show discussing the aims of the "no holds barred sex with anyone at any time" proponents. For her outspokent concern, she has been blacklisted and banned in some countries, i.e. Canada.
8 posted on 07/10/2003 5:32:17 AM PDT by randita
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To: randita
Next goal - that much maligned practice known as bestiality!
9 posted on 07/10/2003 5:50:09 AM PDT by 17th Miss Regt
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March
Aye.
10 posted on 07/10/2003 6:16:12 AM PDT by Joe Brower ("Oh, bother", said Pooh, as he chambered another round.)
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To: Arthur Wildfire! March
I doubt I'd be able to let it get as far as letting the "law" handle it.
11 posted on 07/10/2003 6:44:51 AM PDT by Bikers4Bush
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To: kattracks
That IS ultimately their goal. Anybody that believes that just the radical homosexuals believe in youth sex, need to get themselves educated. I worked in the the largest library at the University of Texas at Austin campus. I was responsible for the social sciences floor which included human sexuality material. There was a huge what I call the "gay" section. These perverted dudes would be coming in there to read that junk advocating sex with children. I was shocked to the very core that a major university would have such books advocating this. It made me so angry because I worked with sexually abused kids in the past and I see the tremendous harm it does. Sex with young boys was major theme in alot of these books not just a few. One book I remember, it was talking about a kidnapped little boy in an underground man-boy sex club.I went to the ladies room and tore it up. I come from a conservative religious family but I went through a "liberal phase" just before entering college, but by the time I had graduated from UT I had come to my senses about the evil that exists in the world. You can see for yourself that I am telling the truth if you go to UT-Austin.
12 posted on 07/10/2003 6:45:17 AM PDT by bluebunny
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To: raybbr
I distinctly remember 12 years ago when the gays (geez I hate calling them that) had their march in Washington DC and they held a press conference giving a list of the rights/behavior they wanted to have legalized in our country. I don't remember all of them (there were 10 or 12?) but I do remember that amongst the list was marriage to become legal and PEDOPHLIA to become normal, accepted behavior and LEGALIZED. Perhaps some other Freeper remembers and can get their hands on this list of demands.
13 posted on 07/10/2003 6:59:18 AM PDT by proudofthesouth
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To: kattracks
"It contended that "negative effects (of child sexual abuse) were neither pervasive nor typically intense, and that men reacted much less negatively than women."

Oh really? When I listened to the testimony of the boys (now men) who were molested by priests, it sounded pretty pervasive and intense to me.

Or am I supposed to conclude that they were faking it for the money.

14 posted on 07/10/2003 7:13:18 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: proudofthesouth
NAMBLA has a website?? Who would go to it? There is nothing normal about pedophilia, is the website an attempt to legitimize it? I guess Im naive, I had no idea the organization was stuctured enough to have director who gives his name and a website. Sometimes I think the second coming is the only way to clean up this planet.
15 posted on 07/10/2003 7:17:06 AM PDT by cardinal4 (The Senate Armed Services Comm; the Chinese pipeline into US secrets)
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To: Bikers4Bush
I'm with you on this.

We might even be able to organize a parental co-op to take care of such things.

I'll bring the blowtorch if you'll bring the barbed wire and lemon juice.

16 posted on 07/10/2003 7:27:24 AM PDT by Malacoda (Ita erat quando hic adveni)
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To: raybbr; kattracks

Here is another one I posted in 2000:

"Pedophilia Chic" Reconsidered (The taboo against sex with children continues to erode)


17 posted on 07/10/2003 7:47:45 AM PDT by truthandlife
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To: Malacoda
How about this idea:

A wife came home just in time to find her husband in bed with another woman. With super-human strength borne of fury, she dragged him down the stairs, out the back door, and into the tool shed in the back yard and put his penis in a vice. She then secured it tightly and removed the handle.

Next she picked up a hacksaw.

The husband was terrified, and screamed, "Stop! Stop! You're not going to cut it off, are you?" The wife, with a gleam of revenge in her eye, put the saw in her husband's hand and said, "Nope. I'm going to set the shed on fire. You do whatever you have to".

18 posted on 07/10/2003 8:34:44 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: George W. Bush; MarMema; malakhi
Why we need an Inquisition in America.
19 posted on 07/10/2003 10:18:29 AM PDT by Hermann the Cherusker
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To: Hermann the Cherusker
Protestant countries don't burn people at the stake for religious offences. Rome has patented rights on that one.

Our courts and legislatures have the power to do the right thing if we make them do it. It's a sad state of affairs that they no longer do their duty to protect children from sexual predators as they once did. The pedophile priests should all be locked up for life.

The current pedophile chic is all the more ironic when one recalls how many people were accused of behaving inappropriately with children, even their own children, in the Eighties and Nineties. Now, homosexual pedophilia is all the rage academically. The resulting code of conduct is: you can't molest your own children because that would be incest and Roman priests can't molest little boys. But, under these new enlightened academic standards, little boys may be freely molested by men except those who are Roman priests or blood relatives.

It must take a lot of education to figure these issues out.
20 posted on 07/10/2003 10:37:58 AM PDT by George W. Bush
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