Paedophilia as Sexuality?

Updated 15.28 on 3 January

Many thanks to @katesheill for alerting me to this story.  The Guardian carries a very interesting comment piece by Jon Henley in which he explores the disagreements amongst 'experts' about what causes paedophilia and whether it amounts to a 'sexuality'.  I'm not an expert on this aspect of sexuality but I confess to being open minded, and can see value in the arguments in favour and against it being a 'sexuality'.  The difficulty, is that this debate is so emotive and politicised that the arguments for/against become proxies for other sexual agendas rather than addressing the actual subject of inter-generational sex.

Henley himself makes a number of interesting observations about these debates from various experts, but he doesn't fully take account of the external forces at work upon these same experts.  A charity dealing with children has its own limitations, whilst academics - supposedly the most free of thinkers - are limited by institutional and Academy politics which condemn to silence whole rafts of opinion and thought.   That is perhaps the biggest change in recent decades, and perhaps explains the dramatic shift in 'attitudes' that Henley notes, and the contemporary challenges of viewing paedophilia through the lens of sexual liberation.

Henley does offer a definition of paedophilia, via the Sex offenders Act 1997, although an understanding of the complexities of this area might be better gleaned from the Sexual Offences Act 2003 - which also highlights the discrepancies in age when it comes to images rather than acts (you can consent to an act at 16, but an image only at 18).

For lawyers, the subject of consent is readily debated in other sensitive fields - notably the right the life (think abortion for example), and the recent right to life cases (for example Nicklinson and Pretty) and even in the context of age - the famous Gillick case of course.  Yet, consent in the context of sexual age is perhaps a taboo subject, touching as it so clearly does on the toxic subject of paedophilia.

The dominant rights-based discourse of the twenty first century is navigated by ascribing rights to 'children' (contrast with the nineteenth century) and those who are defined by sexualities - but not 'perversions' which remain taboo, and sometimes legally controlled and/or limited.  To define paedophilia as a sexuality would therefore shift the subject into a rights-based narrative, and thus one must face the liberal challenge of balancing rights, rather seeking to merely assert the rights of one group over another 'perverse' group.  Toxic stuff indeed.

Researching this area is surely a maze of funding difficulties, institutional politics and additional barriers  which one faces in the name of safeguards.  For example, a number of records of the now defunct Paedophile Information Exchange group (mentioned by Henley) can be viewed at the London School of Economics, but you must (or at least you did when I was using their archive for research on public sex a year or so ago) provide reasons for why you want to access those files which are then put on record.  My idle curiosity at looking at the files as someone who teaches law and sexuality was stopped dead in their tracks.  That's not a database I'd like my name anywhere near - especially when you consider the bungled Police operation that was Operation Ore, and the history of data becoming misconstrued.

Please don't misunderstand me, I am not suggesting that the current collective (if there is one) view of paedophilia (as variously understood) is wrong.  I am however, questioning the absence of a debate when we debate so clearly every other aspect of our existence.

The Henley article is therefore a really interesting insight into some of the arguments in this area, but those seeking a deep and open debate in this area must continue to wait.

UPDATE:

Thanks to @PauldeMello_jnr who alerts me to the Telegraph piece by Damian Thompson responding to the Guardian article.  It does rather underline my comments.

Brian Sewell: Outsider II

I had a pleasant day after the Christmas festivities reading Brian Sewell's new book, Outsider II: Always Almost: Never Quite.  It's the second volume of his autobiography and I can't recommend this book enough.

Sewell is the notoriously bitchy art critic for the London Evening Standard newspaper.  He's now in his eighties and has settled into being a rather lovably old queen with an acid tongue and an inclination towards painful honesty.  I never disliked him before I read this book, but I am now positively adore the delightful old queen.

His sexual escapades told with lubricating relish are a delight to read.  Early on in the book (pp 7-8) he talks of cruising, providing an important historical account for the activity in a 60s landscape (and just after the passing of the Sexual Offences Act of that year):

'...I lapsed into the opportunities for promiscuity so abundant on the towpath by the Thames between Hammersmith Bridge and the boat sheds of Putney.  There the thrill lay not only in the hunt but in the menace of darkness, for it was lit only by the moon and, until one's night vision kicked in, one could see nothing and perception was left to other senses - it is odd how much hearing is heightened in such circumstances; there was also the danger of the sudden presence of the river police patrolling in a boat with the engine shut down and all lights off, the fierce beam of its searchlight suddenly cutting through the night.  Far from running, the safest thing to do then was to lie flat and still in what small cover there might be, with one's face turned away from the beam.  Often there was no time to disengage and we lay like a brace of spoons waiting for boredom to move the boat on.  There was never much conversation, but occasionally my trophy was an oarsman who preferred to be taken home;  to my amusement, these were always sheepishly passsive, uncooperative in any foreplay, just wanting to be fucked - something to do with the repetitive action of rowing, I suppose.'

Quite apart from the amusing aspect to this recollection, the  story also beautifully conveys the environment and sensory experience of cruising which is sadly missing in many of the recollections which academic sources often turn to.

Sewell also takes us on an adventure through the Bathhouses of New York - including the arbitrary reference to Bette Midler (often a bewildering detail for my students when I recount historical tales of public sex to them in a workshop on the subject) and his stories of masturbating for Salvador Dali really do need to be read to be believed.

Another public sex story which caught my attention comes later in the book (page 150) as the interests of MI6 put pay to some of Sewell's exploits.  He recalls:

'Indeed, Harrods had to stop being a haunt for casual sodomy in the third floor lavatories, where is was from a Harrods boy in the men's department that I learned the trick of camouflaging the feet of the recipient in carrier bags so that any suspicious guardian of morals glancing under the door would see only the feet of a heavily-laden customer.'

And you wondered how Harrods built its reputation for excellence in customer care.

One of the more moving examinations of sexuality comes later still.  After Sewell has had a heart attack, and his health begins to decline; Sewell returns home from his hospitalisation and masturbates.  This followed rather unhelpful advice from a nurse at the point of his discharge from hospital.  Sewell writes (page 233-234):

'A nurse I had not seen before came with instructions not to eat red meat, chocolate or oysters, not to drink coffee, not to have sex.  'What precisely do you mean with not to have sex?' 'Well, you know...' she replied.  'No I don't - sex comes in many guises.  Am I allowed to masturbate?' To this she made the sort of whimper-cum-splutter that a maiden aunt might make and scuttled off puffing with affront'.

So it was that Sewell returned home and cautiously masturbated.  An activity which seems to have brought not merely sexual relief, but a rather wonderful sexual insight:

'I went to bed and very warily, almost enquiringly, I masturbated.  Why should this purile and much mocked activity seem so important to a man in his sixties?  I do not know: I know only that it was an indication that, in spite of the heart attack, my body was not in other aspects malfunctioning, that I was still a man and had not come a vegetable.  Why is it not to be mentioned in polite society, unless by a stand-up comic whose audience will, at the mere mention of it, fall about with laughter?  As a subject of serious discussion it is taboo; is this because it is far more common among adult men that we admit or suppose?  As all my married friends confess to it but keep it from their supposedly disapproving wives, is it still a secret pleasure in which they must not be too absorbed for fear of the wife at the bathroom foot with her, 'Darling, what are you doing in there?'  Wives can demand privacy without rousing suspicion but men cannot.  Is masturbation the real reason for the garden shed?'

Sewell also goes on to examine the importance of age for the homosexual (heterosexual too?) male, how desire specifically for youthful skin and buttocks can also result in mockery, the risk of one making a fool of oneself and the role of the rentboy.   It's all wonderful stuff, and will particularly resonate with fellow gay men.  For those in London; why not support an independent book store such as Gay's the Word?

Event: Sexuality and Age

Readers may be interested in this forthcoming academic event:

SEXUALITY AND AGE
University of Huddersfield
22nd June 2012

 This Critical Sexology seminar will focus on the neglected topic of sexualities and age. Throughout their lives, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people have often found themselves at the intersections of gender, class, and racial disadvantage. Yet little is known about how intersectional power dynamics shape and limit the opportunities available to them at different life stages. Ageing is a diverse experience influenced by socio-cultural and historical factors, but sexuality is often ignored within current theories and research on ageing. Seminar Room 4 - Ground Floor of the Harold Wilson Building (HWG/04) on Queensgate Campus. A map can be found at: http://www.hud.ac.uk/aboutus/findus/ People should park in the Market Hall Car Park. Organised by Dr Surya Monro, Dr Sharon Wray and Dr Tracey Yeadon-Lee Timetable: 1.30-2.00 Tea/coffee 2.00 Introduction to the seminar 2.05 - 2.45 Gay Men and Aging: Paul Simpson, Manchester University 2.45 – 3.05 Questions and discussion 3.05 – 3.35 Tea Break 3.35 – 4.15 Bisexuality and Aging: Rebecca Jones, The Open University, 4.15 – 4.35 Questions and discussion 4.35 – 5.15 Sexualities and Youth, Liz McDermott, University of York 5.15 – 5.35 Questions and discussion 5.35 – 6.00 Concluding Summary and discussion

If you have any queries or questions about the day please contact the organisers, Tracey Yeadon-Lee (t.yeadon-lee@hud.ac.uk) or either Surya Monro (s.monro@hud.ac.uk) and Sharon Wray (s.wray@hud.ac.uk).

ReValuing Care: Perspectives from Gender, Sexuality and Law

Readers might be interested in this event/notice:

A reminder that the deadline for the submission of abstracts for the 'Resourcing Care' workshop, the first event in the AHRC-funded 'ReValuing Care: Perspectives from Gender, Sexuality and Law' Research Network is this Friday, 8 June.

We look forward to receiving your submissions! The call for papers is pasted below for your convenience, and can also be downloaded from: http://www.keele.ac.uk/risocsci/newsandevents/therevaluingcarenetwork/

Book Launch: The Declining Significance of Homophobia

Unfortunately I'll be unable to attend this launch for a book which is already making waves in the media - hopefully some of you will be able to make it along.

Gay's The Word is hosting an event to celebrate the UK launch of The Declining Significance of Homophobia: How Teenage Boys are Redefining Masculinity and Heterosexuality. There will be a short talk by the author (Mark McCormack), and refreshments will be provided.

"Research has traditionally shown high schools to be hostile environments for LGBT youth. Boys have used homophobia to prove their masculinity and distance themselves from homosexuality. Despite these findings over the last three decades, The Declining Significance of Homophobia tells a different story. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews of young men in three British high schools, Dr. Mark McCormack shows how heterosexual male students are inclusive of their gay peers and proud of their pro-gay attitudes. He finds that being gay does not negatively affect a boy's popularity, but being homophobic does.

Yet this accessible book goes beyond documenting this important shift in attitudes towards homosexuality: McCormack examines how decreased homophobia results in the expansion of gendered behaviors available to young men. In the schools he examines, boys are able to develop meaningful and loving friendships across many social groups. They replace toughness and aggression with emotional intimacy and displays of affection for their male friends.Free from the constant threat of social marginalization, boys are able to speak about once feminized activities without censure. The Declining Significance of Homophobia is essential reading for all those interested in masculinities, education, and the decline of homophobia."

You can indicate if you're attending here.

Irish 'Romeo & Juliet' Law

The Irish Independent carried a fascinating story this week in which a case re-asserted that teenage boys can continue to be prosecuted for underage sex in Ireland while teen girls are exempt.

The Independent states that: He was charged with having underage sex with the girl under the Sexual Offences Act 2006. Section five of this act states that a girl under the age of 17 will not be guilty of an offence by reason only of her engaging in an act of sexual intercourse. When he took a challenge to his prosecution in the High Court, he claimed he was being discriminated against on grounds of gender. His lawyers argued that his constitutional and European Convention rights had been breached. The High Court dismissed the challenge. Upholding that decision yesterday, the Supreme Court also awarded the costs of taking the case against the State and the DPP. The court unanimously ruled the law was constitutional, because lawmakers could take account of the danger of pregnancy for teenage girls in such cases.

Read the full story here.

The Sex(y) Boy and Treasure Island Media

The controversial TIM poster

If you consider yourself the most controversial bareback porn company in the world, how to stay in the news?  How do you remain 'controversial'?  In practical terms this arguably means being ever more outrageous, more shocking and more scandalous.  A remorseless engine of filth and depravity.  Yet, rather like Jaws: The Revenge, there comes a point when things just don't work anymore.  It's a sequel too far.

I'm not sure we're there with Treasure Island Media (TIM) yet - they are a loved brand which continues to operate in the counter-cultural space of bareback sex - but the pressure is undoubtedly there to keep being controversial.

Yet, any such pressure could be ephemeral or indeed, misguided.  As long as legislators and judges keep seeking to use law as a tool to limit, and potentially criminalise bareback sex, TIM will be able to claim the role as counter-cultural icons.  Given the widespread practising of bareback sex within same-sex encounters, they are also able to be 'popular' counter-cultural icons.  A double win.

Moreover, simply being there and being the celebrated stuff of masturbatory sessions across the globe is not, and has never been enough for TIM (NSFW).  I was therefore fascinated to see them seek to associate themselves with another taboo act in recent weeks.  The taboo of taboos.  The big daddy of controversy.  Yes, inter-generation sex.

Legally defined typically as paedophilia when involving children, inter-generational sex remains the social horror of our time.  To label someone as a paedophile is to pronounce them socially and potentially physically dead.  They are transformed into the ultimate evil within society.  Our understanding of paedophilia is increasingly nebulous, encompassing someone who accidentally downloads a paedophile image alongside another who rapes a child.  Whilst we can accept that someone might want to watch The Sopranos and not seek to become a mob boss, Weeds and become a (fairly useless) drug dealer with cute kids or Hung and seek to become a wooden (in every sense) male escort, or indeed, even if we aspire to any of these things, we won't actually do it; we can not contemplate even curiosity around the image of someone under 18 years old.  This is is despite English law finding is acceptable to sleep with someone aged above 16 (shag 'em, just don't take a picture).  It is indeed a curious socio-legal landscape.

The original Edelfelt painting

Yet, despite this, I've been struck by the way in which social media - notable Twitter most recently - has enabled those aged below 18 and indeed, below 16 to express their sexual desires, arrange hook-ups and document their sexual encounters.  Similarly, uncertainty and fears are sometimes expressed.  In short, human beings and their complex sexual awakenings are laid bare.

Into this fascinating cultural maelstrom enters TIM, apparently deliberately seeking to play with the issue of age.

At the start of the month, TIM uploaded a poster on their social media sites promoting a new film release entitled Return to Meat Rack (it's a sequel but hopefully better than Jaws IV).  It depicted two boys playing with boats on a lake or by the sea.  The young boys and the composition evokes innocence, a deliberate counter-point to the function of the poster - promoting a film about men fucking.  To date, the postings on Facebook have resulted in 76 comments from TIM followers and fans with a mix of reactions but many are negative, suggesting that TIM have gone 'too far'.

It's through these comments however that we learn (thanks to one culture vulture fan) that the picture is in fact from Albert Edelfelt and a quick Googling reveals the picture to be dated from around 1885, an oil on canvas production and entitled 'Boys playing on the beach' (Leikkiviä poikia rannalla).  Interestingly, there is a third boy in the original picture (see above) who is edited out of the TIM composition.

An earlier TIM poster depicting a 'child'

None of this is entirely new however. TIM previously published rejected posters from years gone by including one allegedly of a young (rather affluent looking) Paul Morris, aged 8 on a scooter (pictured right).  The slogan - which apparently deliberately evokes inter-generational behaviour - states 'A Better World One Boy at a Time'.  Boy is one of those words that can be taken to mean a male child but which is also used extensively - especially in 'gay' circles - to denote a young male - typically twinkish looking which is to say slim, smooth, well errr, boyish.  A twinkly boy is OK to lust after, whilst a real one isn't.

All of which are broad points I've made before but it is TIM utilising the idea of age and hidden desire as a marketing tool which is fascinating and new.

They apparently believe - and I think they are right - that just as homosexuality, then bareback sex were desires which have had complex social and legal relationships, so too is inter-generational sex.  Put simply, they think that gay men probably quite like boys more than we'd care to admit.  Such is the history of claims that homosexuals were out to 'take your children' that once again a silence is imposed for social and political reasons within the gay community - and the point I accept at the start of this paragraph will be toxic for many.

Jackson Taylor

Yet, leaving that aside, there is the less radical, but perhaps no less controversial idea that children can be sexual beings.  This is the revelation that social media already offers to anyone willing to see it, and raising difficult social and legal questions about consent and contemporary domesticity.

Morris has a Flickr page (NSFW) where he uploads some wonderful images freely available to all those who pass through an age barrier.  What always makes these photos so engaging - at least for me - is the use of captioning.  This allow the viewer to be located in the moment and somehow lends greater power to the image.  Much as when we look at a photo we have taken or were present for, we add an inward dimension to the image - context and emotion  - so too, do these captions add something.  His latest model obsession  -and potentially hit - for the studio is a twenty year old man/boy called Jackson Taylor (pictured left).  Morris has uploaded several pictures of Jackson and he comments under one image: 'I said "I'm thinking of signing you on. What do you think?" He responded "If you get me fucked all the time, I'll sign the contract in blood." If you saw him at the next table in a restaurant you'd think he was the picture of innocence and naivete. But this boy is one of the most voracious sexual predators I've ever met. We signed the contract before he'd even put his clothes back on.'

In this and a number of other comments, Jackson is anchored as a sexual being of today. Seeing Jackson getting fucked in Manfuck Manifesto (see more here, possibly NSFW) viewers of TIM pornography are left in no doubt about that sexual status.  Yet, we also have Morris posting on his photos (under the Jackson image reproduced above) the following fascinating text: 'I asked "How old were you when you started fucking?" He said "I was four. I seduced the 12-year-old twins who lived next door." I responded "Precocious--if it's true." He looked at me like this and said "Believe it or not, but it's true." He's 19 and has an understanding of sex that's truly rare.'

So now Jackson is a sexual being since four, and moreover, a sexual predator since four.  There is no question that he is the abused, or the 'victim'.  Defining him as the predator, and Jackson using the term predator - to denote an encounter with older boys - locate him as the individual with power.

This photo on Morris' Flickr page was uploaded on February 12th but it wouldn't have been a total surprise to TIM fans who might have noticed this post (NSFW) on TIM's Island website (this evolved out of their blog) which appeared on February 8th.  It introduces us to Jackson and his story.  It states:

Born in rural Sicily a scant 19 years ago, JACKSON TAYLOR (born Giuseppe Bontade) began his career as a primo fuckisto at the tender age of four. “I knew what I wanted to do from very early on,” says Mr. TAYLOR. “Our neighbors in Sicily had a pair of twins—they were 12. They gave me my first experience, my prima apertura, my grand opening. The affair lasted nearly a year.” Forced to flee their native village by irate clergy and outraged villagers, Mr. TAYLOR’s family took their precocious son to America, land of the free and willing. “Once we reached the Land of Opportunity, it’s pretty much been a straight-up path to Treasure Island Media for me. Of course it’s been my lifelong dream.” When Mr. TAYLOR approached T.I.M., the welcome was warm. “I know genius when I fuck it,” quipped porn legend PAUL MORRIS. “This boy may be slight of stature, but his bunghole can take anything we give it.” When asked about future dreams, Mr. TAYLOR wrinkled his boyish nose, shrugged coquettishly and said, “I dunno… Donkeys and dogs, maybe! And I like cheerleading.” JACKSON seems to be on a mission to take every load in America. We’re not wasting any time helping him! Watch him getting plowed by Ethan Wolfe in his TIM premiere, MANFUCK MANIFESTO.

So, here we have the 12 year old twins again (yes, incest is subtly hinted at too) and then we move into a blurb that seems to have been written by someone who has spent too long watching bad daytime soaps.  It's hard not to raise an eyebrow or a chuckle at the 'forced to flee' section.  This does of course also serve to cast doubt over the whole story but true or otherwise, TIM are making use of it and as with so many things that TIM do, truth as a fixed permanent concept must be abandoned in favour of a postmodern framework.  In the final section of the Jackson blurb we move into the positioning of Jackson as boyish, with innocence deployed to denote youth.  A sex(y) boy clearly and, his media persona suggests, a slutty one at that.

TIM started 2011 with a determination to push HIV positive porn and that - to my surprise - didn't work out.  This year, they are not stating they re trying to push a new area of controversy but there can be little doubt that like the boys in the Edelfelt picture, they are dipping their toes in the water.  This is one to watch with implications well beyond the world of bareback porn.

Spain's first 'gay' retirement home

I have no fear of death but I am absolutely terrified of becoming old and infirm.  The prospect of losing my independence and finding myself in a care home horrifies me.  With a bit of luck I'll keel over dead with a heart-attack before it comes to that.  The only thing that scares me more than that is to be stuck in a home surrounded by people who identify as 'straight'.  Even now, in our transformed legal world, there is a strange assumption that old people are heterosexual.  Old people - we wrongly assume - do not have sex, they revert to a sexless state and thus become re-defined as heterosexual.  For many, going into a home means going back into the closet.

There does seem some hope for men (why only men?) in Spain who identify as gay.  The Guardian reported yesterday that a group of elderly Spanish gay men are rebelling against the homophobia of their generation by setting up what will be the country's first gay and lesbian retirement home.

The retirement home would cost €1,000 (£834) a month to live in, he said – much lower than the average Madrid price of €1,400. It will have 30 staff to look after the 230 residents in the 120 apartments and studios in the complex, with some set aside for people who are HIV positive.

Whilst the issue of care has been back on the UK political agenda already this year, the focus - as ever - is on cost and not on the nature of provision.  Hopefully as the year progresses, the issue of LGBT elders will begin to be addressed more forcefully.

Read the full story here.

Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle reports a growing need for - and growing development of - low-income housing for GLBTQ seniors in the USA. Philadelphia developers have secured a site for a gay-friendly, low-income housing project in Philadelphia. Housing developments cannot discriminate in favor of gay seniors, but a facility known to be gay-friendly and marketed as such will be appealing to gay seniors.  You can read more on that story here on the Nonprofit Law Prof Blog.

Truth, Crime and the Hunt for Paedophiles

The Times carries a fascinating piece today revealing that lie detector tests are being used to help to decide whether to charge suspected criminals for the first time in British policing history.  The Times makes clear elsewhere that whilst the tests are 'reliable', they are not 'perfect'.  Check out the Independent take on the story if you don't have access to The Times.

A pilot was conducted by Herefordshire Police who tested 25 'low level' sex offenders.  According to The Times, 'many were exposed as being a higher risk to children than originally thought. A further 12-month trial has been approved to begin in April.'

A separate piece provides detailed exploration of the pilot through a case analysis of 'Michael'.   He was arrested on suspicion of loitering outside a school and following pupils in his car.  Acts which - the Police would surely argue - suggest the intention to commit an offence with those children.  A predator stalking his prey.  Michael denied the allegations but he did admit that he had accessed indecent images over two years and had used search engines to look for young girls.  However, he insisted he had no physical sexual interest in children.

Michael was, it seems, making a distinction between 'desire' and action, between possessing a fantasy and acting upon it.  Law traditionally focuses upon action rather than desire in sexual offences but paedophilia is something of a peculiarity for English criminal law.  For example, the law accepts a sixteen year old can have sex with a forty-nine year old.  Socially, it might be looked upon with disdain but it is legally tolerated.  However, if that 49yo takes a photograph on his phone or a makes a video of the encounter for subsequent sexual succour he has (thanks to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009) become a paedophile.  Ta-dah!  In the curious scenario, the 'desire' is condemned more than the actual consensual act.  Go figure.

In the case of Michael, Detectives found 'low-level' images in his bedroom but a search of his computer and other storage media did not turn up anything on top of admissions that Michael, 56, had already made.  So, the Police strapped him to a polygraph in a bid to obtain further answers.  Arguably, the investigation would have ended there without the polygraph - although it's not entirely clear. Michael disclosed for the first time that he had communicated with children online for a sexual purpose. He said that he had seen young girls on webcam sites, and had asked them to perform sexual acts while he watched. Michael issued denials to a series of questions including whether he had engaged in physical sexual contact with children and whether he had tried to arrange a meeting with someone younger for a sexual purpose. He also denied taking any images of children for a sexual purpose or distributing indecent images of children. The polygraph detected strong deception in his answers to all of those questions. Consequently, Michael was deemed to be a higher risk than first thought and the investigation into his activities was prioritised. He was removed from the polygraph testing trial as it is for low-level offenders only.

What does this mean?  Michael's been deemed a higher risk in the absence of evidence and 'risk' is not an offence per se (although presumably from the material they found, they had enough to charge him anyway).  What subsequently happened to Michael is unknown insofar as it is not explained in the piece.

There is an assumption that having been regarded as a 'higher risk', he will - at the very least - be monitored more closely than he might otherwise be, but quite where that mandate comes from legally is questionable.  Even if one sets that aside, there is an assumption that resources for these support mechanisms are adequate when we know they're not.  Voluntary groups are few and far between as the general public are far more likely to dip their hand in their pocket to support another charity rescuing cuddly animals in a far away land than providing support mechanisms to support paedophiles in their community.  Vital groups such as Circles UK need more support, but volunteers are unlikely to be able to 'admit' to being involved to many employers for fear of raising eyebrows and questions about their own motivations.  It is impressive and encouraging that they do indeed attract volunteers enabling their vital work to continue.

So, we assume - wrongly - that Michael might now get further 'support' or 'monitoring' dependent upon your linguistic spin.

The broader point is, as I touched upon above, the issue of desire.  An attraction to children is a social and legal taboo.  Within gay culture, an attraction towards youth - and attributes we associate with it - smooth hairless bodies, androgynous bodies, smooth faces, boyish smiles, and 'fun' personalities come together in the twink identity.  A label celebrated within gay culture and pornography, and an identity to be found in many a gay club and bar this evening as towns and cities celebrate NYE.   Desiring these figures is acceptable.  Even the more muscular twink can be a symbol of acceptable attraction.  The diver Tom Daley is unusual in being a child that many gay men could openly admit to finding sexually arousing and not feel condemned as a paedophile.  A fascinating development in itself.

Upon turning 16, even more men appeared to admit to a 'long-standing' attraction - which suggests attraction whilst still a child.  At 17, those fantasying men -assuming Daley is mutually attracted - could now have legal sex with Daley.  However, should Daley be photographed in less than his famously figure hugging trunks, his photographer would be in a spot of bother.  Expect a greater outpouring of Daley adoration during the Olympics next year (Daley will have just turned 18 so nude shots will be OK should he have a trunk malfunction at the Olympics).

In the case of Michael, it is this reluctant admittance of desire that seems to have landed him deeper in the crapola than he might have otherwise found himself.   The argument about child pornography is that it is a 'record' of a child being abused and thus to share that image is to create a market and encourage further abuse of children.  Thus if you wish to stop the market, you should stop the images.  You are therefore vicariously abusing a child.

Yet what of pseudo-photographs or cartoons? Bits of multiple images joined together to create a new sexual image, or using a computer or animation technology to create a pornographic image? Legally, this too is treated in the same way as a photograph.  Why?  The market argument is phony in these circumstances.  It is instead about the policing of desire.  From mental desire, to looking at an image is a step, a step to re-enforcing a mental pathway of desire.  Neurons making the connection between images of youth and sexual arousal. The forging of these pathways of desire is of itself a social concern within our society.

However, our criminalisation of such desire - nobody is being harmed - is on the basis that desire is an indicator of potential future risk.  It's like suggesting that viewing a knife-block in Argos denotes you as a future knife armed murderer.

The continued introduction of these polygraphs therefore is about a significant extension in the policing of desire.  Our society can not regard paedophiles as anything other than universally bad - despite our occasional admittance of widespread youthful desire, as in the case of Tom Daley - and thus the criminalisation of this desire is a logical extension that can not be argued without raised eyebrows and agendas questioned.  If a government proposed the mandatory badge wearing by convicted paedophiles would it be opposed?  If gas chambers for paedophiles were advocated, would they be opposed?

These are of course emotive and extreme examples but they serve to highlight the dangers of the road we are on.  In criminalising desire we make black and white assumptions about our own desires; are we really that sure of our own purity?

Growing Old Disgracefully

As London and other cities around the UK erupted into violence in the Summer, British media as well as that around the world focused upon the youth of the nation; the feckless lazy youth, wanting something for nothing, lacking a sense of responsibility, selfish and too focused on their own pleasures.  Not like the gold old days.  Similarly, when we look at rising STI rates, it is ignorant youth, failing nee again to behave in a responsible manner.

It was therefore interesting to see this story on the BBC this morning.  At a time of mass cuts in local government, Portsmouth Council managed to shuffle enough cash together to organise a workshop for Portsmouth Residents (no outsiders allowed) aged 60 or above who wanted to find out about 'sex in later years' and would have focused on safe sex practices.  Unfortunately, the event has now been cancelled due to a lack of interest.

The event actually has a sound rationale, we know that with the development of Viagra, and a shift in culture, the baby boomer generation are not only still randy past 60, but are able to 'express' those desires, creating rising (no giggling) STI rates in this age group.  So, faced with the need to behave responsibly, and to 'rubber up', use condoms and be aware, they have decided "sod that" whilst commensurately bemoaning the young people who similarly react.   Oh well.  Read the BBC story here.

Class, the UK Labour Party and a Lesson in Legal Reform

MP's are there to represent the will of the people, right? Well, I've just finished reading the excellent latest volume of Chris Mullin's diaries based on the years 1994-1999 (they 3 volumes have been published out of sequence) and I was struck by an entry on Monday 25 January 1999:

'At ten o'clock there was a free vote on equalising the age of consent for heterosexuals and homosexuals. I voted in favour, which will go down badly with most of my constituents'

Mullin was the MP for Sunderland South between 1987 and 2010 and although he was to eventually make the ministerial ranks, he really made his name as a justice campaigner to free the Birmingham six. He is a happily married man with three kids and often regarded as something of a left winger.

Whilst the New Labour history has been written as being a government and party generous in the reform of gay rights, Mullin's dairies reveal that the left wing MP's did not represent their left wing heartlands. Whilst gay rights has often been cast as a left/right issue, it forgets the working class left-wing ('old Labour') voters who are actually quite homophobic. Mullin makes a calculation that his constituents in working class Sunderland South would not want their MP to vote for this early gay rights measure -but he did anyway. This raises questions about class and whether MP's do and should represent their constituents. If - as Owen Jones - has recently argued, the Labour Party had better represented the views of their constituents, rather than the views of the middle classes and metropolitan elite, they would surely have voted against this measure. I'm doubt that Jones would have wanted that end result, but this diary entry is reminder that truly pioneering reform often comes from ignoring the people. For a democrat, that's an uncomfortable truth to accept.

Despite Mullin's efforts (the Bill was passed with a majority of 207 votes), the House of Lords fought the Bill and it was not until the passing of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act in 2000 that the age of consent was equalised.

Cradle Snatching and the Kiwi Swimmer

Curious story in The Times today (apologies, it's behind the paywall) about the New Zealand swimmer Justin Wright. Justin is 17 and in a relationship with his girlfriend, and fellow swimmer, the 24-year-old Rhi Jeffrey, much to the disgust of Wright's parents. The Times reports:

'Mr and Mrs Wright were reportedly not happy about the pair’s relationship because of the age difference, and sent e-mails to club members demanding the club coach intervene. The correspondence became so abusive that David Wright hired a lawyer to put a stop to them.
The Wrights later withdrew their consent for Justin to compete at Swimming New Zealand events, destroying his chances of qualifying for the Swimming World Cup in November and potentially thwarting his Olympic ambitions.

'In what is believed to be a legal first in New Zealand, Justin — who turns 18 in three months — this week won court permission to be a member of Swimming New Zealand against his parents’ wishes.

'The high school student said he was “annoyed” his parents had tried to prevent him from competing, and now the court had ruled in his favour he planned to try and qualify for World Cup events in Asia.

'Justin, who has moved out of the family home and now lives with Ms Jeffrey, said he was not sure if he could mend his relationship with his parents but he would not give up his girlfriend.

“I couldn’t believe they had done that,” he said. “But now that we have been through the court and I can swim I am pretty happy.”'

I find myself wondering whether the same relaxed tone with flow through the article if the genders had been reversed, or (shock horror) we were talking about a same-sex couple (especially a male one). What do you think?

The story is also reported in The Metro.

Age, Statutory Rape and Consent

I've been meaning to get this post up for ages and failed miserably, so let me link to another blog that considers a fascinating US legal development and leave it for you to comment. When I get more chance, I'll try and come back to this case, and blog some thoughts on it.

The Youthful Dilemma

The other day I posted a piece about the Brisbane Supreme Court and a 12-year-old who had posed as an 18-year-old. Another aspect of the age debate is the appearance of youth. At the recent Erotic Awards 2011, the 20-year-old sex worker, Josh Brandon won the 'sex worker male' category. I'd exchanged a few tweets with him before the awards and he seems a really nice guy. What I write next, should not in any way be seen as a criticism of him.

On the right of this post, I've posted a photograph of Brandon, taken from his escort website. Lower down this post, you can see a photo of Brandon clutching his golden penis from the Erotic Awards. When you look at the first photo, what do you think?

Well, Brandon prompts you on his site

, writing: 'I have a slim 25" waist, tight little butt & shoulder length blonde hair; my looks are very young, younger than 19, 18 and probably even 17'.

He is making a sales pitch of not only his youth, but his underage look. He could, it seems to me, pass as a convincing 14 year old based on these photos. He's also, he states,a highly successful sex worker, and one for whom sex work has empowered, he writes:

'With me you will meet an escort who enjoys his job and the freedom it gives me to travel and to meet lots of interesting people and the comfortable lifestyle I live are reasons I love this work. You will be in company of a boy who appreciates and respects his clients with professionalism. I like people, I like to travel and meet people from different cultures and backgrounds and I appreciate my clients who respect that a profession is what this is.'

His quoted rates, support his high-demand status:
GREAT BRITAIN

In call Out call

1 Hour - £160 £200

2 Hours - £280 £320
3 Hours - £400 £440

Overnight - £800 £900
Weekend - £1500 £1500
One Week - £3000

USA
One Week - $5000
Weekend - $2500

Europe

One Week - €3500
Weekend - €1750
Overnight - €1150

Our legal culture penalises those who have sex with someone underage but also prosecutes those who have possession of child pornography - including pseudo-images. We are however, comfortable (at least legally) with images that look like child pornography but which are not (assuming it can be proven). For Josh Brandon, who trades upon his youthful appearance, we have someone who is quite possibly satisfying the sexual desire of those men who wish to have sex with someone underage. In doing so, is he -as the argument about child pornography goes - 'fuelling' desire, unwittingly increasing the chance of someone going out and committing an offence.

I'm not a psychology expert so I don't know. Is he alternatively, satisfying a sexual desire and thus reducing the chance of possible offences, and also enabling men who were unlikely to offend, to reach a state of sexual pleasure and satisfaction they would not otherwise legal be able to obtain?

More generally, queer culture celebrates the youthful twink in pornography and as sex workers. We like cute hairless 'boys', so long as they are legal. Yet, as much as this forms an acceptable part of the gay lifestyle, it also harks back to a time when NAMBLA could appear at gay pride events, and when gay men were seen as universally paedophiles. In seeking legal acceptance, homosexuality has carefully re-positioned itself away from controversial issues around 'youth'. The one notable exception, Peter Tatchell, who has advocated an age of consent of 14 is on the margins of the gay establishment, and a firm outsider from wider policy formation.

This isn't just a 'queer' or 'gay' issue. Just look at the vast quantities of 'school girl' porn available for straight men, where adult women dress as school-girls and lick seductively on a predictably red, lollipop. Think of the various student nights in which people dress in school uniforms but couple it with a strongly sexualised image.

So, are we comfortable with gay men performing the fantasy of paedophilia (which they may or may not do with Josh), whilst also extending the child pornography ban to 'pseudo-images', and cartoons?

At this point, let's turn to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

Section65(6) states:

Where an image shows a person the image is to be treated as an image of a child if—

(a)the impression conveyed by the image is that the person shown is a child, or

(b)the predominant impression conveyed is that the person shown is a child despite the fact that some of the physical characteristics shown are not those of a child.

(7)References to an image of a person include references to an image of an imaginary person.

(8)References to an image of a child include references to an image of an imaginary child.

So, here fantasy is attacked as far as the 'image' is concerned. It needn't be real or realistic. A cartoon of a 10 year old with a 20 inch penis is child pornography, as is a photograph of a real 10 year old being abused by a real person. That legislative approach seems wrong to me, but what of fantasy acts? If the law is as pre-occupied with fantasy as it is reality, what of the Josh Brandon sex workers and his fellow twinky performers? Something to ponder.

Child Sexuality and the Limits of Consent

I came across this story the other week, and I've been mulling it over since, debating whether to post a link, and if I did, what comment, if any, to add.

The story refers to a case before the Brisbane Supreme Court, in which it was revealed that a 12-year-old boy - posing as an 18-year-old homosexual man - actively pursued and engaged in sexual encounters with a man he met via an Internet dating service. He'd used a 'mainstream' dating service called Oasis Active to set up the site.

The court was told that over the space of three months, the boy would sneak out his family home, in Brisbane's east, late at night and slip down the street to a nearby golf course to meet his online liaison who was at that time a 30-year-old lifesaving fundraiser.

The boy indicated that when he met males online - including Powell who went by the nickname "Johnny" - he would inform them he was 13-years-old, a year older than he actually was.

Recovered Internet chats found on Powell's laptop computer reveal he discussed having a weekend "sleepover" with the boy, a possible "threesome" with "another "guy".

They also included a request from the child that "this time your going to (expletive deleted) me."

During another online chat Powell asked the boy why he was at home on his computer during a school day.

"When the child responded that he was pretending to be sick and was home alone all day, he (Powell) suggested: 'Maybe I should come over'," the schedule says.

"When the child advised that another guy was coming over they discussed a possible threesome."

Read the full story here. I've tried in vane to find other reports or any court transcripts/judgment but if anyone does have such links, please post them as a comment.

So, here's a few thoughts/questions:

• Would our reaction be the same if rather than being 30, the convicted male had been 18? If so, why?
• Had the boy not revealed he was 13 subsequently (which was also a lie), and insisted he was 18 all along, would we react the same way?
• Had the boy posted a picture on his profile in which he appeared older than he was, would we take that into account in reaching a moral (as distinct from legal) view?

The killer question, can a 12 year old consent? Legally, no he can not. We can not make a judgment on these small exerts in a news story, but all the quotes from the child suggest a boy who is sexually aware, knows exactly what he doing, and is so determined to have homosexual sex with a male that he will lie to achieve that goal. In certain circumstances, the law accepts a child can consent. Has this child reached that level of consciousness?

Even if he has reached that level, is that outweighed by the obligation of an adult to refuse that boy's request? Yet, is that refusal based on the assumption of a harm being inflicted upon the boy? Should we simply encourage the boy to find a sexual act with someone nearer his age if sexual experimentation is what he's determined upon? If so, is it the age difference rather than a 12 year old having sex per se that concerns us? Ahh yes, age difference. If it is age difference, then it's not about consent at all, it's about something else. So, what exactly is and should be the guiding influence for law and the state in such cases.

I don't have the answers, just a whole bunch of questions.

Tom Daley, Child Pornography and a 12 Month Wait

Happy Birthday Tom Daley. The celebrated diver (not swimmer!) turned 17 today, and he told the world on Twitter, he went for his first driving lesson (only stalling once in two hours) and posted a picture of his birthday cake.

Daley highlights his age through the inclusion of his date of birth in his twitter addy but his choice of pic is an interesting one - a muscle erotic pose that originally featured as part of a Guardian magazine spread in October last year. When they appeared, I noted on this blog that

'Tom Daley - even prior to turning sixteen was the boy gay men could legitimately "fancy". Why is this so? Why is acceptable (with mild teasing) to publicly say "wow, he's fit" in a way we can not about other 16/15 year olds?'

Although last year marked the moment when Daley could - if he so desired - consent to being buggered senseless by every gay male out there who had been fantasising about it, they could not take a photograph of the act - as it would amount to child pornography under English law.

Even today, Tom can drive, but should he send a naked photograph to a friend - which then gets uploaded on the Internet - he would be 'making' child pornography. So happy birthday Tom, but I'm left wondering if we'll see you in the Attitude naked issue 2012.

Event: Girls, Sexuality and Sexualisation: Beyond Sensationalism and Spectacle

Readers may be interested in the following event:

Girls, Sexuality and Sexualisation: Beyond Sensationalism and Spectacle

Date: 30th June 2011

Venue: Cardiff University (School of Social Sciences, Glamorgan Building, Committee Rooms 1&2)


PROGRAMME

10.00-10.15 Registration

10.15 – 1030 Introduction and welcome

(Meg Barker, Ros Gill, Emma Renold and Jessica Ringrose)

10.30-11.30 Theorising and researching teen-girls’ sexual cultures in an era of sexualisation: beyond the moral panic

(Dr. Emma Renold, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University and Dr. Jessica Ringrose, Institute of Education, University of London)

11.30-12.30 Sexualisation, Splitting and Innocence as Reparation

(Danielle Egan, Professor and Coordinator of Gender and Sexuality Studies

St. Lawrence University, New York)

12.30-1.30 LUNCH

1.30-2.30 “Don't do what I did”: parental sex education, memories and 'sexualisation'

(Laura Harvey, Department of Psychology, Open University)

2.30-3.30 “Studying sexual desire and expectations in girls and young women: Methodological dilemmas and opportunities.”

(Dr. Sara McClleland, Psychology & Women's Studies, University of Michigan)

3.30-3.45 Refreshments

3.45 – 4.45 Definitions, discourses and dilemmas: policy and academic engagement with the sexualisation of culture

(Dr. Maddy Coy, Child and Women Abuse Studies Unit, London Metropolitan University)

4.45 – 5.30 Discussion

(Discussant: Professor Valerie Walkerdine, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University)


Participation details:

Places are limited for this event and need to be booked in advance. Please contact socsi-events@cf.ac.uk for further information.

To find out more about this seminar series see: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/depts/cci/events/sexualisation.html

For details of the forthcoming 2011 international 2 day conference, Complicating Debates About the 'Sexualisation of Culture' see:

http://www.ioe.ac.uk/research/50360.html

Sexism, Human Rights and Paedophilia

I have to thank Brian for flagging up this story to me. Last week saw an interesting case before the Scottish courts in which a teenager accused of having sex with an under-age girl claimed the law is unfair to heterosexual men, and sought to bring a case case under article 8, read in conjunction with article 14, of the European Convention on Human Rights. He also sought a declaration in terms of section 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 that section 5(3) of the 1995 Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act is incompatible with the Convention in these respects.

The law does (as the opinion makes clear) seem relatively straight forward in this area but the teen at the centre of this case does raise an interesting question about what he regards as our sexist attitude towards paedophilia. The very words paedophilia or paedophile are avoided in the reports about this case but that is what the law is saying this teen is - as someone 17 or 18 having sex with a girl aged 14. The teens point is that we would be less inclined to prosecute a girl in the same situation. I'm not sure I agree but it's an interesting one to mull over.

The full opinion can be read here.

Tom Daley: The Response

The Guardian Magazine features just two letters on the Tom Daley article from last week. The two pieces seem to express the two predictable responses of 'disgraceful', and "oo, err" banter. Read them here. The fact there wasn't a more overt outcry is itself fascinating.

Re-read my thoughts on the original piece here.

Contraceptive Pill Controversy

Girls aged 13 and above will be able to obtain a months supply of the morning-after pill without seeing a doctor or informing their parents, according to the BBC. The trial in the Isle of Wight aims to tackle high teenage pregnancy rates but the proposals are likely to result in the usual cries of concern from some. This concern - although cloaked in a range of arguments, is essentially about children having sex.

This sort of measure is inevitably admitting defeat - it accepts that a legal, moral and social framework that seeks to define 16 as the point when people can consent (and thus engage in) sexual behaviour has failed. The age of consent is thus apparently irrelevant. Yet it isn't. Although these measures are an attempt to recognise the sexual lives 'in reality', the legal framework continues to be enforced if someone aged say 17 was having sex with someone aged 14. We accept that a 14 year old can consent to sex, to the implications of sex, to managing their own birth control and presumably sex with someone else underage.

This story is about much more than popping a pill. It tells us about our contemporary sexual morality and how we define adult identity in contemporary society. It will be interesting to see how the experiment works out.