This was the original headline of my 2001 article, but the piece is as relevant today as it was then. Child abusers, including gay men, often hide behind a smoke screen
A teacher at my younger son's primary school was discovered to have taken numerous eight and nine-year-old boys in his classes over the years back to his house after school for 'homework', which included sexual contact and abuse. Two years before this revelation, when my son was assigned to his class, having my suspicions about this man who never made eye contact and who I had heard rewarded children in the classroom with sweets, I contacted the principal and asked that my son be put in a different class and he was. Trouble is, not many mothers (or fathers) are aware of the potential dangers of such men, while there is so much emphasis on boys needing male teachers and role models, then as now, and on not shaming men, gay or straight, and few articles like yours telling the hard truths. This was 16 years ago. We need more articles like this. Thanks.
Thank you for raising this issue. We’ve all seen it and it has largely gone unaddressed by activists. I can’t say I’ve ever heard a female or lesbian defend paedophilia. Anyone?
I see it as a major problem that is amplified lately by trans activists who still fight for the medicalization of children and youth as well as the Drag communities’ insistence that it’s somehow appropriate and entertaining to subject children to an art form that has been historically contained within the adult gay community. Drag has always been hyper sexualized, often vulgar and raunchy. While I love drag, it is not appropriate for children in my view.
Not sure how we address this issue other than separate as LGB Alliance and The Lesbian Project have done. We’re still not seeing more people come to the table prepared to discuss the problems so my feeling is get prepared to duck and run because this is coming back at all of us unless we see more gays and lesbians speak out soon.
A difficult read for Gay Men possibly but read it they must. It is even more important now that we appear to be making the same mistake with Transgenderism/GI that was made when PIE infiltrated an existing civil rights movement. Boundaries & safeguarding are being minimised & the insidious assault on language around children should worry everyone.
You are right that challenging cultural ‘norms’ need to come from within communities as well as eternally. A good read & timely reminder for all of us that predators are more organised & determined than ever.
What I also find awkward is that a lot of people expect gay men’s opinions to be mainstream. At work I talk pretty openly about some issues and a few tables of mine seemed surprised when I voiced my thoughts on gender medicine for kids.
Even if we do speak out, our numbers are too small— and maybe even smaller for us who don’t live in “village” “ghettos”— to really be seen differently than what the media presents us as.
Thank you, Julie. This is excellent and worth republishing. I have been wondering, for some time, if the use of π to symbolise pansexual was a nod to the PIE of my youth. I haven't seen anything written about that, nor is π always used as part of pansexual identification, but I wondered what your thoughts were on this use of π.
Great article. However, I would refute the claim that only 5% of sexual abusers of children are women. There are far more men who have been sexually abused by women that one can imagine. I have heard from these men throughout my career. A lot of men are too ashamed and embarrassed to admit it. Also, culturally, young men who have been preyed upon by women are glorified. Consider the movie Risky Business.
I attended the 3rd National Conference of Lesbians and Homosexual Men at LaTrobe University in Melbourne in 1983. Great deight and excitement until we discovered that childcare at the conference was provided by the Gay Men’s Paedophile Collective.
Seriously.
No doubt the conference organizers thought they were making a profound political statement.
Incredible. But the shock of this post from Kate underscores how far we’ve come. It also underlines how much same-sex relationships have become normalised over the last forty years. Our shock is now collective, whether we’re gay or straight. The process of sexual liberation always involved exploration, but inevitably it was - and is - a search for boundaries, moreover boundaries that are consensual in a civilised society. If they have taken a little time to put in place, we should also accept we are on a journey: the process is always evolving. Trans activists may be putting a bump in the road, but it will be levelled out in time.
I’d like to think that children and adults alike are much more aware of boundaries, generally. Of course, given its pernicious impact on adolescents (especially boys), the unbridled availability of on-line porn is another bump on the road. Although we don’t agree about every point, Julie B has been a wise and powerful voice on this subject. We cannot stand by and allow porn to destroy healthy real-world relationships.
Forgive any voice typing errors and not to derail a thread but I know of at least one gay man the host of the disaffected podcast who needs to shut the hell up about abortion and feminism
men who bust out misogynistic slurs the second you aren't praising them supporting them or opening your wallet the Nanosecond you disagree with them you're a bitch and everything about feminism is horrific you're misogynist Joshua Slocum and you can go fuck yourself.
A teacher at my younger son's primary school was discovered to have taken numerous eight and nine-year-old boys in his classes over the years back to his house after school for 'homework', which included sexual contact and abuse. Two years before this revelation, when my son was assigned to his class, having my suspicions about this man who never made eye contact and who I had heard rewarded children in the classroom with sweets, I contacted the principal and asked that my son be put in a different class and he was. Trouble is, not many mothers (or fathers) are aware of the potential dangers of such men, while there is so much emphasis on boys needing male teachers and role models, then as now, and on not shaming men, gay or straight, and few articles like yours telling the hard truths. This was 16 years ago. We need more articles like this. Thanks.
Thank you for raising this issue. We’ve all seen it and it has largely gone unaddressed by activists. I can’t say I’ve ever heard a female or lesbian defend paedophilia. Anyone?
I see it as a major problem that is amplified lately by trans activists who still fight for the medicalization of children and youth as well as the Drag communities’ insistence that it’s somehow appropriate and entertaining to subject children to an art form that has been historically contained within the adult gay community. Drag has always been hyper sexualized, often vulgar and raunchy. While I love drag, it is not appropriate for children in my view.
Not sure how we address this issue other than separate as LGB Alliance and The Lesbian Project have done. We’re still not seeing more people come to the table prepared to discuss the problems so my feeling is get prepared to duck and run because this is coming back at all of us unless we see more gays and lesbians speak out soon.
A difficult read for Gay Men possibly but read it they must. It is even more important now that we appear to be making the same mistake with Transgenderism/GI that was made when PIE infiltrated an existing civil rights movement. Boundaries & safeguarding are being minimised & the insidious assault on language around children should worry everyone.
You are right that challenging cultural ‘norms’ need to come from within communities as well as eternally. A good read & timely reminder for all of us that predators are more organised & determined than ever.
What I also find awkward is that a lot of people expect gay men’s opinions to be mainstream. At work I talk pretty openly about some issues and a few tables of mine seemed surprised when I voiced my thoughts on gender medicine for kids.
Even if we do speak out, our numbers are too small— and maybe even smaller for us who don’t live in “village” “ghettos”— to really be seen differently than what the media presents us as.
Thank you, Julie. This is excellent and worth republishing. I have been wondering, for some time, if the use of π to symbolise pansexual was a nod to the PIE of my youth. I haven't seen anything written about that, nor is π always used as part of pansexual identification, but I wondered what your thoughts were on this use of π.
Great article. Then and now.
Great article. However, I would refute the claim that only 5% of sexual abusers of children are women. There are far more men who have been sexually abused by women that one can imagine. I have heard from these men throughout my career. A lot of men are too ashamed and embarrassed to admit it. Also, culturally, young men who have been preyed upon by women are glorified. Consider the movie Risky Business.
I attended the 3rd National Conference of Lesbians and Homosexual Men at LaTrobe University in Melbourne in 1983. Great deight and excitement until we discovered that childcare at the conference was provided by the Gay Men’s Paedophile Collective.
Seriously.
No doubt the conference organizers thought they were making a profound political statement.
Incredible. But the shock of this post from Kate underscores how far we’ve come. It also underlines how much same-sex relationships have become normalised over the last forty years. Our shock is now collective, whether we’re gay or straight. The process of sexual liberation always involved exploration, but inevitably it was - and is - a search for boundaries, moreover boundaries that are consensual in a civilised society. If they have taken a little time to put in place, we should also accept we are on a journey: the process is always evolving. Trans activists may be putting a bump in the road, but it will be levelled out in time.
I’d like to think that children and adults alike are much more aware of boundaries, generally. Of course, given its pernicious impact on adolescents (especially boys), the unbridled availability of on-line porn is another bump on the road. Although we don’t agree about every point, Julie B has been a wise and powerful voice on this subject. We cannot stand by and allow porn to destroy healthy real-world relationships.
Didn’t you sign that ridiculous letter? “Oh, the government is jailing people for thought crimes. Time to finger my enemies!”
finally this is being spoken about
Forgive any voice typing errors and not to derail a thread but I know of at least one gay man the host of the disaffected podcast who needs to shut the hell up about abortion and feminism
men who bust out misogynistic slurs the second you aren't praising them supporting them or opening your wallet the Nanosecond you disagree with them you're a bitch and everything about feminism is horrific you're misogynist Joshua Slocum and you can go fuck yourself.
What the actual fuck did I just read.
Bridges burned, lady. It didn’t have to be like this.