Ok, WB, I made a gross over-statement. No not everybody over there is a loon, but …
I’m just as outraged as you, or they, are about the existance of NAMBLA, but using it to comparing pedophilia to homosexuality is just stupid. No two bones about it. You want to compare pedophilia to rape? Be my guest, because essentially that’s what it is. Are you going to sit there and compare rape with homosexuality? I don’t friggin’ think so.
I used to know a member of some Boy Lover organization a while back, and he was indeed sick and twisted (aren’t we all?), but mostly sad.
This guy could never form any kind of relationship with anything, not a woman, a man, a pet, nothing. I almost felt sorry for him, untill I uncovered the truth: he was obstaining from sex 'cause he only wanted it with young boys, and in general, they don’t want it with middle aged men! He maintained that he could never force himself uppon anyone, but I guess that’s just his word, and anyone’s word isn’t any good in my experience. Everyone lies sometime.
But all the same I couldn’t help getting a weird feeling of somehow feeling sorry for the guy, I mean, he didn’t ask for these feelings any more than a gay person asks for all the social and psychological feelings that come with that. Of course, his sexuality disgusted me in every way, but when I thought of what it was like to be universally reviled (I have experienced this to some extend by having VERY different oppinions from the crowd I stupidly chose to hang with during my early years), I also felt sorry for him.
It is a distinct possibility, if not a fact, that many pedophiles go throught their entire lives in agony, never realizing their sexual desires and live in perpetual fear of them being discovered. I haven’t been in touch with the pedo I knew a couple of years back for a while, probably because I don’t like dealing with the issue of knowing someone “like that”. Sometimes I think: “who’s the one with the problem?”.
Although in theory I defend every kind of irregularity as a simple twist of fate and genetics, it is hard to ignore the fact that the urge to sleep with children is about as dangerous as the urge to stab people repeatedly. While I don’t blame people for having these emotions I sure do blame them for acting uppon them. The bottom line is, people are strange, but their not all evil.
Granted, people with “evil instincts” are far more likely to do bad things. Then again I have never been considered a well adjusted individual myself and there are those who would say that I was a dangerous individual, if not socially then politically.
OK, so the bottom line is: I’m confused. But my belief is still that people who think bad things, don’t necissarily do bad things, although there’s always the possibility.
Anyone out there share my confusion/conviction on this issue?
Oh fercryingoutloud Handy, even you can see the difference between two teenagers having sex and grown men having sex with little boys, right?
I have to agree with Jack, you’re talking out your ass.
" . . . post-op transsexual lesbian? Come on in!"
Davis—My friend April is a post-op transsexual lesbian, and as nice a gal as you’d ever want to meet. PLEASE tell me you’re not one of those “at least we’re not as weird as those fucking trannies” gay men?
Eve,
Does that mean your friend was previously . . . GASP . . . a lesbian trapped in a man’s body. I thought those only existed in the minds of mediocre stand-up comics.
Billdo—she was indeed “GASP . . . a lesbian trapped in a man’s body.” She is now a happy, well-adjusted lesbian, in a stable relationship.
Why is that so hard for people to wrap their minds around? “Who you are” and “who you’re attracted to” are two entirely separate concepts. If I were attracted to other women, would that make me a man? People who think transsexuals are just gay people who went overboard are doing a disservice to both gays and the transgendered.
{Climbing gingerly down from her soapbox]
Once again the bugaboo of written communication strikes.
My “GASP” was in no way related to shock or or absence of respect of your friend’s sexuality and identity. With the broad multiplicity of sexualies out there, my surprise was not at your friend’s sexual identity. Rather, I was gasping at the fact that she fits so well into a cheezy, hackneyed punchline – sort of a mythical pop-culture reference come to life.
Oh my, I’ve been misunderstood! I didn’t make that clear - when I wrote:
I include myself as the person saying “Come on in!” There are, as Ween once sang, “Many Colors In The Homo Rainbow.” While there are fewer pre-op trannsexual lesbians than gay men, they are not any more weird than I am.
[aside]Actually, an interesting discussion might be “Are post-op transexuals ‘gay’ anymore?” But perhaps in another thread…[/aside]
PS - the homosexuality/bestiality/pedophilia debate-slash-trair wreck is at:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=43610
Please note that this has been closed, but it’s an interesting yet frustrating read - and it’s where I got one of my sig lines from!
I found an interesting article that relates to this discussion.
http://patcalifia.exit.mytoday.de/1039_age_of_consent_the_great_kiddy-porn_panic_of_'77.shtml