Heretic TOC

Not the dominant narrative

Stigma stings destigmatiser of MAPs

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  With a single bound he was free. So was she. What about they? HE is Thomas Hubbard, professor of classics at the University of Texas, Austin, who resigned after campus protests and a mob attack on his home provoked by a disgruntled student who used his scholarship on pederasty in ancient Greece and his discussion of boy love in modern times to brand him a paedophile and call for his sacking. He left the city to live somewhere more congenial, sued for defamation, won a handsome financial settlement, and now heads the prestigious William A Percy Foundation for Social and […]

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What do we see, through a glass darkly?

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As promised last time, what follows is the second part of a two-parter. The first focused on an oppressive new prosecution in the Netherlands. Today’s theme looks ahead. Can we expect to see freedom of expression and sexual radicalism come under greater pressure everywhere on the planet in the light of current trends? Are there any factors that could bring a change of direction? Meanwhile, I can report that yesterday I had news from Norbert de Jonge, one of the four under indictment. He has confirmed an earlier indication to me that he will not mount a defence against the allegations

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Where prejudice legally trumps truth

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Many heretics here will be familiar with AliceLovers Magazine, a colourful occasional publication aimed mainly at GLs and produced to a high standard of attractive graphic design. Today’s blog, written by me, is due to appear in the next issue of ALM and was originally intended for first publication there. Unfortunately, the new issue, originally scheduled for 8 August, has been delayed by Covid-19, I am told, so I have decided to go ahead here with my own article while its somewhat time-sensitive content is still fresh. It is a big one, so I’ll run it here as a two-parter. Thus

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Discovering a ‘crime’ that is all in the mind

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I am not sure what Plato would have made of the “platonic rape” concept introduced by guest blogger Cyril Belgrad today, but it is undoubtedly one that makes a disturbingly valid topic for thought and discussion in the sexually angst-ridden culture of our times. Belgrad is a professional with a distinguished reputation in his field. PLATONIC RAPE I’ve been lucky to have several long-term young friends in my life. The first, Jody, is now in his late twenties and calls me on the phone about once a week. Steve, who is earlier in his twenties, has thanked me for giving him

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A flogger’s yearning to ‘inflict pleasure’

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Today’s guest blogger, Stephen James, is well known here as a regular commentator whose succinct contributions often provide a sensible counterpoint (or antidote!) to some of the always welcome but often wild “thinking outside the box” we tend to see in the heretical comments here. He has also written for the NAMBLA Bulletin and for the Newgon web magazine Uncommon Sense. His logical approach is consistent with his work as a published author of formal philosophy. He is well qualified for this, as he read philosophy and modern languages at Oxford and holds a Ph.D. in philosophy. Stephen guest-blogged here a

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Gilt is stripped from Saint Peter’s halo

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Peter Tatchell has long been a hero of mine and doubtless millions of others around the globe, for the outstanding bravery, energy and lifelong dedication he has contributed to the international advancement of gay rights, lowering the age of consent, and much else. He has been dubbed a secular saint: Netflix has just brought out a documentary that celebrates his lifelong activism. Unfortunately, what Heretic TOC must reveal today is a weaker and darker side of “Saint Peter”, one which sadly he shares with the original Christian saint – a tendency to deny, disown and disavow his past, thrice and many

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Children’s sexuality? No latency. Period.

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Sooner or later, of course, the adults intervened, called the police or the park attendants, and asked what in the world we were up to. Most of us were arrested at least once and got used to carrying thick wallets full of documents identifying us as members of a research team. Despite the fact that we were in no way conducting a participant observation study, and were merely attempting to understand children’s sexual thinking, it was very difficult to communicate this distinction to authorities. The experiences were painful, and so we began to train children in handling tape recorders. This worked

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Everyone’s invited to reconsider childhood

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  “Everyone’s Invited”: Sounds nice, doesn’t it? So welcoming, so inclusive. And to my pleasant surprise the Instagram campaign with this name, which went viral last month with its testimonies by (mainly) teenage girls to sexual harassment they have suffered at the hands – and occasionally penises – of their classmates, is not at all the shrill, vengeful, hyperbolic litany of righteous fury that might have been expected to follow the #MeToo hate-fest. Setting the tone, the campaign’s Homepage says: Moving forward, we know that our responsibility lies in improving and healing the wounds we have uncovered. We do not condone

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As sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal

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  As a bit of a night owl, these days, I usually close out my day nearly an hour after midnight. The late-night review of the morning newspapers on BBC News 24 is part of the routine, giving the pleasing illusion of knowing in advance what lesser mortals will only discover over breakfast the next day; then there is a solid session of dry academic reading to send me to sleep. Fortified in this way with the sense that I have been virtuously busy, I feel no compunction to be an early riser; seldom do I get up before nine. But

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The cruel martyrdom of Steven Freeman

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Remember David Blunkett? He was one in a succession of UK home secretaries hell-bent on being tougher on crime than their predecessor a couple of decades ago and more. Among his crowd-pleasing reforms was a “crackdown on paedophiles” in his Sexual Offences Act, 2003; but his most draconian measure was the sentence of “imprisonment for public protection” (IPP), introduced in the Criminal Justice Act of the same year. The idea was to keep in prison any offender considered too dangerous to be released when their original sentence had expired – a bit like civil commitment in the US. Being kept behind

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