Defining Deviancy Down

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Wednesday, March 27, 2002 2:19 p.m. EST | BY JAMES TARANTO

[vannrox]

But arguments have emerged in academic journals, books and online that at least some such sex should be acceptable, especially when children consent to it. . . . These academics seek to change the language, moving away from "pedophilia," which often evokes a charged negative response, particularly in light of the priest-pedophile cases challenging the Roman Catholic Church. In its place would be more neutral terms such as "intergenerational sex" or "adult-child sex."

[vannrox]

...!

[keyesguy]

Makes me proud to be a U of M alumni. I can't wait for the next telemarketer to ask me to donate to the university.

[Savage Beast]

Children are not capable of informed consent to sex with adults. To ignore this invites the exploitation of children by adults, with harmful, possibly devastating results to the children and possibly also to the adults.

[RAT Patrol]

This is pure evil at the same level as UBL! When Adults start having sex with kids and our Culture says it's okay, it will be time for a second civil war.

[MizSterious]

People flamed me on the van Dam threads when I said this would be next.

[PetiteMericco]

This is an assault on the idea of civilized society. In fact, it runs completely counter to the idea.

"After examining the sexual practices of more than 80 primitive and more advanced societies, [Professor J. D.] Unwin concluded that sexually permissive behavior led to less cultural energy, less creativity, less individualism, less mental development and less cultural progress in general. Primitive societies with the greatest sexual freedom had made the least cultural advances. Those with stricter limitations had made the greatest progress. Among civilized societies, the same rule held. Those with restrictive sexual codes had made the greatest cultural strides, and when more permissive sexual standards appeared, cultural decline set in. Unwin said there was no known instance of a society that retained as high a cultural level after relatively relaxed sexual standards replaced more rigorous ones (although he conceded that it might take several generations before the debilitating effect was clearly manifest).

"William Stephens, after studying 90 primitive cultures, wrote that the tribes lowest on the scale of cultural evolution have the most sexual freedom. Sigmund Freud, surprisingly to some, associated cultural advances with limitations on sexual activity. Arnold Toynbee, celebrated student of world civilizations, declared that a culture which postpones rather than stimulates sexual experience in the young is a culture most prone to progress. Will and Ariel Durant, after a lifetime of studying world history, wrote in The Lessons of History that it was imperative to maintain rigorous sexual restraint upon the young..."
--Exerpts are from an address delivered in the mid-1980s by Reo M. Christenson - Professor of Political Science, Miami University, Oxford, OH

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

This idea is just another sign of the apocalypse. Even suggesting such a thing is disgusting beyond the ability of the most eloquent wordsmith to convey even remotely adequately. Whoever suggests such a thing probably hopes to personally benefit from such an idea becoming socially acceptable. I am agnostic, but I can say without a trace of irony, God help us all.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

I forgot to add that this typifies the liberal approach to reducing crime: make criminal acts legal. Same concept as making the SAT easier so as to inflate scores, or, to change the scoring scale itself to bring scores up. Actual crime reduction matters not to these people, only the APPEARANCE of crime reduction.

[goodnesswins]

Dr. Laura was right, is right......

[FresnoDA]

VD apologist run amok.....