Strategy

I agree with you, to a point. I think there are two pillars that hold up this ubiquitous idea that pedophiles are evil, and that what we want is wrong. One pillar is that children need to be protected from all things sinful, dangerous, and adulty. This protection can come at the expense of children's agency and freedom, and that doesn't seem to bother anyone. The other pillar is that sex is sinful, dangerous, and adulty. If either pillar falls, there is no justification for denying sex to kids, and therefore no justification for hating pedophiles. I feel like your central argument here is that we're focusing too much on trying to get people to chill about sex, while we should be focusing more on children's rights. Personally I think you're right; children's rights are clearly the more palatable argument to the general public, and it is less obviously self-serving. I do think that pillar is going to be the easier one to take down. Most people think pedophiles want to hurt kids for their own sexual gratification. From the many interactions I've had with child lovers over the decades I've been at Lifeline, I think this is actually quite rare. Granted, the subset of child lovers I've been exposed to has a self-selection bias, so my impression counts for little. Even so, it's safe to say that the blanket belief about "all pedophiles" is false. As a result of this misconception, most people think pedophiles would benefit from a reduction in childhood agency: the larger the power gap between adults and children, the more we'd be able to take advantage of them. For us to advocate on behalf of children, to narrow that power gap and give children more agency instead of less ... that might be a wake up call for many. In any case, in the long run, I think both pillars should fall. I have no problem with protecting kids from dangerous things, but they should be able to take some reasonable risks to learn about life. I'm not a fan of the bubble-wrapping, helicopter-parenting society we've built within my lifetime. At the same time, I don't think sex is this special, sinful activity, and we don't need special categories of laws and social rules to govern it. Violence and coercion are wrong regardless of what you're forcing the other person to do, and regardless of their age. We don't need to make either a special category of crime. (hugs) -= ryvid =-