The way in which Michael Jackson’s trial has been dominating the world’s news for what seems like forever is a sign of the unhealthy obsession that we have developed with paedophilia. In an age of moral relativism, it seems to be the only thing left we can all wholeheartedly agree upon. Many people take an extremely relaxed view of lifestyle events like divorce and abortion which used to occasion shock. But sex involving younger children is – quite rightly – considered to be beyond the pale, and we want to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent it.
Unfortunately, the scale of the response has now overtaken the real risk. Measures have been put in place that seem to be based on the assumption that there are paedophiles lurking everywhere, and that anyone who wants to get close to children must be a pervert. This is a terrible insult and injustice to the majority of people working with children who would never dream of harming them.
As everyone knows, all teachers have to have their private lives turned upside down to get ‘advanced clearance’, but so do the dinner ladies and classroom assistants. Also, anyone who works with children in any voluntary capacity is treated as a potential abuser, as if no one would give their time freely just to help young people. The Boy Scouts have been reporting for years that it is becoming increasingly difficult to get Scout Leaders in some parts of the country, and this could be partly because men who come forward are exposed to the most unpleasant suspicions. The Children’s Country Holiday Fund is a splendid charity, set up by Canon Barnett at the end of the nineteenth century, which has helped hundreds of thousands of children to experience holidays in the fresh air, but a few years ago it had to suspend operations because of the number of allegations which were being made by children, almost all of which were malicious, but which have to be treated as genuine while the claim is investigated. This puts the unfortunate and innocent adult through months of suspicion.
Now Roy Case, chair of the English Golf Union, is warning that their programme for seeking out and training promising young boys is under threat, as the men running it feel they are all being treated as potential child abusers. Volunteers have been told that they must not offer unaccompanied children a lift home after training, that under-11s must be supervised by two adults of the same sex in the changing rooms, and that adults must never visit locker-room lavatories while children are in them. ‘Volunteers who feel that they are under suspicion are not going to hang around’, he says.
What is the point of all this? Do we really need to impugn the motives of all those good people who are willing to give up their time to work with promising or deprived young people, just to flush out the handful of real perverts? Surely there must be a more sensible approach. And it does seem ironic that this mass hysteria about child abuse is taking place at the same time as the police have adopted an extremely relaxed attitude towards enforcing the age of consent. Cases of sexual activity involving girls of 14 and 15 are very rarely even investigated now, and the terrible case of the family of three girls who became pregnant at 12, 14 and 16, reported in media two weeks ago, has not resulted in any prosecution of their boyfriends – one of whom was a man in his thirties.
Don’t girls need to be protected as well as boys? And, before we start insulting innocent volunteers, wouldn’t it be a good idea to pursue those who are definitely breaking the law? There is much to be said for consistency.
Comments (4)
To be perfectly honest, I cannot understand why it is considered wrong for people to have sex if they want to, however old they are. Rape and molestation is always wrong, but consensual sex cannot logically be wrong before any given arbitrary point, when it is absolutely acceptable immediately afterwards.
Let us also not forget that there is no clear objective age limit for sexual activity, proved by the different age limits and restrictions placed on sex throughout the world.
People have all sorts of diverse sexual attractions; it strikes me as counter-productive to castigate and ostracise people for what they happen to feel - and paedophilia does describe sexual attraction rather than action.
Posted by David Wright | June 9, 2005 10:43 AM
Posted on June 9, 2005 10:43
Jacko is clearly a fruitcake of the first water, who really ought not to be allowed out unsupervised. That said, I suspect that he is more at risk from gold-digging parents than children are from him -- his relationships with children seem to be more to do with recreating the childhood he never had than anything more harmful to his little pals.
The whole thing has become a dismal, expensive (but lucrative) freak show and the sooner it's over, the better.
The pervasive culture of fear, here as well as in the USA, is another matter. In the hierarchy of the unforgivable, pædophila ranks above rape which ranks just above racism. The merest rumour of any of these sins will lead to a man's excommunication -- or worse. If all it takes is one canny little toerag with an imagined grievance to ruin your life, small wonder so many decent people are unwilling to work with children --whether voluntary or as paid work.
Posted by Edwin Greenwood | June 8, 2005 1:15 PM
Posted on June 8, 2005 13:15
It is all twaddle. I don't know if Michael Jackson is a child abuser, but I doubt it. I think he has serious problems, but I don't think he'd abuse a child.
What is clear is guilty or not, he has no chance of a fair trial; it is a witchhunt.
Posted by Paul | June 8, 2005 12:31 AM
Posted on June 8, 2005 00:31
How sad all this is! I am a man aged 73 and I have two daughters who captured my heart as toddlers and who are still much loved. I love small children but I am now afraid to go near them to express a wholely innocent affection lest I be branded as a pervert. What a nonsense this is.
Posted by Henry Kaye | June 7, 2005 6:01 PM
Posted on June 7, 2005 18:01