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Pedophile advocacy groups (alternatively spelled paedophile advocacy groups) are organizations that advocate for the abolishment or lowering of the age of consent and the normalization of adult sexual relations with children.[1][2] Such groups have existed dating back to 1962 in multiple countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands.
In the 20th century, many pro-pedophile groups were founded during the Sexual Revolution.[3] In the United States, pro-pedophile groups such as the Rene Guyon Society have existed since the 1960's. In Britain, the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), led by Tom O'Carroll, has operated from 1974 to 1984 and openly collaborated with other political organizations such as the Albany Trust and the NCCL. In France, many intellectuals sought to lower the age of consent during the 1970's. The Netherlands was once seen as one of the main centers of pedophile activism.
20th century
United States
In the United States, pro-pedophile groups have often been inspired by their European counterparts, with some being transitory in nature and emerging in wake of criminal cases, and others being more long-lived. Some of these organizations have been investigated by law-enforcement agencies, with illegal seizures of evidence, arrests and incarcerations of their leaders taking place. Some members of these groups have used pseudonyms to hide their identities.[2]
The Rene Guyon Society was the first pro-pedophile organization to be founded in the United States. The group was established in 1962 by seven people who had attended a conference by French jurist and pro-adult-child sex advocate René Guyon (1876–1963). During a 1977 subcommittee on select education, the organization's leader said that the group had 5,000 members nationwide. In 1971, the California-based Childhood Sensuality Circle was founded with the intent of advocating for sexual activities between adults and children. In 1978, the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) was founded following a police operation in Massachusetts.[2]
Europe
United Kingdom
The Paedophile Action for Liberation (PAL) was the first pedophile advocacy group founded in Britain.[4] Moreover, the British Pedophile Information Exchange (PIE) was established in 1974 and openly collaborated with political organizations such as the Albany Trust and the National Council for Civil Liberties (NCCL).[2] PIE was affiliated with the NCCL from late 1970's to the early 1980's.[5]
From August to September 1977, news articles were published on the daily denouncing PIE and its leader Tom O'Carroll. The organization remained notorious in the British press until the 1980's.[5] In 1984, PIE was dissolved after its leaders were prosecuted for conspiracy to corrupt public morals.[2]
Netherlands
The Netherlands was once seen as one of the main centers of the pedophile movement. In 1971, the country had seen a federated network of pro-pedophile groups working in the Dutch Society for Sexual Reform.[6] During the 1960's, Dutch Labour Party senator Edward Brongersma and Frits Bernard founded a pro-pedophile group.[4][7]
In 1982, Vereniging Martijn was founded and further sought to participate in political discussions on the topic of pedophilia.[8]
Germany
In Germany, the German Study and Working Group on Pedophilia (DSAP) was highly active in the 1980's and had psychologist Helmut Kentler serving on its board in 1980. The DSAP also shared a post office box with the Humanists Union, an organization that also had ties with advocates of adult-child sexual relations, in Düsseldorf.[9][6]
France
In 1977, many French intellectuals including René Scherer, his former pupil and lover Guy Hocquenghem and Gabriel Matzneff launched campaigns to lower the age of consent, which garnered the support of Michel Foucault, Jean-Paul Sartre, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida and Félix Guattari.[6][4] Their writings were published in prominent French newspapers, such as Le Monde and Libération. During his career, Scherer wrote extensively on the topic of pedophilia from 1974 to 1979 and advocated for sexual relations between minors and across people of different generations.[4]
Among gay activists
According to researcher Theo Sandfort, pedophiles have been seen as a sub-category of homosexuals until 1958, which explains the abscense of any specific pedophile group up to that point. Opposition to pro-pedophile organizations among homosexual circles has existed to varying degrees over time, with British, American and Scandinavian groups being more reluctant to support pedophile organizations than their German, Spanish, French and Latin American counterparts. In the 1970's, during Anita Bryant's Save Our Children campaign, most American homosexual activists started to dissociate from pro-pedophile groups in the United States, which contributed to the subsequent creation of NAMBLA. The prosecution of PIE's leaders in the early 1980's also pushed some initially-friendly gay groups away from supporting the pro-pedophile organization.[4]
21st century
With the development of the Internet, many pedophile groups started to advocate for adult-child sex online.[10][11] As of 2009, the Internet had 64 websites in 15 different languages that advocated for sexual activities between adults and children.[1]
Some traditional pedophile organizations, such as NAMBLA, have migrated to the Internet.[12][13] The Free Spirits group, which has been funded by donations coming from its own members, has been one of the biggest known pedophile organizations online and has loaned websites to Dutch, German and Danish pedophile support groups, though they do not advocate for "physical contact" between adults and children. The Canada-based Ganymède group has also maintained similar websites.[14][15]
Pro-pedophile organizations have also produced online resources, such as the Wikipedia-inspired Girlwiki and Boywiki, that advocate for sex between adults and children.[13][17] The Boylove Manifesto, which has been shared by multiple online pedophile groups, state that sex between men and boys is not wrong and demands that age of consent laws be reconsidered.[15][18][19]
Pedophile advocacy groups often engage in neutralizing behaviors, such as denial of injury, denial of victim and condemnation of those who oppose adult-child sexual acts. They engage in denial of victim by asserting that children are not victims of adult sexual behavior, but rather willing partners who are able to consent to sexual acts. This phenomenon is illustrated by a NAMBLA statement asserting that "if a child and adult want to have sex, they should be free to do so. Consent is the critical point... force and coercion are abhorrent to NAMBLA".[2] Such beliefs contradict the academic literature that asserts that sexual behaviors between adults and children are harmful.[20]
These groups also engage in condemnation of the condemners, a neutralizing behavior, by asserting that larger society is hypocritical and guilty of the same or even more victimizing acts that it accuses pedophiles of. This belief is illustrated by the following except coming from their literature: "The 'protectors' of children are the real perverts, the real child abusers, the real molesters who take advantage of innocence and inexperience to spread the venom of guilt and fear."[2]
Aside from pre-Internet organizations such as the Rene Guyon Society and the Childhood Sensuality Circle, the use of neutralizing behaviors has also been observed in online pedophile advocacy environments.[1] These groups often establish boundaries that separates their own subculture from general society.[10]
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