Pedofilia

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Australian Historical Studies

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The emergence of the paedophile in

the late twentieth century
Steven Angelides
University of Melbourne
Published online: 27 Jan 2009.
To cite this article: Steven Angelides (2005) The emergence of the paedophile in
the late twentieth century, Australian Historical Studies, 36:126, 272-295, DOI:
10.1080/10314610508682924
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The Emergence of the Paedophile in the

Late Twentieth Century*
Downloaded by [University of Haifa Library] at 23:17 22 September 2013
STEVEN ANGELIDES
This article explores the cultural and historical conditions structuring the emergence of
the category of the "paedophile' in Western discourse in the latter part of the twentieth
century. It argues not only that the "paedophile' was an outgrowth of social and
political power struggles around questions of normative masculinity and male sexuality,
but also that homophobia played a central role in its formation. In addition to
regulating social and intimate relations between men, women and children, the
category of the 'paedophile" was homosexualised in order to demarcate "normal'from
'pathological' masculinities.
A s A DI S C O URS E, paedophilia, like that of m o d e r n homosexuality, is a decidedly
W e s t e r n i n v e n t i o n of the late n i n e t e e n t h century. Yet unlike h o m o s e x u a l i t y ,
paedophilia was n o t at this time the object of particular concern. For Victorian
sexologists, paedophilia was seldom discussed a n d was considered of such rare
o c c u r r e n c e that it was scarcely construed, as was homosexuality, as a separate
ontological category, sexual species or psychic identity. Instead, it was identified,
a n d r e m a i n e d for a g o o d deal longer t h a n h o m o s e x u a l i t y , as a ' t e m p o r a r y aberration', to redeploy Michel Foucault's terms regarding h o m o s e x u a l i t y 3 W h a t this
m e a n s is that paedophilia was m o r e often t h a n n o t a r a t h e r u n n o t e w o r t h y f o r m
of sexual excess or deviation, as Havelock Ellis observed, less often associated
w i t h 'senility' or occurring as an 'occasional l u x u r i o u s speciality of a few overrefined persons', a n d m o r e often associated with a generalised f o r m of sexual
indiscrimination and w e a k - m i n d e d n e s s . 2 Freud, in s o m e w h a t similar fashion,
described the exclusive sexual interest in children as a 'sporadic aberration' a n d
he w h o exhibits paedophilia as s o m e o n e ' w h o is c o w a r d l y or w h o has b e c o m e
i m p o t e n t ' . 3 In stark contrast to the discourse of h o m o s e x u a l i t y , then, a n individual practising intergenerational sex in the late n i n e t e e n t h and early t w e n t i e t h
* I w o u l d like to t h a n k Barbara Baird for h e r critical c o m m e n t a r y on a draft of this article, a n d
G r a h a m Willett for his assistance with t h e research I c o n d u c t e d for it at t h e Australian Lesbian
a n d Gay Archives.
1 Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality. Volume i: An Introduction, trans, by Robert Hurley (New
York: Vintage, 1980), 43.
2 Havelock Ellis, Psychology of Sex: A Manual for Students (London: William H e i n e m a n n , 1933), 129.
3 S i g m u n d Freud, Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), The Pelican Freud Library, Vol.7: On
Sexuality (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977), 60. To quote h i m in full: 'cases in w h i c h sexually
i m m a t u r e persons (children) are c h o s e n as sexual objects are instantly judged as sporadic aberrations. It is only exceptionally that children are the exclusive sexual objects in s u c h a case. T h e y
u s u a l l y c o m e to play that part w h e n s o m e o n e w h o is cowardly or h a s b e c o m e i m p o t e n t adopts
t h e m as a substitute, or w h e n a n u r g e n t instinct (one w h i c h will n o t aUow of p o s t p o n e m e n t )
c a n n o t at t h e m o m e n t get possession of a n y m o r e appropriate object'.
272
Angetides: The Emergence of the PaedophiIe in the Late Twentieth Century
273
centuries was infrequently labelled a 'paedophile'. Of principal concern to sexologists were sexual deviations with respect to the aim or gender of object choice,
not the age of object choice.
By the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, however, this has
changed dramatically. The discourses of paedophilia and sexuality have undergone profound transformations, and it is the axis of age, and the distinction
between child and adult sexuality, that is of utmost social, c o m m u n i t y and
parental interest and concern. Within the last two decades, in most Western societies there has been nothing short of an explosion of social panic surrounding
paedophilia and purported paedophile networks. 4 Just as the ' h o m o s e x u a l ' was
catapulted to centre stage at the turn of the nineteenth century, n o w it is the
'paedophile' that has emerged as a highly salient and potent figure almost a
century later.
This article explores the cultural and historical conditions structuring the
emergence of the category of the 'paedophile' in Western discourse in the latter
part of the twentieth century. It details h o w the formation of the m o d e r n
'paedophile' as a distinct 'type' or 'species' of person is inextricably linked to the
rise of gay activism, feminism, the child emancipation and paedophile liberation
movements, and to the rise of anti-child p o r n o g r a p h y and child sexual abuse
m o v e m e n t s of the 1970s and 1980s. Together these social m o v e m e n t s issued
profound challenges to social, political and material relations of gender generally, just as they issued profound challenges to notions of normative, or hegemonic, masculinities and male sexualities specifically. The article begins with a
brief historical overview of psycho-medical understandings of paedophilia,
Then, by way of an Australian case study, I outline h o w in the late 1970s and
1980s the category of paedophile h a r d e n e d into a culturally palpable and totalising identity category. I argue not only that the emergence of the 'paedophile'
was chiefly an o u t g r o w t h of social and political power struggles a r o u n d questions of normative masculinity and male sexuality, but also that h o m o p h o b i a
played a central role in this process, In addition to regulating social and intimate
relations between men, women, and children, the category of the 'paedophile'
functioned as a w a y of demarcating so-called ' n o r m a l ' from 'pathological'
masculinities and male sexualities. Here the h e t e r o / h o m o s e x u a l opposition is
writ large. 5
4 James R. Kincaid, Child-Loving: The Erotic Child and Victorian Culture (New York: Routledge, 1992);
Philip Jenkins, Moral Panic: Changing Concepts of the Child Molester in Modern America (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1998); Steven Angelides, "Historicizing Affect, Psychoanalyzing History:
Pedophilia and the Discourse of Child Sexuality', Journal of Homosexuality 46, nos. 1/2 (2003):
79-109.
s While I rely on an Australian case study to illustrate my argument, the emergence of the modern
identity category of the paedophile is part of a broader, Western phenomenon. In fact, the
Australian example not only mirrors but is also significantly influenced by both British and North
American developments.
274
Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005
From perversity to perversion

T h e c o n c e p t of p a e d o p h i l i a is u s u a l l y c r e d i t e d to t h e p i o n e e r i n g s e x o l o g i s t
R i c h a r d v o n Krafft-Ebing, w h o first r e f e r r e d to it a r o u n d 1886. In a c h a p t e r of his
o p u s m a g n u m Psychopathia Sex_ualis, e n t i t l e d ' P a t h o l o g i c a l S e x u a l i t y in Its Legal
A s p e c t s ' , Krafft-Ebing o u t l i n e d t h e m u l t i p l e p o s s i b l e causes of a d u l t ' s e x u a l
a b u s e s w i t h c h i l d r e n ' . 6 W i t h i n a s p e c t r u m of b o t h c o n s t i t u t i o n a l a n d e n v i r o n m e n t a l factors, K r a f f t - E b i n g d i s t i n g u i s h e d b e t w e e n ' n o n - p s y c h o p a t h o l o g i c a l ' a n d
' p s y c h o p a t h o l o g i c a l ' cases. N o n - p s y c h o p a t h o l o g i c a l cases w e r e p r e d o m i n a n t l y
e x a m p l e s of v a r i o u s f o r m s of m o r a l w e a k n e s s a n d p s y c h i c a l i m p o t e n c e (such as
fear of a d u l t f e m a l e s or i n d i f f e r e n c e a b o u t m a l e virility), w h i l e p s y c h o p a t h o l o g i cal cases w e r e e x a m p l e s l a r g e l y of 'acquired m e n t a l w e a k n e s s ' b r o u g h t o n b y s u c h
t h i n g s as c h r o n i c a l c o h o l i s m , h e a d injuries, a p o p l e x y , syphilis, epilepsy, d e g e n e r ative predisposition and hereditary constitutional neurasthenia. 7 Krafft-Ebing
cited v e r y f e w cases of p a e d o p h i l i a , as did his c o n t e m p o r a r i e s , a n d t h e p a u c i t y of
r e s e a r c h a n d d i s c u s s i o n o n t h e m a t t e r goes s o m e w a y to suggest t h a t , a g a i n
u n l i k e h o m o s e x u a l i t y , s u c h i n d i v i d u a l s w e r e n o t e x a c t l y s e e n as a g r a v e t h r e a t
o r social p r o b l e m . I n d e e d , w e get a sense of this f r o m Krafft-Ebing's o b s e r v a t i o n
t h a t "a c o m m o n f e a t u r e of t h e s e c r i m e s is ... t h a t t h e y a r e u n m a n l y , k n a v i s h , a n d
o f t e n silly'. 8
H o w e v e r , K r a f f t - E b i n g also a p p e a r e d to i n s t a t e a f u r t h e r d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n
c o n g e n i t a l or a c q u i r e d ' p s y c h i c o - m o r a l w e a k n e s s ' a n d ' s e x u a l p e r v e r s i o n ' ; t h a t is,
a d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n ' d i s e a s e (perversion) a n d vice (perversity)'. He p o i n t e d o u t
t h a t perversity, ' m o n s t r o u s as it m a y be, is clinically n o t decisive', w h e r e a s
p e r v e r s i o n i n v o l v e s a n i n v e s t i g a t i o n of ' t h e w h o l e p e r s o n a l i t y of t h e i n d i v i d u a l ' . 9
He t h u s c o i n e d t h e t e r m ' e r o t i c p a e d o p h i l i a ' to r e f e r to t h o s e i n d i v i d u a l s w h o
e x h i b i t a ' m o r b i d d i s p o s i t i o n ' t h a t m o r e a c c u r a t e l y reflects a 'psycho-sexual perversion'. S u c h i n d i v i d u a l s a r e c h a r a c t e r i s e d b y t h e fact t h a t t h e y are ' t a i n t e d ' in t h e i r
w h o l e ' p e r s o n a l i t y ' a n d t h e i r desire is of a ' p r i m a r y n a t u r e ' . As m u c h as to h i g h l i g h t t h e r a r i t y of t h e c o n d i t i o n , h o w e v e r , K r a f f t - E b i n g notes, ' I n m y e x p e r i e n c e
I h a v e o n l y c o m e across f o u r cases'.1
6 Richard yon Krafft-Ebing, Psychopathia Sexualis: With Especial Reference to the Antipathic Sexual
Instinct. A Medico ForensicStudy (New York: Arcade, 1998), 369.
7 Ibid., 369-74.
s Ibid., 369. Krafft-Ebing does provide a caution regarding paedophilia: 'At any rate these unfortunate beings should always be looked upon as a common danger to the welfare of the community' (374). However, in the context of his overall work and discussion, in his observation of
paedophilia's relative rarity, and in his emphasis on the silliness and moral weakness associated
with paedophilia, perhaps his use of the phrase 'should always' in the quote above might be read
in some ways as a call for society to recognise the danger paedophilia poses precisely because it
is not recognising it as such.
9 Ibid., 53.
zo Ibid., 371-2.
Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late Twentieth Century
27S
Krafft-Ebing's distinction between perversity and perversion signals an epistemic shift in the n i n e t e e n t h century, w h e r e historical, political and discursive
paradigms for understanding and regulating deviant behaviour w e r e transforming. This was a time w h e n religious and legal models had to contest with an
emergent and powerful scientific or medical model, or as Arnold Davidson puts
it, the nascent 'psychiatric style of reasoning'. 11 The distinction b e t w e e n perversity and perversion is part of this broader process of the medicalisation of sexual
deviance, which began from the late n i n e t e e n t h century to catalogue the various
departures from procreative sexuality according to distinct 'types', 'species' or
'psychic identities' of sexuality. It was almost as t h o u g h in this n e w paradigm the
concept of perversity stood in for those older tropes of legal and religious
m e a n i n g such as sin and immorality, whereas perversion represented the n e w e r
and supposedly impartial scientific and medical terminologies. As a result of the
clash of contradictory paradigms, the n e w sexoIogical discourse was driven by a
tension about h o w to construe sexual deviation: sexual practice and crime or a
psychic identity and disease? However, the distinction b e t w e e n perversity
(practice) and perversion (identity) was anything but neat, and it operated less as
a description of empirical or clinical reality t h a n as a regulatory ideal serving to
conceal and control the contradictions of this co-existence of competing paradigms. Importantly, this distinction has, in various incarnations, provided the
epistemic f r a m e w o r k not only for the m o d e r n psychiatric style of reasoning of
which Krafft-Ebing was an early example, but also for all subsequent theorising
about paedophilia. This distinction, and the contradictions that are b o t h its cause
and effect, has also, as we will see shortly, provided subsequent thinkers with a
kind of irresolvable incoherence of definition that has enabled enduring possibilities for political and rhetorical manipulation. 12
Unlike homosexuality, however, paedophilia's assimilation to the model of
psychiatric reasoning did not immediately result in a h a r d e n e d biological
typology or psychical identity category. This is not to say that psychiatrists,
psychologists and psychoanalysts did not essentialise the category of paedophilia
or construe it as a totalising psychic identity in their theories; m a n y most
certainly did, and etiological theories were as diverse as those proffered to explain
homosexuality. The difference b e t w e e n the examples of h o m o s e x u a l i t y and
paedophilia is that, unlike homosexuality, no culturally palpable category of the
'paedophile' emerged at this time. As I noted at the outset, paedophilia was
considered both rare and s o m e w h a t trivial. Another obvious reason is perhaps
the fact that paedophilia was not that a r o u n d which a 'reverse discourse' was
being (or had been) fashioned, as in the case of homosexuality, at least not in any
1i Arnold Davidson, 'Closing Up the Corpses: Diseases of Sexuality and the Emergence of the
Psychiatric Style of Reasoning', in Meaning and Method: Essays in Honor of Hilary Putnam, ed.
George Boolos (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
12 I am indebted here to Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's discussion of modern homo/heterosexual definition in Epistemology of the Closet (Berkeley: University of California Press, i990), 10-11.
276
c u l t u r a l l y c o n s p i c u o u s sense u n t i l a r o u n d the I970s.13 T h r o u g h o u t the late n i n e t e e n t h a n d t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r i e s , h o m o s e x u a l i t y h a d f r e q u e n t l y b e e n the basis for

self-identification a n d the site of d e c r i m i n a l i s a t i o n a n d e q u a l rights c a m p a i g n s .
H o m o s e x u a l i t y was t h u s a site, or subject position, u p o n w h i c h i n d i v i d u a l a n d
collective identities a n d c o m m u n i t i e s were erected. Paedophilia, o n the o t h e r
h a n d , was n o t that a r o u n d w h i c h i n d i v i d u a l a n d collective i d e n t i t y a n d c o m m u n i t y b u i l d i n g took place. T h e r e w e r e n o w i d e s p r e a d c a m p a i g n s (until t h e 1960s
a n d 1970s) for d e c r i m i n a l i s i n g i n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l sex or for abolishing t h e age of
c o n s e n t ; or at least, t h e r e w e r e n o c a m p a i g n s w a g e d i n the n a m e of the
' p a e d o p h i l e ' . A n d there w e r e n o apparent s u b c u l t u r a l n e t w o r k s of i n d i v i d u a l s a n d
g r o u p s w h o were u n i t e d a r o u n d the singularity of a p a e d o p h i l i c desire. Doctors
c a m e across very few cases of exclusive p a e d o p h i l i c desire a n d few i n d i v i d u a l s
o p e n l y or willingly identified t h e m s e l v e s i n these or a n y o t h e r similar terms,
That the i n v e n t i o n of p s y c h o - m e d i c a l i d e n t i t y concepts u s u a l l y r e q u i r e s the
active p a r t i c i p a t i o n of i n d i v i d u a l s (or, a reverse discourse)14 in order for t h e m to
b e c o m e c u l t u r a l l y salient a n d e n d u r i n g categories is, i n this instance, e v i d e n c e d
i n t h e c h a n g i n g a p p l i c a t i o n of W e s t e r n concepts of child m o l e s t a t i o n , i n b o t h
m a i n s t r e a m a n d p s y c h o - m e d i c a l discourses, b e t w e e n 1890 a n d 1970. A n a d u l t
w h o h a d sex w i t h a m i n o r m i g h t h a v e b e e n called a n y n u m b e r of n a m e s , from
sex fiend, predator, molester, a b u s e r a n d p a e d o p h i l e i n p o p u l a r discourse a n d
mass media, to pervert, d e g e n e r a t e , defective, p s y c h o p a t h a n d p a e d o p h i l e i n
scientific discourse. N o n e of these t e r m s h a v e e n j o y e d e n d u r i n g c u r r e n c y or
c o n s e n s u s . Moreover, n o t u n t i l t h e 1980s did t h e signifier of p a e d o p h i l i a accrue
the k i n d of a b h o r r e n c e a n d h o r r o r t h a t it c o n n o t e s today. Also, n o t u n t i l this t i m e
was p a e d o p h i l i a significantly m a r k e d off as a separate psychic i d e n t i t y category.
' P e r v e r t s ' a n d 'sex fiends' w e r e t e r m s often e m p l o y e d to describe sex c r i m i n a l s i n
t h e early decades of the t w e n t i e t h century, w h e n c o n c e r n s w e r e f r a m e d largely
b y issues of class, poverty, disease a n d social purity. I n this c o n t e x t t h e deviate
was c o n s t r u e d m o r e i n t e r m s of p e r v e r s i t y t h a n p e r v e r s i o n . Perverts a n d sex
13 On the reverse discourse of homosexuality, see Foucault, History of Sexuality, 10I. I agree with
historians who have challenged the primacy accorded to the medical model of homosexuality.
That is, I agree with Frederick Silverstolpe and Randolph Trumbach that medical discourses were
not in any straightforward way responsible for the invention of the category of the 'homosexual', but that these discourses were themselves shaped by the self-representations and behaviors
of those engaged in homosexuality. Frederic Silverstolpe, 'Benkert was not a Doctor: On the Non
Medical Origins of the Homosexual Category in the Nineteenth Century', in Homosexuality, Which
Homosexuality?, International Conference on Gay and Lesbian Studies, Vol.1 (Amsterdam: Free University, 1987); Randolph Trumbach, 'Gender and the Homosexual Role in Modern Western Culture:
The 18th and 19th Centuries Compared', in Which HomosexualiW? Essays From the International
Scientific Conference on Lesbian and Gay Studies, ed. Dennis Altman et al. (London: GMP, 1989).
14 I am not suggesting that a reverse discourse either simply proceeds from or is preceded by
psycho-medical terminology. Rather, I would conceive of the relationship often as a mutually
constituting one, whereby psycho-medical categories and categories of self-identification are
both causes and effects of each other. In other words, psycho-medical terminology both shapes
and is simultaneously shaped by subjectivity. Having said that, however, one must in my view
leave open the possibility that before the invention of 19th century sexology there might have
been individuals who conceived of themselves as being wholly psychically different to others
due to an exclusive homosexual desire.
Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late TWentieth Century
277
fiends, moreover, were generic categories that referred to a wide range of sexual
deviates. For example, even w h e n the US sex crime panics of the 1940s and
1950s converged a r o u n d the perceived national threat to children, offenders
were subsumed by the generic psychiatric category of 'sex psychopath'. 15
Nor were paedophilic sexual offenders t h o u g h t to be the most abhorrent or
violent or worrisome of the psychopaths. Although this category reflects the shift
to a psychiatric style of reasoning and the i m p u t a t i o n of totalising psychic identity
categories, the sex psychopath was, as influential psychiatrist Benjamin K a r p m a n
noted, a 'loosely-conceived entity regarding which psychiatrists disagree'. It
included a n u m b e r of violent and aggressive sex offenders, only one of which was
child sex offenders. 16 Paedophilic offenders were not therefore singled out as a
distinct category of psychical aberration, but were l u m p e d into a broader psychiatric group. Of course, this does not m e a n that paedophilia was not seen to have
its own constellation of dynamic factors and psychical typologies. However, in the
context of the comparative paucity of paedophile case studies, it does perhaps
indicate that identifying a discrete psychic identity of the paedophile was not a
priority. To b o r r o w Krafft-Ebing's phrase, nor, perhaps, was it clinically decisive. 17
Philip Jenkins describes the period b e t w e e n the late 1950s to the mid-1970s
as the 'liberal period', a time w h e n d o m i n a n t psychiatric discourses downplayed
the severity of sex offences. Serious and violent sex offending against children
was considered quite rare, and psychiatrists and criminologists identified earlier
media and public panic as disproportionate to the actual threat posed. The
category of 'molestation' often served to designate the m o r e prevalent and m i n o r
forms of sexual wrongdoing, which included such things as fondling, exhibitionism, masturbation or oral copulation. 'The great majority of the offenders against
children are not physically dangerous', declared one group of experts, 'since they
did not use force and since they seldom a t t e m p t e d coitus'. 18 M a n y others, including Revitch and Weiss, similarly highlighted the 'rarity of serious sexual aggressions against children'.19 Moreover, such offenders, as Jenkins observes, 'were to
be pitied rather t h a n punished', which suggested that while offenders m a y be
d e e m e d immature, confused, neurotic or psychopathological, they were for the
most part thought to be quite harmless, x As Revitch and Weiss pointed out in
15 Jenkins.
16 B e n j a m i n K a r p m a n , The Sexual Offender and His Offenses (New York: Julilan, 1954), 239.
17 Of course, it is certainly t h e case today that paedophilia, in clinical terms, is s u b s u m e d by the
generic category of 'paraphilia', w h i c h includes s u c h things as exhibitionism, fetishism, sadism,
m a s o c h i s m , transvestism, frotteurism a n d v o y e u r i s m . See American Psychiatric Association,
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4 t h ed. (Washington DC: Author, 1994).
However, psycho-medical research has singled o u t paedophilia from these o t h e r paraphilias a n d
the a m o u n t of material o n the subject has b u r g e o n e d . Moreover, that clinicians view paedophilia
as d a n g e r o u s a n d t h e o t h e r paraphilias as i n n o c u o u s represents a reversal of t h e scenario in the
1950s with t h e category of the sex psychopath.
18 Quoted in Jenkins, 102.
19 E u g e n e Revitch a n d Rosalee Weiss, "The Pedophilic Offender', Diseases of the Nervous System
(February 1962): 73.
2o Jenkins, 102.
278
their w o r k on paedophilic classifications, 'Pedophilia is essentially a regressive

state and a retreat from adult challenges'. 21 W h a t this reveals is that, typically,
adult paedophiles were at this time viewed as inadequate and innocuous figures
' w h o are in states of regression such as loss of potency, alcoholic inebriation, and
early senility' and w h o are suffering feelings of inadequacy and isolation. 22
Despite the fluctuating terminology for child sex offenders b e t w e e n 1890 and
1970, one of the more significant themes linking the divergent social meanings
attributed to intergenerational sex revolved a r o u n d the question of child sexuality and agency. It has been long lamented by c o n t e m p o r a r y child sexual abuse
feminists and advocates that, until the birth of the feminist child sexual abuse
m o v e m e n t in the late 1970s, a tendency to b l a m e the child victim of sexual
assault was a typical feature of psychiatric discourse. 23 At the same time as adult
child molesters were rendered pathetic and innocuous, children were routinely
rendered sexually flirtatious, precocious and e v e n seductive. "The majority of
pedophiles are harmless individuals', Revitch and Weiss declared, ' a n d their
victims are usually k n o w n to be aggressive and seductive'. 24 So p r o m i n e n t was
this view that even adult offenders were themselves sometimes portrayed as the
victims: Although the implication was often that they were victims of their o w n
sexual urges, nonetheless, m e n were at times characterised as victims of child
seductiveness and aggressive childhood delinquency. 25 Quite often the child
"induces the adult offender to commit the offense', argued Revitch and Weiss,
and the child is thus 'a victim in the legal sense only'. 26 Not only was the adult
paedophile usually considered pathetic because he was beset by crippling anxiety
and feelings of inferiority, but he was also usually m a r k e d by a child-like psychical organisation. It is perhaps this representational dynamic b e t w e e n the infantilised adult and the "adultified' child that, in part, m a k e s it easier to u n d e r s t a n d
h o w the paedophilic child sex offender, subject to a striking lack of attention in
comparison to c o n t e m p o r a r y concerns, was not singled out for the kind rigorous
scrutiny we might expect today.
That adult m e n could be depicted as victims and children as sexually precocious and aggressive, speaks to a very different set of social, political and epistemological meanings and material relations of p o w e r both between generations and
b e t w e e n the sexes. However, with the rise of the n e w social m o v e m e n t s and the
reorganisation of social and material power relations all of this would soon change.
21 Revitch a n d Weiss, 75.

22 Ibid., 75, 78.
23 Steven Angelides, 'Feminism, Child Sexual Abuse, a n d t h e Erasure of Child Sexuality', GLQ, 10,
no.2 (2004): 141-77.
25 See A n n a C. Salter, Trealing Child Sex Offenders and Victims: A Practical Guide (Newbury Park, CA:
Sage, 1988); Linda Gordon, 'The Politics of Child Sexual Abuse: Notes from A m e r i c a n History',
Feminist Review, no.28 ( J a n u a r y 1988): 56-64; Estelle B. F r e e d m a n , 'Uncontrolled Desires: The
R e s p o n s e to the Sexual Psychopath, 1920-1960', Journal of American History, 74 (1987): 83-106.
279
Manhood under fire

W h e n the category of the homosexual emerged at the turn of the nineteenth
century as a salient n e w social identity it reflected a time of profound social, political, epistemological and material transformation with regard to gender relations.
Movements for racial and sexual equality, and the proliferation of categories of
'effeminate' men, 'masculine' w o m e n and the New W o m e n reflected a challenge
to patriarchal boundaries of race, gender and sexuality. 27 Elaine Showalter
describes this as a time of 'sexual anarchy', a time w h e n definitions of masculinity and femininity were put into serious question. 28 The balance of power
between the genders was under attack, and bourgeois masculinity suffered a
profound crisis of legitimation. I have outlined elsewhere h o w we can only
understand the emergence of the psycho-medical category of the ' h o m o s e x u a l '
as a distinct type of person (perversion) in the context of this 'crisis' of masculinity. 29 The scientific category of the homosexual can be viewed in large measure
as a defensive projection of a heteronormative psycho-medical discourse, the
authorial referent of which was/were a form or forms of masculinity or male
identity under threat. We might also see the emergence of the category of the
' h o m o s e x u a l ' as a distinct and pathological ontology as one part of a process
of constructing, to use R. W. Connell's terms, 'subordinated' or 'feminised'
masculinities or male roles, a process that is itself driven by the determination to
secure and reinforce forms of hegemonic masculinity or male identity. 3
Similarly, almost a century later, we need to situate the emergence of the
category of the 'paedophile' squarely in the social, political, epistemological and
material context of gender relations. However, where, a century ago, responses
to shifting material and symbolic relations of sex and sexuality were animated
profoundly (although not solely) by relations between the sexes, I want to argue
that responses to shifting material and symbolic relations at the last fin de siecle
were animated as m u c h by gender relations as they were by shifting relations
between the generations and, more particularly, by shifting relations within the sexes,
principally a m o n g men. 31 Or to put this differently, where w o m e n (or the
supposedly ' w o m e n - l i k e ' such as homosexuals) and femininity were put under
the microscope at the turn of the nineteenth century, it was 'normative m e n ' and
hegemonic masculinity that were in m a n y critical ways put u n d e r the microscope
almost a century later. I am not suggesting that w o m e n and homosexuals were
not under scrutiny at the turn of the twentieth century, or alternatively, that
generational relations were not under scrutiny a century ago. I am suggesting
merely that within the politics and epistemology of identity, we have witnessed
a significant transformation with regard to subject-object relations in Western
27 Steven Angelides, A History of Bisexuality (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001 ), 23-48.
28 Elaine Showalter, Sexual Anarchy: Gender and Culture at the Fin de Siecle (London: Virago, 1992).
29 Angelides, History of Bisexuali(v, 23-48_
3o Robert W. Connell, Masculinities (Sydney:Alien and Unwin, 1995).
31 Of course, sexuality was also shaped profoundly by relations of class, race and Empire.
280
societies. Women, homosexuals and the 'lower' classes and races have each to a
certain extent achieved a level of formal subject status. No longer are these groups
used chiefly as objects to define by default the identity, power and privilege of
white, middle class, heterosexual men, as was so often the case before the 1970s.
Instead, there has been a reversal of fortunes, h o w e v e r limited in scope, and
normative m e n and hegemonic masculinity have been exposed as positions of
privilege in need of critical interrogation and transformation. This is n o w h e r e
more apparent than in the realm of sexuality, w h e r e everyday m e n have been
placed u n d e r the critical spotlight like never before.
The decades of the 1970s and 1980s were a watershed in the transformation
of gender and sexual relations in all Western societies. Although never static,
such relations were rapidly, profoundly and irrevocably transfomled by the accumulated efforts of, a m o n g other things, gay liberation, second wave feminism
and the child sexual abuse movement. Even generational relations had been
significantly contested and altered by the hippie and countercultural m o v e m e n t s
of the 1960s and 1970s. Adult authority had been challenged and the hippies,
with their long hair and 'feminised' clothing represented, as Michael Kimmel
argues, 'another revolt of the sons against the fathers'. 3x Youth cultures also
rejected prevailing adult and 'establishment" views on music, drugs and sex. All
m a n n e r of authoritarian beliefs and relationships were critically scrutinised and
y o u t h movements actively forged a whole range of age-inflected subjectpositions and subjectivities. Even the questions of child sexuality and adult-child
sexual relations were to some extent up for grabs in the 1970s. A n u m b e r of
psychiatrists and sociologists spoke of the benefits of lifting social restrictions on
expressions of child sexuality, and some even advocated intergenerational sex as
a tonic for a child's healthy sexual development. However, at the vanguard of
'child sexual liberation' efforts was one vocal faction of the gay liberation
m o v e m e n t , and it was here that we see the first signs of an emerging collective
identity category of the 'paedophile'. Paedophile rights and support groups
comprised of mainly gay male members sprung up in m a n y Western countries in
the late 1970s and early 1980s, with m a n y of t h e m employing the idiom of early
gay liberation in calling for the abolition of the nuclear family, the sexual liberation of children and for the lowering if not complete elimination of age of consent
laws. 33 By adopting the terms 'boy-lover' and 'paedophile' as self-affirming
personal and political identity categories, these m e n strove to position themselves
as an oppressed minority akin to that of homosexuals. A statement by David
Thorstad, a member of the North American M a n / B o y Love Association and
spokesman for a coalition campaigning against the prohibition of adult-child sex,
provides one such example:
32 Michael Kimmel, Manhood in America: A Cultural History (New York: The Free Press, 1996), 263.
Obviously Kirnmel is writing about manhood, bnt no doubt young hippie women were also
challenging gendered norms of behaviour.
33 Jenkins, 1998, 156-63; Florence Rush, Best Kept Secret: Sexual Abuse of Children, (EnglewoodClifls,
NJ: Prentice Hall, 1980), 187-90.
281
We are engaged in a war between the forces of sexual liberation on the one hand and the
forces of sexual repression on the other. Man/Boy love and cross generational sex have
become the cutting edge of that war.
Repeal all age of consent laws!!!
Freedom of sexual expression for all!!! 34
However, m a n y gay, l e s b i a n a n d f e m i n i s t activists b e l i e v e d t h a t t h e politicisation
of the category of the ' p a e d o p h i l e ' was at odds w i t h f e m i n i s m a n d m a n y of gay
liberation's feminist principles. F e m i n i s m was, after all, i n a s c e n d a n c y d u r i n g this
period. By the 1980s, i n particular, forms of h e g e m o n i c w h i t e middle-class
m a s c u l i n i t y a n d m a l e sexuality h a d b e e n vigorously critiqued. The f e m i n i s t
c a m p a i g n s a g a i n s t rape, sexual h a r a s s m e n t a n d p o r n o g r a p h y served to highlight
u n e q u a l a n d oppressive relations of p o w e r s t r u c t u r i n g society a n d o r g a n i s i n g the
g e n d e r s and the g e n e r a t i o n s . Affirmative a c t i o n a n d e q u a l o p p o r t u n i t y legislation
was w i d e l y passed, 35 h o m o s e x u a l i t y was q u i c k l y b e i n g d e c r i m i n a l i s e d , 36 a n d
across the USA, B r i t a i n a n d Australia, child sexual a b u s e was e x p o s e d as a
p r o b l e m e n d e m i c to t h e patriarchal n u c l e a r family a n d to h e g e m o n i c r a t h e r t h a n
m a r g i n a l or d e v i a n t forms of m a s c u l i n i t y a n d m a l e sexuality. 37 The critical spotlight, i n o t h e r words, was placed s q u a r e l y o n the roles, b e h a v i o u r s a n d beliefs of
m e n i n g e n e r a l r a t h e r t h a n those of isolated groups of a b e r r a n t m a l e deviates, as
it was earlier i n the c e n t u r y . The m a s c u l i n i s t a s s u m p t i o n of m a l e s e x u a l access to
w o m e n a n d c h i l d r e n was p u t u n d e r serious q u e s t i o n . This shift of focus a w a y
f r o m m a r g i n a l to h e g e m o n i c m a s c u l i n i t y was e v i d e n c e d i n t h e A u s t r a l i a n
N a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e o n Child A b u s e i n C a n b e r r a i n 1986, a c o n f e r e n c e t h a t was
d o m i n a t e d by t h e issue of child sexual abuse. I n h e r i n t r o d u c t i o n to t h e proceedings, J a n Carter i n q u i r e d rhetorically, ' W h a t did the e x p e r i e n c e of w o m e n
p r e s e n t at this c o n f e r e n c e c o n t r i b u t e to o u r u n d e r s t a n d i n g of child sexual abuse,
or child r a p e ? ' :
First, child rape was seen to stem from the distribution of power in our community which
affects the status, behaviour and power of men and women ... second that the safety of
women and children should be a vital consideration, paramount at all times, and third that
m e n need to take responsibility for their own behaviour and to change themselves and
their values. 38
W o m e n a n d c h i l d r e n w e r e n o t o n l y seen to be oppressed by m e n as a group, h u t
w e r e c o n s i d e r e d to be i n far greater d a n g e r f r o m m e n t h e y k n e w t h a n from
34 David Thorstad, 'A Statement to the Gay Liberation Movement on the Issue of Man/Boy Love,"
Gay Community News 6 (January 1979).
35 Gail Mason and Anna Chapman, "Defining Sexual Harassment: A History of the Commonwealth
Legislation and its Critiques', Working Paper No.27, Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law (March 2003): 1-25.
36 Graham Willett, Living Out Loud: A Histo~ of Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia (St. Leonards:
Allen & Unwin, 2000).
37 Angelides, 'Feminism, Child Sexual Abuse'.
38 Quoted in Dorothy Scott and Shurlee Swain, Confronting Cruelty: Historical Perspectives on Child
Protection in Australia (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2002), 151.
282
strangers t h e y did n o t k n o w . If 1970s, a n t i - r a p e f e m i n i s m hit at the h e a r t of

g e n d e r relations a n d n o r m a t i v e m a s c u l i n i t y w i t h images of e v e r y m a n as a p o t e n tial rapist, 39 1980s child s e x u a l a b u s e f e m i n i s m delivered a second severe b l o w as
it h o n e d its "doctrine of i n t i m a t e d a n g e r ' . 4 This was the idea that c h i l d r e n w e r e
at greater risk of b e i n g s e x u a l l y a b u s e d b y fathers, m a l e relatives a n d m a l e family
f r i e n d s - - i n short, m e n t h e y are i n t i m a t e or a c q u a i n t e d w i t h - - t h a n by ' m y t h i c a l
strangers'. 41 As the M e l b o u r n e Alliance of R e v o l t i n g F e m i n i s t s b l u n t l y p u t it i n
t h e i r Manifesto, 'Just as all m e n are p o t e n t i a l rapists, so are all m e n p o t e n t i a l
p a e d o p h i l e s ' . 42 The social c o n s t r u c t i o n of h e g e m o n i c masculinity, as it i n f o r m s
m a l e roles, identities, b e h a v i o u r s , as well as the m a t e r i a l o r g a n i s a t i o n of t h e
sexes, was t h u s identified as a (if n o t the) key factor responsible for forms of
g e n d e r a n d sexual oppression. This was a serious c o n d e m n a t i o n of forms of
n o r m a t i v e m a n h o o d . As D i a n a Russell declared i n h e r acclaimed w o r k o n incest,
v i o l e n t sex crime ' p o i n t s to a critical p r o b l e m i n t h e collective m a l e psyche t h a t
is p r o v i n g lethal to w o m e n a n d to m e n alike ... This c u l t u r e ' s n o t i o n of m a s c u l i n i t y - p a r t i c u l a r l y as it is a p p l i e d to m a l e s e x u a l i t y - - p r e d i s p o s e s m e n to violence,
to rape, to sexually harass, a n d to sexually a b u s e c h i l d r e n ' . 43 Or as the Alliance
of R e v o l t i n g F e m i n i s t s i n t o n e d , m e n are p o t e n t i a l p a e d o p h i l e s precisely b e c a u s e
t h e y 'are i n c o n t r o l of b o t h w o m e n a n d c h i l d r e n a n d t h u s h a v e the social, political a n d physical p o w e r to i m p o s e their sexuality o n t h e m ' . 44
According to o n e Sydney Morning Herald report detailing claims i n B r i t a i n of
a n a p p a r e n t e p i d e m i c of child sexual abuse, m e n w e r e feeling the i m p a c t of this
f e m i n i s t challenge to n o r m s of m a s c u l i n i t y : ' M a n y fathers of the 1980s, w h o h a v e
j u s t l e a r n e d the i m p o r t a n c e of displays of affection to their children, are
b e c o m i n g afraid that t h e y will be accused of s e x u a l a b u s e ' . A related report o n
t h e s a m e page h i g h l i g h t e d t h e u n e a s e w i t h the a d v a n c i n g f e m i n i s t child s e x u a l
a b u s e m o v e m e n t , suggesting t h a t the claims of e p i d e m i c p r o p o r t i o n s of incest
a n d child sexual abuse m i g h t be s o m e t h i n g of a ' f e m i n i s t plot'. 45 Sydney Morning
Herald c o l u m n i s t Richard C o l e m a n m a d e his views o n f e m i n i s m a n d child s e x u a l
39 Speaking at the Rape Conference of the New York Radical Feminists, Florence Rush's remarks
were typical of anti-rape movement sentiment. She argued that rape "is permitted because it is
an unspoken but prominent factor in socializing and preparing the female to accept a subordinate role'. Quoted in Jenkins, 127. Another famous example is Susan Brownmiller's claim that,
'Rape is nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all
women in a state of fear'. See Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will:Men, Women and Rape (New
York: Penguin, 1976), backcover.
4o Jenkins, 135.
41 This term is taken from the work of Paul Gebhard and his colleagues in the 1960s, who prefigured the feminist child sexual abuse movement. See Paul Gebhard et al., Sex Offenders: An
Analysis of Types (New York: Harper and Row, 1965), 71.
42 Alliance ol Revolting Feminists Manifesto, Melbourne Women"sLiberation Newsletter (Melbourne:
June 1984): 12-13.
43 Quoted in Jenkins, 137.
44 Alliance of Revolting Feminists Manifesto, 12-13.
4s Margaret Harris, 'Child sex cases divide British', Sydney Morning Herald, 4 July 1987, 29; Richard
West, "Seeing child abuse as a feminist plot', Sydney Morning Herald, 4 July 1987, 29.
283
a b u s e a b u n d a n t l y clear. I n a scathing critique of a C h a n n e l 9 d o c u m e n t a r y o n

child a b u s e a n d of 'sex abuse zealots', h e declared i n a n o v e r w h e l m i n g l y
disparaging t o n e that 'child abuse, like its older sisters a n t i - d i s c r i m i n a t i o n a n d
e q u a l o p p o r t u n i t y , s h o w s e v e r y sign of b e c o m i n g a g r o w t h i n d u s t r y ' . Male
discomfort w i t h f e m i n i s t claims of e n d e m i c child sexual a b u s e was i n d e e d
perceptible. 46
C o i n c i d e n t w i t h the r e d e f i n i t i o n of n o r m a t i v e m a n h o o d a n d the striking
p a t h o l o g i s a t i o n of pivotal aspects of m a s c u l i n i t y a n d m a l e s e x u a l i t y was a w h o l e sale r e d e f i n i t i o n of childhood, p a r t i c u l a r l y t h e idea of child s e x u a l i t y a n d agency.
W i t h the (re)birth of the child sexual a b u s e m o v e m e n t i n t h e late 1970s a n d
1980s t h e r e was a steady d e s e x u a l i s a t i o n and, i n d e e d , e x t e n s i o n of c h i l d h o o d . I n
stark contrast to F r e u d i a n n o t i o n s of i n f a n t i l e a n d oedipal sexuality, a n d to earlier
t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y ideas of child s e x u a l p r e c o d t y a n d seductiveness, c h i l d r e n
w e r e i n c r e a s i n g l y b e i n g v i e w e d i n the 1980s as sexually i n n o c e n t a n d v u l n e r a ble. 47 F r e u d i a n p s y c h o a n a l y t i c o r t h o d o x i e s h a d lost f a v o u r i n t h e m e d i c a l h e a l t h
professions and, i n fact, w e r e r o u t i n e l y b e i n g h e l d responsible b y feminists a n d
child p r o t e c t i o n advocates for s u p p r e s s i n g t h e reality of child s e x u a l a b u s e i n the
decades l e a d i n g u p to the 1980s. 48 Not o n l y the b o u n d a r i e s b e t w e e n c h i l d h o o d
a n d a d u l t h o o d b u t also the relations of p o w e r s t r u c t u r i n g a d u l t - c h i l d relations
w e r e b e i n g drastically refigured. Utilising a n t i - r a p e a r g u m e n t s a b o u t w o m e n as
'victims' of m a l e power, child sexual a b u s e advocates h i g h l i g h t e d c h i l d r e n ' s
p o w e r l e s s n e s s at t h e h a n d s of a d u l t m a l e s e x u a l abuses. E v e r y i n f l u e n t i a l child
sexual abuse t h e o r i s t rejected o u t r i g h t the possibility that c h i l d r e n could exert
power, a n d t h u s c o n s e n t , i n a n y sexual e n c o u n t e r w i t h a n adult. Instead,
c h i l d r e n could o n l y be i n positions of ' u t t e r helplessness' i n t h e face of the
i n h e r e n t p o w e r i m b a l a n c e b e t w e e n t h e m a n d adults. 49 R o l a n d S u m m i t s u m m e d
46 Richard Coleman, 'Child abuse documentary lurched into the tabloid telly trap', Sydney Morning
Herald, 14 November 1987, 82. The same day the Sydney Morning Herald carried this piece of
Coleman's, they also reported on the NSW State Government's blitz on paedophilia. The article
began by detailing the Government's campaign against child sexual assault, only to dovetail into
a discussion not of incest or 'intimate danger' but of homosexual paedophilia. This was followed
three days later by another article, 'Pedophiles: we love children', Sydney Morning Herald,
17 November 1987, 3, which was specifically on a group of self-proclaimed homosexual
paedophiles. Although I do not want to suggest that heterosexual men were consciously scapegoating homosexuals as perpetrators of child sexual abuse, the rhetorical association of homosexuality with child sexual abuse in the media seems to be inextricable from a form of male
reaction to the feminist child sexual abuse movement.
47 Angelides, "Feminism, Child Sexual Abuse'.
48 Gordon; Erna Olafson, "When Paradigms Collide: Roland Summit and the Rediscovery of Child
Sexual Abuse', in Critical Issues in Child Sexual Abuse: Historical, Legal, and PsychologicalPerspectives,
ed. Jon R. Conte (London: Sage, 2002).
49 Judith Lewis Herman and Lisa Hirschman, Father-Daughter Incest (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981); David Finkelhor, "What's Wrong with Sex Between Adults and Children?
Ethics and the Problem of Sexual Abuse', American Journal of Orthopsychiatry 49 (1979): 692-7;
Florence Rush, The Best Kept Secret: Sexual Abuse of Children (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980); Ann
Wolbert Burgess and Nicholas Groth, 'Sexual Victimization of Children', in The Maltreatment of
the School-Aged Child, ed. Richard Volpe et al. (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1980).
284
u p t h e d o m i n a n t v i e w i n a l a n d m a r k article 'The Child Sexual A b u s e A c c o m m o d a t i o n S y n d r o m e ' , 'No m a t t e r w h a t the c i r c u m s t a n c e s [of i n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l

s e x u a l e n c o u n t e r s ] , the child h a d n o choice b u t to s u b m i t quietly'. 5
This shift in u n d e r s t a n d i n g the sexual a n d p o w e r d y n a m i c s of i n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l s e x u a l i n t e r a c t i o n s a n d child m o l e s t a t i o n is also reflected i n c h a n g i n g social
categorisations. By the m i d - 1 9 8 0 s , the t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r y t e n d e n c y of victim
b l a m i n g h a d b e i n g c o m p l e t e l y reversed. The a m b i g u o u s categories of ' c a r n a l
a b u s e ' , ' m o r a l neglect' a n d ' m o r a l d a n g e r ' - - c a t e g o r i e s t h a t h a d often v a r i o u s l y
i m p l i c a t e d b o t h the c h i l d r e n a n d the p a r e n t s as c u l p a b l e i n acts of i n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l s e x - - h a d b e e n replaced b y the t e r m s ' s e x u a l a b u s e ' , ' s e x u a l e x p l o i t a t i o n '
a n d ' s e x u a l assault'. 51 F o l l o w i n g d e v e l o p m e n t s i n the USA, w h e r e the issue h a d
b e e n n a t i o n a l l y politicised a few years earlier, A u s t r a l i a w i t n e s s e d a n e x p l o s i o n
of p u b l i c a n d m e d i a c o n c e r n r e g a r d i n g child sexual a b u s e i n 1986. M e d i a a n d
g o v e r n m e n t a c c o u n t s r e p o r t e d ' a s t o n i s h i n g ' a n d ' s t a g g e r i n g ' rises i n r e p o r t e d
cases of abuse. 52 This said n o t h i n g of u n r e p o r t e d cases, w h i c h were a s s u m e d to
be m u c h higher. O n e Sydney Morning Herald article detailed these rises a n d estimates, c l a i m i n g that i n N S W alone, t h e r e was a rise f r o m forty-five r e p o r t e d cases
i n 1980 to 2,519 i n 1985. E s t i m a t i n g that ' o n l y a b o u t 10 per cent of child sexual
assaults are reported', the article w e n t o n to p o i n t o u t t h a t ' t h e r e could be 2 5,000
cases i n N S W at p r e s e n t ' . 53 R e p o r t e d overall p r e v a l e n c e figures, i n b o t h t h e
m e d i a a n d i n g o v e r n m e n t p u b l i c a t i o n s , w e r e s o m e t i m e s as high as 40 p e r c e n t of
girls a n d 30 per c e n t of boys e s t i m a t e d to h a v e b e e n s e x u a l l y abused. 54 Readers
w e r e left i n n o d o u b t that this was a g r o w i n g p r o b l e m c o n f i n e d largely to a male
o f f e n d e r p o p u l a t i o n : ' N i n e t y p e r c e n t of child s e x u a l a b u s e offenders are m a l e ' . 55
E v e n t e l e v i s i o n ad c a m p a i g n s , s u c h as 'Child s e x u a l a s s a u l t - - i t ' s o f t e n closer to
h o m e t h a n y o u t h i n k ' , w e r e l a u n c h e d to highlight t h e t h r e a t of i n t i m a t e m a l e
danger. 56 I n short, m e n a n d d o m i n a n t forms of m a l e sexuality w e r e h e l d u n r e s e r v e d l y responsible for the m a n i p u l a t i o n a n d m o l e s t a t i o n of c h i l d r e n i n a l m o s t
all c o n t e x t s of i n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l sex.
50 Roland C. Summit, "The Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome', ChildAbuse and Neglect
7 (1983): 182.
5~ Gordon, 58; Scott and Swain, 42, 69-71.
52 See, for example, 'Hospitals report an "'astonishing'" rise in sexual abuse of children', Sydney
Morning Herald, 24 July 1986, 3.
53 'Scars of sexual abuse heal slowly', Sydney Morning Herald, 6 September 1986, 8.
54 Scott and Swain, 162.
55 'Scars of sexual abuse heal slowly'.
56 'Campaign opens to counter sexual abuse of children', Sydney Morning Herald, 1 October 1986,
21. Another special run on ABC Television in 1984 was 'The Stranger's Not the Danger', where
it was noted that for every child who is sexually abused by a stranger, Iour more are abused by
close family or friends. It should be noted that the theme of 'stranger danger' still operated
alongside that of 'intimate danger'. In fact, at the same time as such television campaigns were
appearing, the 'Safety House Scheme' was also introduced. This was a scheme 'designed to alert
children to the danger behind approaches from strangers and give them an easily recognisable
refuge from a potential child molester'. See '"Stranger danger" before your eyes', SydneyMorning
Herald, 25 June 1986, 15. That the discourse of 'stranger danger' continued to flourish does not
undermine but bolster my overall argument that hegemonic forms of manhood and male sexuality were being profoundly challenged.
285
The paedophilia and homosexualityequation

Of course, n o t all m e n w e r e actually guilty of sexism, s e x u a l h a r a s s m e n t or
sexual assault. However, signs of m a l e b e l e a g u e r m e n t w i t h s u c h p r e v a l e n t images
of m a l e b e h a v i o u r w e r e evident. I n the m o s t well k n o w n s u r v e y of m a l e
responses to f e m i n i s m d u r i n g this period, S u s a n Faludi describes t h e 1980s as a
backlash. 57 E x a m p l e s of this ' b a c k l a s h ' from m e n are certainly n o t h a r d to find.
W r i t i n g i n the N e w York Times, Lloyd C o h e n spoke of a 'fear of flirting' that h a d
b e f a l l e n m a n y m e n d u e to the c o n c e r n over sexual h a r a s s m e n t a n d date rape i n
the 1980s. 58 I n f a m o u s Playboy c o l u m n i s t , Asa Barber, p u b l i s h e d a collection of his
' M e n ' c o l u m n s as the b o o k Naked at Gender Gap. A r g u i n g that m e n are t h e t r u e
victims of the ' w a r of t h e sexes', Baber claims that f e m i n i s m u s h e r e d i n a ' s e x u a l
i n q u i s i t i o n ' t h a t n o t o n l y has m e n ' w a l k i n g o n eggshells' b u t has also m a d e t h e m
' v u l n e r a b l e i n t h e e x t r e m e to false charges of sexual h a r a s s m e n t ' . 'All it takes to
l y n c h a m a n these days is the a c c u s a t i o n of rape'. 59 In a n e n c y c l o p a e d i c catalogue
of c u l t u r a l images, texts a n d artefacts, M i c h a e l K i m m e l paints a p i c t u r e of m a l e
disquiet w i t h f e m i n i s t critiques of m a s c u l i n i t y d u r i n g the 1980s, a n d o n e that is
also e v i d e n t in t h e A u s t r a l i a n context. 6 He suggests t h a t A m e r i c a n m e n b e c a m e
c o n f u s e d d u e to a loss of positive m a l e role models. W i t h forms of n o r m a t i v e
m a n h o o d u n d e r attack, m e n , he argues, i n s t e a d ' s o u g h t o u t n e g a t i v e m o d e l s to
attack'. K i m m e l identifies the e m e r g e n c e of the ' w i m p ' as o n e such n e g a t i v e
m o d e l that served to reinforce a besieged m a s c u l i n i t y . The ' w i m p ' a n d n e g a t i v e
r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s of 'soft m a s c u l i n i t y ' also m a d e their a p p e a r a n c e i n Australia. 61
W h e t h e r or n o t the p h e n o m e n o n of ' m a l e c o n f u s i o n ' was w i d e s p r e a d is debatable i n m y view; h o w e v e r , K i m m e l does i d e n t i f y a n i m p o r t a n t d i m e n s i o n of the
p r o f o u n d c h a l l e n g e f e m i n i s m posed to n o r m s of m a s c u l i n i t y across the entire
W e s t e r n world.
I n b u i l d i n g o n the w o r k of K i m m e l , I suggest that the category of the
' p a e d o p h i l e ' e m e r g e d alongside the ' w i m p ' i n the USA, Britain a n d Australia as
a n o t h e r , e v e n m o r e sinister, n e g a t i v e m o d e ] of masculinity. Moreover, this was a n
57 Susan Faludi, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (New York: Crown, I991).
58 Kimmel, 299.
59 Quoted in Kimmel, 302-3.
6o Anxieties about normative masculinity and the impact of feminism are palpable in the
Australian media during the 1980s. For typical examples, see 'The sensitive new man now wants
to like himself more', Sydney Morning Herald, I June 1985, 39; "The trials of the sensitive new
man', Sydney Morning Herald, 20 October 1986, 13; "Malefactors in the issue of equality', The
Australian, 16 December 1986, 9; 'There's more to feminism than a nice, new man', Sydney
Morning Herald, 5 January 1987, 7; "The men: quantity without quality', Sydney Morning Herald,
21 January I987, 12; 'What women don't tell men at work', Sydney Morn#lg Herald,
20 November 1987, 2I; 'Are these the blokes that women blame?" Sydney Morning Herald,
24 November 1987, 19.
61 Kimmel, 292. For Australian media examples of the figure of the wimp, of 'soft masculinity' and
the negative framing of the 'sensitive new age guy', see the review of the James Bond film The
Living Daylights in 'Too sensitive for seduction?" Sydney Morning Herald, 26 November 1987, 18;
'Differences remain, but thanks for calling', Sydney Morning Herald, 26 November 1987, 19.
286
identity category that functioned in large measure as a means of deflecting attention away from the fact that child sexual abuse had been exposed by feminism as
a problem congruous with dominant and not marginal forms of male sexuality.
In this way, the 'paedophile' might be seen, in part, as a convenient scapegoat for
the restaging and projection of anxieties of m a n h o o d . 62 Additionally, as I have
argued elsewhere, 63 the category of the 'paedophile' might also partially represent the displaced cultural expression of the very incestuous and paedophilic
desires that are prohibited, as well as the displaced articulation of the erotics of
childhood sexuality that were being quickly erased by the feminist child sexual
abuse discourse. 64 To return to m y earlier analogy then, where the category of the
homosexual emerged in large measure as a way of regulating the distinction
between sexes, in the late twentieth century the category of the 'paedophile'
emerged as a way of regulating and policing forms of masculinity among men.
Homophobia played a pivotal role in this dynamic of competing masculinities
and in the formation of the category of the 'paedophile'. Negative images of
homosexuality and the rhetorical association of homosexuality and paedophilia
were frequently deployed in public discourses, especially in the mainstream
media. Such images were especially prone to rhetorical manipulation in a 1980s
context where AIDS had been identified as the 'gay plague' and where the USA,
Britain and Australia were witnessing escalating h o m o p h o b i c sentiment, discrimination and violence. 65 More than anything, however, it seems to be gay activists'
campaigns for the decriminalisation of male homosexuality and equalisation of
the homosexual age of consent laws that provided the most fertile ground for
such discursive manipulation. By the mid-1980s in the USA and Australia, m a n y
states had decriminalised consensual male homosexuality and gay groups were
agitating to challenge laws that discriminated against homosexuals by setting the
age of consent higher for h o m o s e x u a l sex. The visibility of gay male paedophile
rights and support groups only lent weight to the rhetorical and, indeed, historical association of homosexuality with the seduction of children, and thus to the
conflation of homosexuality and paedophilia.
In Australia, parliamentary and public debates, as well as media scare
campaigns during this time, illustrate h o w a h o m o p h o b i c fear of homosexual
equality was transformed into the homosexual=paedophile equation. Debates of
h o m o s e x u a l decriminalisation and antidiscrimination bills put before state parliaments in the 1980s frequently revolved around the effects homosexual equality
w o u l d have on children. One of the standard arguments against decriminalisation and antidiscrimination was that each implies an implicit if not explicit
62 For a psycho-historical reading of scapegoating, see Lloyd de Mause, 'The PsychogenicTheory of

History', The Journal of Psychohistory 25 ( 1997): 154.
63 Angelides, 'HistoricizingAffect'.
64 On the erasure of child sexuality, see Angelides, "Feminism, Child Sexual Abuse'.
65 See, for example, the comments by the Deputy Chair of the Human Rights Commissionin 'Gays
are "Scapegoats of '85", Outrage, no. 25 (June 1985): 5. All of the main Australian gay newspapers and magazines were awash in the mid-1980s with articles detailing rising discrimination,
homophobic violence and police harassment.
287
endorsement or p r o m o t i o n of homosexuality as an equal and valid lifestyle, and

that this was damaging to society in general and children in particular, especially
insofar as children could be manipulated and seduced into the homosexual
lifestyle. One petition to the NSW Parliament made the connection plain and
simple: 'Legalization or decriminalization ... would imply c o m m u n i t y approval
and acceptance of these unnatural acts, and would encourage public solicitation
of adults and particularly children in leisure and recreationary areas as well as
schools and other educational institutions' .66 Infamous social and political activist
Reverend Fred Nile proffered a similar argument. The ' y o u t h of society', he
argued, 'are particularly vulnerable to exploitation and u n d u e influence' and
measures 'of public protection afforded by the present law should be reinforced
by a m e n d m e n t s to the law to prevent all forms of promotion of and recruitment
into the homosexual lifestyle'. 67 The idea of recruitment implied not just a notion
of unnatural, h o m o s e x u a l seduction but, more specifically, one of homosexual
paedophilic seduction. Even m a n y of those in support of decriminalisation found it
difficult to accept equality in terms of the age of consent. The underlying logic of
their argument reinforced the equation of homosexuality with paedophilic
seduction or recruitment. For example, even t h o u g h NSW Member of Parliament
Deirdre Grusovin stated categorically that 'I strongly support the [Unsworth
decriminalisation] bill', she nonetheless argued for unequal ages of consent for
heterosexual and homosexual sex. 'In setting 18 as the m i n i m u m age of consent',
rather than sixteen as it was for heterosexual sex, 'the bill provides protection for
our y o u n g people in their impressionable years'. 68
Of the four Australian states and one territory that decriminalised male
homosexuality between 1980 and I990, all but Victoria included higher age of
consent provisions for homosexual sex. 69 However, even the Victorian legislation, which was m u c h more progressive than campaigners had expected, incorporated the n e w crime of lesbian penetration by an older w o m e n of a younger
women, and prohibited a n y o n e involved in the supervision or care of children
under eighteen from soliciting or encouraging them from engaging in any form
of sex. And in the preamble to the Act, it was observed that, 'the Parliament does
not intend by this Act to condone immorality'. 7 The Queensland Act also
included a preamble modelled on the Victorian Act; however, it was the Western
Australian legislation that blatantly revealed the underlying homosexuality and
paedophilia equation that structured almost all of the Australian debates.
Although Western Australia decriminalised homosexual sex in 1990, the age of
homosexual consent was set at twenty-one, and the Act included a preamble
66 Quoted in New South Wales Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), 9 March 1982, 2231.
67 Crimes (Homosexual Behaviour) Amendment Bill, Second Reading, New South Wales Parliamentary Debates (Hansard), New South Wales, 18 February 1982, 2109.
68 Crimes (Homosexual Behaviour) Amendment Bill, 2127.
69 The Queensland legislation set the age of consent for homosexual sex other than anal sex at
sixteen, but made anal sex for men and women under the age of eighteen illegal. See Willett,
Living Out Loud, 224.
70 Ibid., 155-6.
288
expressing Parliament's disapproval of relationships between persons of the same

sex, of institutions encouraging same-sex relationships and of the involvement of
homosexuals in the care of children where homosexuality is portrayed in a
positive light. The Western Australian legislation also contains a 'proselytising'
clause, based on Britain's notorious "Section 28', which attempts to ban public
actions and teaching in primary and secondary schools that portray homosexuality in a positive light, 7~
If parliamentary debates, discriminatory age of consent laws and legislative
preambles are not indication e n o u g h of the underlying rhetorical association of
homosexuality and paedophilia (or, childhood seduction), public and media
debate and controversy surrounding the issues of homosexuality and sex education leave little doubt of this h o m o p h o b i c conflation. The gay newspaper Gay
Community News reported that, in relation to the a m e n d m e n t to the Victorian
Crimes (Sexual Offences) Act, w h i c h added the n e w crime of soliciting or encouraging sexual penetration by an adult in the care of someone under eighteen, the
Attorney General's office had confirmed that the bill was intended to hit at sex
educators. 72 This was reflected in a general wave of public and governmental
concern raised that same year a r o u n d the question of sex education in general
and of homosexuality being taught in sex education courses in secondary schools
in particular. The previous year, the Melbourne newspaper, The Age, ran an article
'Sex-out of the shelter shed, into the classroom', which outlined the need for sex
education in schools. 73 The article discussed the 1975 report of the Royal
Commission into H u m a n Relationships, which had raised concerns about rising
rates of sexually active children in a context of unsatisfactory secondary school
sex education. The education department had promised to establish a committee
to oversee h u m a n relations education in schools.
This promise was doubtless given a sense of urgency with the passing of the
Act to decriminalise homosexuality in December 1980. Many feared a slippery
slope from gay rights to the seduction of children. In July 1980, the Concerned
Parents Association (CPA) had formed, dedicating itself 'primarily to halting the
existing sex education programmes in schools and preventing the State Governm e n t from pressing ahead with its plans to introduce them in all schools'. 74 The
group also distributed an inflammatory pamphlet to its members entitled
'They've Got Your Kids'. At an early public meeting the first speaker, Paul
MacLeod, attempted to incite fear in parents by exploiting the rhetorical association of homosexuality and paedophilia (among other 'depravities'). He was
reported to have claimed that teachers 'were introducing ideas and materials on
homosexuality, incest, bestiality, pedophilia'. 75 Adding weight to the claim, and
71 Law Reform (Decriminalisation of Sodomy) Act, Western Australia, 1989. The new law was not
proclaimed until April I990. On the UK Section 28 of the Local Government Act, see Joe Moran,
'Childhood Sexuality and Education: The Case of Section 28", Sexualities 4, no. 1 (2001): 73-89.
72 Gay Community News, February 198i, 5. The publication Gay Community News (hereafter GCN).
73 'Sex-out of the shelter shed, into the classroom', 22 February 1980, 15.
74 GCN, June 1982.
75 Ibid., 16.
Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late TWentieth Century
289
t h u s i m p e t u s to t h e i r cause, w a s t h e fact t h a t t h e M e l b o u r n e G a y Teachers G r o u p

h a d b e e n an i n f l u e n t i a l a n d c o n t r o v e r s i a l force in t h e Victorian Teachers U n i o n
in t h e late 1970s, 76 a n d , after r e n a m i n g t h e m s e l v e s The G a y Teachers a n d
S t u d e n t s G r o u p , h a d p u b l i s h e d a sex e d u c a t i o n b o o k l e t in 1978 e n t i t l e d Young,
Gay, and Proud. The b o o k l e t h a d i n v i t e d a g o o d d e a l of p u b l i c f u r o r e , as it a i m e d
to c o n v e y t h e m e s s a g e t h a t h o m o s e x u a l i t y is ' a n e q u a l l y valid f o r m of e x p r e s s i o n
to h e t e r o s e x u a l i t y ' . 77 The Geelong News r a n a h e a d l i n e ' H o m o s e x u a l e d u c a t i o n - No says [Premier] H a m e r ' . M a n y n e w s p a p e r s r a n articles a t t a c k i n g t h e b o o k l e t .
Q u o t e d in a s u b u r b a n n e w s p a p e r , M P Jeff K e n n e t t (later P r e m i e r of Victoria)
s o u n d e d a c o m m o n c o m m u n i t y refrain. 'I a m n o t o p p o s e d to h o m o s e x u a l i t y
b e t w e e n c o n s e n t i n g a d u l t s in p r i v a t e ... I a m c e r t a i n l y o p p o s e d to s u c h p e o p l e
t r y i n g to c o n v e r t o t h e r s to t h e i r o w n lifestyles'. 78 By others, K e n n e t t w a s obvio u s l y r e f e r r i n g to c h i l d r e n . W h i l e t h e b o o k l e t was n o t officially b a n n e d , t h e
E d u c a t i o n M i n i s t e r L i n d s a y T h o m p s o n a n d t h e D i r e c t o r - G e n e r a l of E d u c a t i o n Dr
Shears i s s u e d a j o i n t edict to s e c o n d a r y s c h o o l p r i n c i p a l s 'to e n s u r e t h a t copies of
b o o k s s e e k i n g to foster h o m o s e x u a l b e h a v i o u r are n o t a v a i l a b l e to c h i l d r e n
w i t h [ i n ] t h e s c h o o l l i b r a r y ' . 79
O n l y t w o d a y s after t h e Victorian d e c r i m i n a l i s a t i o n of h o m o s e x u a l i t y bill w a s
p a s s e d in p a r l i a m e n t t h e Assistant M i n i s t e r of E d u c a t i o n , M r N o r m Lacy, i n t r o d u c e d n e w sex e d u c a t i o n g u i d e l i n e s for V i c t o r i a n schools. Clearly, Lacy h a d b e e n
i n f l u e n c e d b y t h e c l i m a t e of fear a r o u n d t h e d e c r i m i n a l i s a t i o n of h o m o s e x u a l i t y
a n d p r o m o t i o n of h o m o s e x u a l i t y in schools. The n e w g u i d e l i n e s d i d m o r e t h a n
shift r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for a d m i n i s t r a t i v e a n d e d u c a t i o n a l d e c i s i o n m a k i n g for h u m a n
r e l a t i o n s p r o g r a m s a w a y f r o m t e a c h e r s to s c h o o l c o u n c i l s - - a m o v e a i m i n g to give
p a r e n t s t h e u l t i m a t e v e t o p o w e r o v e r p r o g r a m s o r p a r t i c u l a r t e a c h e r s w h o are to
t e a c h sex e d u c a t i o n p r o g r a m s . 8 The g u i d e l i n e s also i n c l u d e d a n edict a i m e d
p r i n c i p a l l y at t h e t e a c h i n g of h o m o s e x u a l e q u a l i t y : ' T h e y ( t e a c h e r s ) shall n o t
s e e k to p r o p a g a t e i d e a s or beliefs o r to c o n d o n e or i n d u c e b e h a v i o u r w h i c h
offends g e n e r a l l y a c c e p t e d s t a n d a r d s or v a l u e s ' . 81
W h e n p u b l i c d e b a t e a b o u t t h e d e c r i m i n a l i s a t i o n of h o m o s e x u a l i t y in Victoria
a n d N S W d o v e t a i l e d i n t o c o n c e r n s a b o u t t h e t e a c h i n g a n d p r o m o t i o n of h o m o s e x u a l i t y as a valid lifestyle, it w a s n o t l o n g b e f o r e t h e r h e t o r i c a l a s s o c i a t i o n of
h o m o s e x u a l i t y a n d p a e d o p h i l i a w a s t r a n s f o r m e d into t h e e m e r g e n c e i n t o p u b l i c
discourse of a n o v e r t l y h o m o p h o b i c c a t e g o r y of t h e ' p a e d o p h i l e ' . T h e subject of
p a e d o p h i l i a h a d b e e n w i d e l y d i s c u s s e d a n d h o t l y d e b a t e d in g a y n e w s p a p e r s ,
m a g a z i n e s a n d c o n f e r e n c e s in t h e USA, B r i t a i n a n d A u s t r a l i a in 'the late 1970s
76 See Graham Willett, ""Proud and Employed": The Gay and Lesbian Movement and the Victorian
Teachers' Unions in the 1970s', Labour History:A Journal of Labour and Social Histary, no. 76 (May
1999): 78-94.
77 Gary Jaynes, "Young Gay and Proud--20 Years On', unpublished and undated manuscript, held
in the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, 2. Given the title of the article it seems that it was
written some time around 1998.
78 Quoted in Jaynes, 4.
79 Jaynes, 5.
8o GCN, February 1981, 5.
81 Ibid., 6.
290
a n d e a r l y 1980s. 82 Gay Left socialist j o u r n a l in Britain r a n a f o r u m o n p a e d o p h i l i a

in 1978, w h i c h h a d b e e n t a k e n u p a n d s u m m a r i s e d t h e f o l l o w i n g y e a r in t h e
A u s t r a l i a n Newsletter of the 5 th National Homosexual Conference. 83 The Gay Left
Collective l a m e n t e d , ' h o w c o n s e r v a t i v e m o r a l a n x i e t y t h r o u g h o u t t h e a d v a n c e d
capitalist c o u n t r i e s h a s s w i t c h e d f r o m h o m o s e x u a l i t y in g e n e r a l to s e x u a l relat i o n s h i p s b e t w e e n a d u l t s a n d y o u n g p e o p l e ' . 84 G a r y D o w s e t t d e c l a r e d t h a t w i t h
t h e p u b l i c a t i o n of sociologist P a u l W i l s o n ' s b o o k o n t h e A u s t r a l i a n p a e d o p h i l e
C l a r e n c e O s b o r n e , t h e official A u s t r a l i a n d e b a t e o n p a e d o p h i l i a h a d b e e n
l a u n c h e d . 85 S o m e in g a y circles a t t e m p t e d to a d v a n c e t h e e a r l i e r g a y l i b e r a t i o n i s t
p u s h for a r e v o l u t i o n in W e s t e r n s t r u c t u r e s a n d c o n c e p t s of sexuality, i n c l u d i n g
t h e u t o p i a n goals of the d i s s o l u t i o n of t h e n u c l e a r f a m i l y a n d t h e a b o l i t i o n of t h e
age of c o n s e n t . G a y m a l e p a e d o p h i l e i n f o r m a t i o n a n d s u p p o r t g r o u p s s u c h as
The N o r t h A m e r i c a n M a n / B o y Love A s s o c i a t i o n (NAMBLA) in t h e USA, t h e
P a e d o p h i l e I n f o r m a t i o n E x c h a n g e a n d P a e d o p h i l e A c t i o n for L i b e r a t i o n i n
Britain, a n d t h e A u s t r a l i a n P a e d o p h i l e S u p p o r t G r o u p also s p r u n g u p in t h e late
1970s a n d e a r l y 1980s. T h e v e r y e x i s t e n c e of t h e s e g r o u p s , w h o w e r e m a r k e d
c l e a r l y as h o m o s e x u a l , o n l y i n t e n s i f i e d c o m m u n i t y c o n c e r n s a b o u t t h e s u p p o s e d
l i n k b e t w e e n g a y rights a d v a n c e s a n d t h e s e d u c t i o n of c h i l d r e n .
I n A u s t r a l i a n p u b l i c d i s c o u r s e , this c o n f l a t i o n of h o m o s e x u a l i t y a n d
p a e d o p h i l i a p r o v i d e d g a y rights critics w i t h a p o w e r f u l p i e c e of h o m o p h o b i c
political r h e t o r i c . A right w i n g g r o u p , t h e C o m m i t t e e to Raise E d u c a t i o n S t a n dards, e x p l o i t e d this fully. I n N o v e m b e r 1982, t h e y d i s t r i b u t e d a p a m p h l e t called
' T h e C o n t i n u i n g H o m o s e x u a l Offensive, N e x t Target: A n t i - d i s c r i m i n a t i o n ' . 86 The
p a m p h l e t e x p l o i t e d a r a n g e of h o m o p h o b i c r h e t o r i c a l a s s o c i a t i o n s in o r d e r to
w a r n t h e p u b l i c a b o u t t h e p o t e n t i a l s l i p p e r y s l o p e f r o m d e c r i m i n a l i s a t i o n to
a n t i d i s c r i m i n a t i o n to e q u a l i t y of lifestyle to a d o p t i o n . It also r e v e a l e d t h e g l o b a l
e x c h a n g e of i n f o r m a t i o n a n d t h e i n f l u e n c e of US i d e a s o n A u s t r a l i a n p u b l i c
d e b a t e in t h e s e areas. T h e p a m p h l e t a p p e a l e d to t h e a u t h o r i t y of A m e r i c a n
c a m p a i g n e r s such as J u d i a n n e D e n s e n - G e r b e r in o r d e r to j u s t i f y its claims, as
w e l l as i n v o k i n g t h e t h r e a t N A M B L A w a s t h o u g h t to p o s e b y w a y of its 'satellites
in A u s t r a l i a ' . 87 In o r d e r to a m p l i f y t h e a p p a r e n t t h r e a t to c h i l d r e n , t h e g r o u p
c l a i m e d t h a t it is largely g a y t e a c h e r s in t h e V i c t o r i a n Teachers U n i o n w h o a r e
82 For examples of discussions in the Australian gay press, see the Australian Newsletter of the 5th
Homosexual Conference, 3 June 1979; the GCN forum on paedophilia, September 1981; Gary
Dowsett, 'Old Traps for New Players', Gay Information, no. 8 ( 1981 ): 26-8; Gary Dowsett, "Boiled
Lollies and Band-aids: Gay Men and Kids', Gay Information, no. 11 (1982): 34-8; interview with
self-identified paedophile Roger Moody in GCN, June 1982. In 1981, a workshop was devoted
to paedophilia at the Brisbane National Homosexual Conference and Paul Wilson published
his book The Man They Called a Monster: Sexual Experiences Between Men and Boys. There was even
an article on 'Women and Paedophilia', which argued against the conflation of incest and
paedophilia in GCN, November 1982.
83 Newsletter of the 5th National Homosexual Conference, 5 August 1979.
84 Gay Left, no. 7 (Winter 1978179).
85 Dowsett, 'Old Traps for New Players', 26.
86 Committee to Raise Education Standards, 'The Continuing Homosexual Offensive. Next Target:
Anti-discrimination', 1-7. The pamphlet is held in the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives.
87 Ibid., 5.
291
d r i v i n g t h e a g e n d a . This is d a n g e r o u s to c h i l d r e n precisely b e c a u s e 'it brings to

m i n d Dr R i c h a r d H a u s e r ' s w a r n i n g of t h e d a n g e r d u r i n g a d o l e s c e n c e w h e n a
p e r s o n passes t h r o u g h a stage of a m b i v a l e n c e ' . Q u o t i n g H a u s e r himself, t h e
p a m p h l e t c o n t i n u e s : 'It s e e m s i m p e r a t i v e t h a t all socialising a g e n t s ... m u s t r e i n force, p a r t i c u l a r l y to a d o l e s c e n t s , t h e n o r m a l a n d n a t u r a l s e x u a l a t t r a c t i o n s a n d
practice'. 88 U n d e r t h e subtitle ' E x p o s i n g C h i l d r e n to Risk', t h e p a m p h l e t p u t forth
t h e claim that:
Clearly, the intent of the recommendation for homosexual books in school libraries, and
the introduction of non-judgmental material on homosexuality into courses on sex education, is to introduce children with homosexual ideology during the period of sexual
ambivalence. Primary school children would be indoctrinated and taught homosexual
practices before reaching puberty. 89
I n case t h e u n d e r l y i n g c o n f l a t i o n of h o m o s e x u a l i t y a n d p a e d o p h i l i a w a s n o t
a l r e a d y a p p a r e n t , t h e p a m p h l e t s a w fit to h i g h l i g h t this ' s u b t e x t ' : "The h o m o s e x u a l front claims it is n o t i n t e r e s t e d in s e x u a l r e l a t i o n s w i t h c h i l d r e n . H o w e v e r ,
this m y t h is e x p l o d e d b y t h e i n c r e a s i n g l y n u m b e r of articles o n p a e d o p h i l i a in t h e
h o m o s e x u a l p r e s s a n d t h e a d v e r t i s e m e n t s for t e e n a g e p a r t n e r s ' . 9
A joint police and media campaign targeting the Australian Paedophile
S u p p o r t G r o u p t h e f o l l o w i n g year, o n l y c e m e n t e d t h e a l r e a d y i n e x t r i c a b l y f u s e d
t e r m s of p a e d o p h i l i a a n d h o m o s e x u a l i t y . O n 5 N o v e m b e r 1983, less t h a n a y e a r
after t h e i n f a m o u s raids a n d p u b l i c f u r o r e s u r r o u n d i n g N A M B L A i n t h e USA, 91
t h i r t y police f r o m t h e 'Delta S q u a d ' r a i d e d a h o u s e in M e l b o u r n e a n d a r r e s t e d
s e v e n m e n , o n e m a n at his p l a c e of w o r k a n d a n i n t h m a n at his h o m e in S y d n e y .
All n i n e m e n w e r e gay, a n d police a l l e g e d t h a t t h e y w e r e all m e m b e r s of t h e
A u s t r a l i a n P a e d o p h i l e S u p p o r t G r o u p , The m e n w e r e c h a r g e d w i t h ' c o n s p i r a c y to
c o r r u p t p u b l i c m o r a l s ' . 92 This i n c i d e n t , a n d t h e m e d i a c a m p a i g n to follow, irrevo c a b l y c e m e n t e d t h e r h e t o r i c a l c o n f l a t i o n of p a e d o p h i l i a a n d h o m o s e x u a l i t y .
A c c u s e d of b e i n g a n i n t e r n a t i o n a l child p o r n o g r a p h y a n d child e x p l o i t a t i o n ring,
t h e g r o u p i s s u e d a p r e s s release in a n a t t e m p t n o t o n l y to affirm t h e i r i n n o c e n c e
b u t also to clarify t h e d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n p a e d o p h i l i a a n d child a b u s e :
These accusations have been based on a total non-understanding of what a paedophile is
and the function of the support group. The press has assumed there can be no consensual
sexual activity between children and adults. Gays have once again been used as scapegoats
to misdirect attention away from the real exploiters of children who are commonly fathers
and family members. As with women and other oppressed people, consciousness-raising
groups have been important for pedophiles. Their support has been instrumental in establishing a gay identity for pedophiles. 93
8s
89
90
91
92
93
Ibid., 2.
Ibid., 4.
Ibid., 5.
John Cozijn, 'Is Boy Love a Gay Issue?' Campaign (June 1983): 12-13.
Adam Carr, 'Delta Squad's "Child Sex Ring"', Outrage, (Dec/Jan 1983184): 6.
Quoted in Carr, 6.
292
T h e m o r e gay g r o u p s a t t e m p t e d to i n s t a t e a d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n p a e d o p h i l i a a n d
child s e x u a l abuse, t h e m o r e i n t e r c h a n g e a b l e t h e t e r m s p a e d o p h i l i a a n d h o m o s e x u a l i t y s e e m e d to b e c o m e . The w e e k f o l l o w i n g t h e Delta raid, A l i s o n T h o r n e ,
a s e c o n d a r y school t e a c h e r a n d s p o k e s p e r s o n for t h e G a y Legal Rights Coalition,
w e i g h e d in o n t h e d e b a t e in a n i n t e r v i e w w i t h M e l b o u r n e ' s 3AW radio. D e f e n d ing t h e P a e d o p h i l e S u p p o r t G r o u p a n d a t t e m p t i n g also to d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e n
p a e d o p h i l i a a n d child s e x u a l a b u s e , T h o r n e g a v e t h e f o l l o w i n g r e s p o n s e to a
q u e s t i o n a b o u t t h e c o m m u n i t y a b h o r r e n c e of p a e d o p h i l e s :
I can understand people's feelings from the point of view that they have a lot of misconceptions and I don't think that a lot of the things that the media are doing really helps
terribly much. Because paedophiles really care for children. Paedophiles would absolutely
abhor child ... abuse of children, are really concerned about consent. 94
The p o l e m i c a l M e l b o u r n e Sun n e w s p a p e r r a n a f r o n t - p a g e article o n 10
N o v e m b e r 1983, ' " S e x - a t - 1 0 " T e a c h e r O u t r a g e ' . T h o r n e was r e p o r t e d to h a v e
called for a l o w e r i n g of t h e age of c o n s e n t to 10, a n d t h e article d e t a i l e d t h e
o u t r a g e of p a r e n t s a n d m e m b e r s of p a r l i a m e n t . 95 A trial b y m e d i a e n s u e d , a n d a
series of p r o m i n e n t n e w s p a p e r articles a n d r a d i o p r o g r a m s p o u n c e d o n t h e
c o m m e n t s m a d e b y T h o r n e . So i n f l a m m a t o r y w a s t h e issue t h a t T h o r n e w a s
r e m o v e d f r o m h e r t e a c h i n g p o s i t i o n a n d t r a n s f e r r e d to a n a d m i n i s t r a t i v e
p o s i t i o n . The M i n i s t e r for E d u c a t i o n , M r F o r d h a m , said of t h e transfer:
This step is necessary because of the importance of maintaining the trust and confidence
that are such vital elements of the parent-teacher-student relationship. Ms Thorne's
reported public statements and the subsequent strong reaction from parents at the school
have all placed her in an extremely difficult position. 96
U n d e r l y i n g this s e e m i n g l y m e a s u r e d s t a t e m e n t w a s t h e fact t h a t p a r e n t s ,
c o m m u n i t y m e m b e r s a n d m e m b e r s of p a r l i a m e n t w e r e o p p o s e d to t h e i d e a of
i n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l sex in g e n e r a l a n d homosexual paedophilia in particular. D e s p i t e
t h e fact t h a t t h e Delta case w a s t h r o w n o u t of c o u r t a n d , s o m e t h r e e y e a r s later,
t h e Victorian E q u a l O p p o r t u n i t y B o a r d (EOB) r u l e d t h a t T h o r n e be r e i n s t a t e d to
a teaching position, the furore over homosexuality, sex education and
p a e d o p h i l i a d i d n o t stop t h e r e . The Victorian G o v e r n m e n t c o n s i d e r e d c h a l l e n g ing t h e EOB d e c i s i o n b y i n t r o d u c i n g special l e g i s l a t i o n to stop T h o r n e , a n d o t h e r s
( r e a d ' h o m o s e x u a l s ' ) like her, f r o m t e a c h i n g . T h e l e g i s l a t i o n w o u l d be d e s i g n e d
to ' e m p o w e r t h e D i r e c t o r - G e n e r a l of E d u c a t i o n to t r a n s f e r a t e a c h e r b e c a u s e
of p u b l i c l y e x p r e s s e d v i e w s o n s e x u a l m a t t e r s r e l a t i n g to c h i l d r e n ' . 97 H o w e v e r , at
94 These comments were reported in The Age, 11 November 1983, 3. For a more comprehensive
treatment of the Thorne and the Australian Paedophile Support Group case, see Steven
Angelides, 'The Homosexualization of the Pedophile: The Case of Alison Thorne and the
Australian Pedophile Support Group', in Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space
(Durham: Duke University Press, forthcoming).
95 Thorne claims that her comments were quoted out of context.
96 'Sex talk teacher taken from class', The Age, 12 November I983, 3.
97 'Govt settles job dispute with teacher', Courier-Mail, 5 December 1986.
293
the eleventh h o u r a deal was struck, and the Victorian G o v e r n m e n t would

withdraw the bill if Thorne agreed to take up a teaching position in a Technical
and Further Education institution instead of a secondary school. Despite
Thorne's belief that the agreement m e a n t 'the g o v e r n m e n t has conceded they
discriminated against me', 98 it did little to counter the rhetorical association of
paedophilia and homosexuality.
Conclusion
The issue of paedophilia continued to plague the gay c o m m u n i t y to such an
extent that by the end of the decade, and at the height of the child sexual abuse
movement, fewer and fewer people seemed willing to debate let alone endorse a
pro-paedophilia position. Discussions of paedophilia in the gay press therefore
waned. It scarcely mattered that m a n y gay and paedophile support groups earlier
in the decade had been articulating clear distinctions between paedophilia, incest,
homosexuality and child sexual abuse. Nor did it seem to matter that m a n y gay
and feminist groups had been exposing the fact that the majority of sexual abuses
of children are of a heterosexual not homosexual nature, and are committed
largely by fathers, male relatives and family friends. Finally, neither did it seem
to matter that, strictly speaking, paedophilia referred to sex with prepubescent
children and not adolescents, yet all of the high profile cases of supposed h o m o sexual 'paedophilia' involved gay m e n and adolescents. In the public imagination
and dominant media representations, and as a result of the decriminalisation of
homosexuality and the discussion of homosexuality in sex education debates, it
was frequently h o m o s e x u a l paedophiles that continued to be identified as the
greatest threat to all children. This assumption was sustained, in spite also of the
fact that research revealed a m u c h smaller proportion of homosexual m e n
engaged in sex with prepubescent children than did heterosexual men. In one
authoritative study, Groth et al. concluded that 'the heterosexual adult constitutes a higher risk of sexual victimization to the underage child than does the
homosexual adult'. 99 The reason for this, they claimed, was that homosexual
m e n tend to be sexually attracted to pubertal and post-pubertal masculine qualities, which the prepubescent child is said generally not to exhibit. So hegemonic
was the feminist child sexual abuse m o v e m e n t ' s view of all children up to the age
of I6 (and sometimes even 17 or 18) as sexually innocent and unable to give
meaningful consent becoming, that any space for subtle distinctions both
between children and adolescents and between the concepts of paedophilia and
child sexual abuse was almost completely eroded.
Even dominant theories of paedophilia in the late 1970s and 1980s, which
on the surface seemed to 'exonerate ... gays' from the category of paedophile, as
98 'TeachingDeal Ends Three-year Thorne Saga', Outrage, no. 44 (1987): 8.
99 Quoted in 'Vic Child Sex Report Exonerates Gays, slams Pedophiles', Outrage (June 1986), 7.
294
o n e c o m m u n i t y p u b l i c a t i o n reported, l n o n e t h e l e s s c o n t a i n e d a n i n s i d i o u s a n d
h o m o p h o b i c e q u a t i o n of h o m o s e x u a l i t y w i t h ' t r u e ' p a e d o p h i l i a . W h a t m a n y
researchers t e n d e d to do was to l u m p p a e d o p h i l i c offenders i n t o t w o b r o a d
g r o u p i n g s : 'regressed' v e r s u s 'fixated' types.ira F i x a t e d offenders w e r e t h o u g h t to
be t h o s e w h o exhibit a n exclusive sexual p r e f e r e n c e for y o u n g boys, w h i l e
regressed offenders are t h o u g h t to e x h i b i t ' n o r m a l ' s e x u a l p r e f e r e n c e b u t be
' s i t u a t i o n a l l y i n d u c e d ' to h a v e sex w i t h children. Neil M c C o n a g h y , k n o w n i n t h e
late 1960s a n d 1970s as a n e x p e r t i n a v e r s i o n t h e r a p y as a cure for h o m o s e x u a l ity, ~02 s u m m e d u p the g e n e r a l rule of t h u m b : ' m e n w h o h a v e a history of offending a g a i n s t girl c h i l d r e n c o u l d all be c o n s i d e r e d as regressed, a n d h o m o s e x u a l
p e d o p h i l e s a n d h e b e p h i l e s are fixated'. 13 So despite t h e fact that research i n d i cated h e t e r o s e x u a l m e n c o m m i t the vast m a j o r i t y of sexual offences a g a i n s t
c h i l d r e n , t h e 'fixated' o f f e n d e r was all too often associated w i t h t h e p a t h o l o g i c a l
h o m o s e x u a l p r e d a t o r (or ' t r u e ' p a e d o p h i l e ) a n d t h e ' r e g r e s s e d ' o f f e n d e r
r e n d e r e d the m o r e harmless, s o m e w h a t n o r m a t i v e , h e t e r o s e x u a l m a l e suffering
f r o m stressful life c i r c u m s t a n c e s such as u n e m p l o y m e n t or m a r r i a g e b r e a k d o w n . 14 This d i s t i n c t i o n also reflects the h e t e r o n o r m a t i v e a n d h o m o p h o b i c
r e w o r k i n g of the earlier d i s t i n c t i o n b e t w e e n p e r v e r s i t y a n d p e r v e r s i o n i n t r o d u c e d b y Krafft-Ebing. A focus o n the least p r e v a l e n t of these forms of sex
c r i m e - - ' t r u e ' p a e d o p h i l i a - - i s also reflected i n m e d i a articles. Especially i n t h e
late 1980s a n d early 1990s, t h e m a i n s t r e a m m e d i a r e p r e s e n t a t i o n s c o n t i n u e d to
i g n o r e r e s e a r c h a n d crimes t h a t h i g h l i g h t e d t h e p r e v a l e n c e of i n t i m a t e d a n g e r
a n d , instead, f r e q u e n t l y e x p l o i t e d images of s t r a n g e r d a n g e r a n d r e n d e r e d t h e m
s y n o n y m o u s with predatory homosexual paedophiles, even w h e n they were
m o r e a c c u r a t e l y i n s t a n c e s of h o m o s e x u a l h e b e p h i l i a or ' c o n s e n s u a l ' sex b e t w e e n
adults a n d teenagers.
W h a t I h a v e e n d e a v o u r e d to s h o w i n this article is t h a t the category of t h e
p a e d o p h i l e e m e r g e d i n t h e i 9 8 0 s as a r e s p o n s e to the s w e e p i n g c h a l l e n g e s to
100 Ibid., 7.
101 A. N. Groth and H. J. Birnbaum, 'Adult Sexual Orientation and Attraction to Underage
Persons', Archives of Sexual Behavior 7 ( 1978): 175-81; K. Howells, 'Adult Sexual Interest in
Children: Considerations Relevant to Theories of Etiology', in Adult Sexual Interest in Children, ed.
M. Cook and K. Howells (New York: Academic Press, 1981); David Finkelhor, Child SexualAbuse:
New Theory and Research (New York: The Free Press, 1984), 49; Neil McConaghy, Sexual Behaviour: Problems and Management (New York: Plenum Press, 1993), 312.
102 Neil McConaghy, 'Penile Response Conditioning and its Relationship to Aversion Therapy in
Homosexuals', Behaviour Therapy 1 (1970). It is probably worth noting that McConaghy
received a grant from the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.
Io3 McConaghy, Sexual Behaviour, 312; see also Howells, 78. A 'hebephile' usually refers to
someone with an erotic preference for adolescents between the ages of 13 and 16. I should also
point, if it is not apparent already, that psycho-medical discourses of paedophilia have almost
always taken the male subject as their implicit relerent. For a critique of the psycho-medical
construction of the category of the paedophile, see Steven Angelides, 'Paedophilia and the
Misrecognition of Desire', Transformations 8 (July 2004): 1-20 <http:lltransformations.cqu.
edu.au/journal/issue 08/article_O1.shtml>
104 Summarising Groth's account of the causal factors involved in regressed offender behaviour,
Howells, 78, notes "the precipitating events as physical, social, sexual, marital, financial and
vocational crises to which the offender fails to adapt'. See also Kurt Freund et al., "The Female
Child as a Surrogate Object', Archives of Sexual Behavior 2, no. 2 ( 1972): 119-33.
295
f o r m s of n o r m a t i v e m a s c u l i n i t y p o s e d b y f e m i n i s m , g a y l i b e r a t i o n a n d g a y rights
a n d t h e child s e x u a l a b u s e m o v e m e n t . The i m a g e of t h e p r e d a t o r y p a e d o p h i l e
w a s h o m o s e x u a l i s e d a n d e n l i s t e d in t h e process of c o n s t r u c t i n g s u b o r d i n a t e d or
n e g a t e d m a s c u l i n i t i e s . S u c h a d y n a m i c of c o m p e t i n g m a s c u l i n i t i e s s e r v e d to r e c u perate the once normative and hegemonic but now somewhat beleaguered
m a s c u l i n i t i e s . This w a s a defensive p r o j e c t i o n of a h o m o p h o b i c a n d h e t e r o n o r m a t i v e d i s c o u r s e t h a t served, o n t h e o n e h a n d , to deflect a t t e n t i o n a w a y f r o m t h e
fact t h a t child s e x u a l a b u s e h a d b e e n e x p o s e d as a p r o b l e m i n h e r e n t to d o m i n a n t
a n d n o t m a r g i n a l f o r m s of m a s c u l i n i t y a n d m a l e s e x u a l i t y a n d , o n t h e other, to
h a l t t h e a d v a n c i n g c a m p a i g n s for h o m o s e x u a l equality. 15
University of Melbourne
los At the time many gay groups, including the Australian Paedophile Support Group, argued that
'Gays have once again been used as scapegoats to misdirect attention away from the real
exploiters of children who are commonly fathers and family members'. See Carr, 6.

Pedofilia

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Pedofilia

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Haifa Library]

On: 22 September 2013, At: 23:17

Australian Historical Studies

The emergence of the paedophile in

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The Emergence of the Paedophile in the

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Angetides: The Emergence of the PaedophiIe in the Late Twentieth Century

Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005

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From perversity to perversion

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Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late Twentieth Century

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Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005

c u l t u r a l l y c o n s p i c u o u s sense u n t i l a r o u n d the I970s.13 T h r o u g h o u t the late n i n e t e e n t h a n d t w e n t i e t h c e n t u r i e s , h o m o s e x u a l i t y h a d f r e q u e n t l y b e e n the basis for

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Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late TWentieth Century

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Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005

their w o r k on paedophilic classifications, 'Pedophilia is essentially a regressive

21 Revitch a n d Weiss, 75.

Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late Twentieth Century

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Manhood under fire

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Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005

Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late Twentieth Century

Downloaded by [University of Haifa Library] at 23:17 22 September 2013

Downloaded by [University of Haifa Library] at 23:17 22 September 2013

Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005

strangers t h e y did n o t k n o w . If 1970s, a n t i - r a p e f e m i n i s m hit at the h e a r t of

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Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late Twentieth Century

a b u s e a b u n d a n t l y clear. I n a scathing critique of a C h a n n e l 9 d o c u m e n t a r y o n

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Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005

u p t h e d o m i n a n t v i e w i n a l a n d m a r k article 'The Child Sexual A b u s e A c c o m m o d a t i o n S y n d r o m e ' , 'No m a t t e r w h a t the c i r c u m s t a n c e s [of i n t e r g e n e r a t i o n a l

Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late Twentieth Century

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The paedophilia and homosexualityequation

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Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005

62 For a psycho-historical reading of scapegoating, see Lloyd de Mause, 'The PsychogenicTheory of

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Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late Twentieth Century

endorsement or p r o m o t i o n of homosexuality as an equal and valid lifestyle, and

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Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005

expressing Parliament's disapproval of relationships between persons of the same

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Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late TWentieth Century

t h u s i m p e t u s to t h e i r cause, w a s t h e fact t h a t t h e M e l b o u r n e G a y Teachers G r o u p

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Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005

a n d e a r l y 1980s. 82 Gay Left socialist j o u r n a l in Britain r a n a f o r u m o n p a e d o p h i l i a

Angelides: The Emergence of the Paedophile in the Late Twentieth Century

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d r i v i n g t h e a g e n d a . This is d a n g e r o u s to c h i l d r e n precisely b e c a u s e 'it brings to

Australian Historical Studies, 126, 2005

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