Damn it.
Regarding: The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure
My response:
Mr. Greaves:
You can scream whatever you wish about societal conditioning, but there are certain things about this that can not be ignored.
1. Children and adults are in a power differential. A child would be reluctant to say no to an adult. To believe otherwise is a naive ignorance.
2. Of course society is biased and prejudiced toward pedophiles. This is part of what makes the experience traumatic for children. We have all been conditioned against this behavior.
3. Children are considered minors for a reason. They are not capable of making many of the decisions that promote their own welfare and emotional well-being. To exploit a child in this manner when they are incapable of making this decision in other than a superficial manner is to discount years of scientific research in behavioral psychology and sociology.
I was a victim of incest. I never wanted sex at my father’s or brother’s hands, but I did consent to it. I was lying. You may go so far as to suggest that therefore this is my fault, but I can assure you that there were several times that I gave no for an answer, and it just didn’t matter.
I don’t expect to change your mind. I can assure you that your expectations are not only anti-societal, but aren’t helpful to children in any way, shape, or form, whatever you’ve convinced yourself about children. I hope you seek help before you damage the lives of other children.
I certainly expect Amazon to remove this content before you convince other people to do this as well.
Catherine
***
Besides sounding off in the comments, my advice is to write to Amazon about the inappropriate content here, and get them to get this book out of circulation, especially since now the description reads:
“This is my attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certian rules for these adults to follow. I hope to achieve this by appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will result in less hatred and perhaps liter sentences should they ever be caught.”
The ignorance just astounds me.
ETA: I’m going to need to stay away from commenting further on this for now. Right now, it feels like people are more interested in discussing the philosophy of free speech in regard to whether Amazon should sell the book or not. I get that.
Something to remember though: As a victim, I am not an abstract idea. I am not just a what if. I am someone who has suffered materially at the hands of people like this guy.
And I can’t be very neutral about that. So, all the arguments about books written by murderers and anarchists, and how we don’t give a damn about them, and where do we stop with the censoring…pardon me, if in this instance, I can’t rise to the occasion.
I leave the intellectual gymnastics and stretching to others in this instance. I’ve responded to Mr. Greaves, I’ve written to Amazon, I’ve waded into the shallows of response on Twitter, and I’m finding myself in an emotional place I don’t want to be. So I’m going to work on returning to my now, and leaving my then behind for the moment.
If you need a case study to support your arguments, I’m here for you. Otherwise, I’ve done about as much as I can until I get my head on a little straighter again.
CMSS