Gawker’s Soft Peddling Pedophilia

Recently, Gawker.com, a left-leaning and sometimes profane general interest website, posted a story that makes excuses for child rape, calling it an “orientation” instead of a crime and stating that raping children is “a sexual relationship,” as opposed to the violation that it truly is.

The piece entitled, “Born This Way: Sympathy and Science for Those Who Want to Have Sex with Children,” written by Gawker editor Cord Jefferson, is quite an outrage for its excuse making and its explaining away of pedophilia as a mere “sexual orientation.”

Cord’s piece begins by introducing us to pedophile named “Terry” and we are told that when he was 20 — he’s now 38 — he “began a sexual relationship” with a seven-year-old girl. That a child can engage in a “sexual relationship” is a disgusting characterization but Gawker simply states it as so without protest.

Throughout the piece passive language like this soft peddles child rape. Constantly were are told that sex between adults and children as a “choice.” Even “Terry” claims that the sex he had with his seven-year-old niece was consensual and Gawker simply takes his word for it without protest.

Then the piece goes on to reveal the “expert” testimony of a psychologist that claims that pedophilia is a “sexual orientation” just like homosexuality or even heterosexuality.

The testimony was made before the Canadian Parliament by Dr. Hubert Van Gijseghem, formerly of the University of Montreal. He said,

If we know that pedophiles are not simply people who commit a small offence from time to time but rather are grappling with what is equivalent to a sexual orientation just like another individual may be grappling with heterosexuality or even homosexuality, and if we agree on the fact that true pedophiles have an exclusive preference for children, which is the same as having a sexual orientation, everyone knows that there is no such thing as real therapy. You cannot change this person’s sexual orientation.

This implication of mental anguish or disease where people “grapple” with normal sexual relations between a man and a woman is an incredible statement. How one “grapples” with heterosexuality is unknown since it is the most normal of all human interactions. It is easy to see that if the defining of deviancy down like this continues, sex crimes will no longer considered “wrong.”

The entire Gawker article is one excuse after another. Pedophiles aren’t child rapists, we’re told, they have an “orientation,” it is said. Later they are pitied for not being able to talk openly about their sexual fantasies about children because society treats them so harshly.

This piece is so bad that even leftist Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic finds Gawker’s article distasteful.

Coates scolds Gawker as having put out a piece that fails as journalism and is just “an insensitive attempt at being edgy.” Coates criticizes Gawker, saying, “A vague rape apologia runs through this piece–the implication of “men who have sex with children” as an oppressed group, the equation of pedophilia with other sexual orientations, and little to no consideration of victims.”

There is enough here that should alarm the gay community, too. The thing that should scare them most is that this article fully equates child rapists and pedophiles as just like them. The last paragraph is shocking for it dismissive treatment of child rape and its equation of such with “normal” sexual behavior.

The old adage is that the true mark of a society is how it treats the weakest in its ranks. Blacks, women, Latinos, gays and lesbians, and others are still in no way on wholly equal footing in America. But they’re also not nearly as lowly and cursed as men attracted to children. One imagines that if Jesus ever came to Earth, he’d embrace the poor, the blind, the lepers, and, yes, the pedophiles. As a self-professed “progressive,” when I think of the world I’d like to live in, I like to imagine that one day I’d be OK with a man like Terry moving next door to me and my children. I like to think that I could welcome him in for dinner, break bread with him, and offer him the same blessings he’s offered me time and again. And what hurts to admit, even knowing all I know now, is that I’m not positive I could do that.

This is clearly an outrageous characterization of child molesters and Gawker certainly does the gay lobby no favors, here. Homosexuals have for decades fought to have their orientation considered normal and have always decried any effort to put them in the same category as pedophiles. But from the patently obvious harm it does to innocent children, if “psychologists” can start positing that child molesters are “normal” and their desire to rape children a mere “sexual orientation,” one can easily come to doubt the logic of ever having removed homosexuality from the list of mental diseases.

One last thing. Gawker writer Cord should be ashamed of himself for having said that Jesus would “embrace” pedophiles. As the website Poor Richard’s News notes (by way of Newsbusters), the Bible does not excuse pedophilia.

But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea! — Matthew 18: 6

“Jesus died for the forgiveness of sin, not the embrace of it,” the site notes. “The Bible is very clear that while all sins can be forgiven, Jesus never ever embraces the sin itself. He made no bones about the punishment for harming a child.”

Indeed. Gawker should be very shamed of this article.

Shortlink:

Posted by on September 10, 2012.
Filed under Asshats, corruption, Culture Of Corruption, Democrats, Douchebag Of The Day, Dumbasses, Evil, Gay Marriage, Gay Marriage, Liberals, Media.
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago-based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com and BigJournalism.com, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, RightPundits.com, StoptheACLU.com, Human Events Magazine, among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events.He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book "Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture" which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions, EMAIL Warner Todd Huston: igcolonel .at. hotmail.com"The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it." --Samuel Johnson

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  • http://www.rustedsky.net JLawson

    I saw that article, and got this odd, creepy feeling that someone was trying damned hard to justify their own feelings.

    “It is easy to see that if the defining of deviancy down like this continues, sex crimes will no longer considered “wrong.””

    NAMBLA’s likely drooling over this article. For all those folks who used to think there was no such thing as a ‘slippery slope’ on social issues, I hate to say it but this seems like the ski-jump at the end of the slope.

    “As a self-professed “progressive,” when I think of the world I’d like to live in, I like to imagine that one day I’d be OK with a man like Terry moving next door to me and my children.”

    And… I just can’t figure out anything to say about that, except that I really, really pity his kids. He’s so intent on NOT being judgmental he’s apparently deliberately overlooking any possibility of harm to his children. That’s hard for me to wrap my mind around – and my lovely bride would not countenance such a thing.

    (She was so spooked about possible child-snatchers she would rarely allow the little guy to play in the fenced back yard unsupervised. I tried to persuade her it’d be reasonably safe to do so – but she was somewhat convinced that 5 minutes unsupervised and he’d be gone. She knew it wasn’t a rational assessment of the actual risk – but she wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise. A acknowledged pedophile next door… man, I don’t even want to THINK of that situation. She’d have left, taking the little guy with her, and left me to deal with selling the house.)

    • jim_m

      Agreed. What these people are really saying is not that they are OK with pedophilia, but that they are really OK with child molestation. They focus on the feelings of attraction felt by the adult and ignore the trauma caused to the victims in an attempt to make themselves feel better about their advocacy. Once Same sex marriage is the law of the land this is the next cause to be taken up.

      • Conservachef

        Jim,

        I don’t know that pedophilia will be the next cause- it’s still too taboo/wrong (with very good reason). I expect it will be some other “edgy” but passable “orientation.” I think that if SSM is legalized across the board, then something like polygamy would be next. It’s not mainstream, but it still involves consenting adults.

        I’m reminded of the old story about the frog and the boiling water. Just bring the temp up a little at a time, step by step, and in the end, you have the same result.

        • http://www.rustedsky.net JLawson

          I don’t have any problems with gay marriage.

          You want to have a polyamorous marriage? That’s no skin off my (appendage). I ain’t wired that way psychologically, much as it might have been fun when I was in my 20s and 30s. It just seems like a pack of problems looking for a divorce court. Some might be able to handle it w/no problems, a lot more are going to try – and fail. But that’s part of being an adult – you make your choices and take your chances.

          Like B&D and S&M games with your spouse? Go to it. Want to exhibit yourself at a nudist colony? Go for it. Persuade your spouse to go to a swinger’s club? Have a good time. There’s not much I’ll say is ‘wrong’ when it comes to two consenting adults going at it.

          But you’re not going to convince me that ’7′ or ’12′ is the new ’18.’

    • Commander_Chico_Cognoscente

      I saw the article and got the feeling that someone was trying to fill space and get a lot clicks by posting something provocative. Did not read it as advocating, but an addition to knowledge, useful as a warning to parents if nothing else.

      Also note that Warner’s graphic with the gay rainbow flags has nothing to do with the story, which includes the account of a man raping a little girl. I will not call that heterosexual, but it is surely not homosexual.

    • Digg34

      Reminds me of the guy in Alaska who kept playing with the bears like they were his friends. Till one ate him and his girlfriend.

  • ravenshrike

    While it is true that pedophilia is effectively a sexual orientation, that has nothing to do with whether or not it is rape. Pedophiles are effectively the sociopaths of the sexual arena, and active pedophiles are the serial killers.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Thomas-Gaskin/100000074101532 Thomas Gaskin

    As usual, I feel a need to kill people like this.
    I wasn’t brought up in a deadly household.
    Killing was definitely not condoned.
    Must just be the way I am, naturally.
    There may even be more like me out there
    But we are fearful for go public, afraid of backlash for our desires
    and so on ad nauseum

  • GarandFan

    “Then the piece goes on to reveal the “expert” testimony of a
    psychologist that claims that pedophilia is a “sexual orientation” just
    like homosexuality or even heterosexuality.”

    Surprised? Hardly. Probably the same “psychologist” who stood up years ago at an APA convention and stated that homosexuality was “normal”. Just wait, bestiality will also become “normal”.

  • herddog505

    I am reminded of Rose Sayer admonishing Charlie Allnut over his alcoholism in The African Queen*:

    “Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.”

    We all have instincts and desires that we keep in check to avoid harm to ourselves or to others. I am willing to assume that some… people… have a sexual attraction towards children just as I have towards women. Just as I don’t go about forcing myself on women, they should refrain from… doing what they want to do. And, just as I would expect rather severe consequences for not controlling my perfectly natural, normal desires, so should they.

    In short, I don’t care whether some f*cking headshrinker says it’s “normal” or “natural”: if some monster lays one finger on a child, then I say burn that SOB at the stake.

    ===

    (*) The African Queen (1951)
    dir. John Huston
    spoken by Katherine Hepburn
    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043265/quotes

    • Commander_Chico_Cognoscente

      Ties to my theory about Catholic clerical celibacy attracting pedophiles to the priesthood. A lot of guys with perverted desires thought that if they were in the structure of the church and prayed real hard, the desires would go away. Instead they found an enabling environment which provided easy pickings and covered up for them. They could not rise above their base desires.

      Remember, Father Paul Shanley was one of the founding members of NAMBLA.

      • jim_m

        So how do you explain the high number of pedophiles in the public schools? Oh yeah, you don’t, mainly because you don’t care because it doesn’t fit the narrative.

        • Commander_Chico_Cognoscente

          The proportion of boy-raping priests is higher than the proportion of teachers abusing.

          There’s almost a story every day.

          Also, “public schools” did not engage in a world-wide cover up of abuses, as the Catholic hierarchy did.

          Only a blind fool would ignore the prevalence in the Catholic clergy. The Irish Prime Minister had to denounce the Vatican for their lies and cover-ups.

          • jim_m

            Actually, there are studies that show that teacher abuse is at least as big of a problem as that in the Catholic Church. Your problem is that you have already admitted that you get off on the idea of teachers abusing their students (particularly if the teacher is female)

            Plus, doing a study to determine the extent of teacher sexual abuse is taboo, because you are accusing a very powerful political group. Never the less, teacher abuse is rampant

            My secondary analysis of the 2000 AAUW data2 indicates that 9.6 percent of all students in grades 8 to 11 report educator sexual abuse.

            And there’s more: Teachers enjoy the protection of their unions. Teachers get the cooperation of the unions and school districts to hide their crimes. Teacher sexual abuse has climbed significantly in recent years.

            Meanwhile scumbags like you excuse it, ignore it, and celebrate it because you think child sexual abuse by your political friends is cool.

          • jim_m

            Chico: And since you think that the 4% estimated incidence of Priest sexual abuse of children is so high you might consider these:

            The Statistics of Teacher sexual abuse to Students

            The best estimate is that 15% of students will be sexually abused by a member of the school staff during their school career.

            Though, when the American Association of University Women Foundation surveyed more than 1,600 students in eighth through 11th grade, 25 percent of the girls and 10 percent of the boys who said they had been harassed or abused said the harasser was a school employee.

            The number of K-12 public and private school students in 1996 who have been or will be sexually abused by a member of the school staff is nearly 7 million of 51,331,000.

            Between 1% and 5% of teachers sexually abuse or harass students.

            At least a quarter of all school districts in the United States have dealt with a case of staff sexual abuse in the past ten years.

            Most cases of sexual abuse of students by teachers are never reported.

            In nearly half of the cases, suspects were accused of abusing more than one student.

            Only two cases were cases of false accusations; less than 1 percent of the cases studied.

            No type of school was immune to abuse: public or private, religious or secular, rich or poor, urban or rural.

            Responses to Allegations of Sexual Abuse of Students by Staff
            38.7% of the teachers resigned, left the district, or retired
            17.5% were spoken to informally
            15% were terminated or not re-hired
            11.3% received a formal verbal or written reprimand
            8.1% were suspended and then resumed teaching
            7.5% were cases where the superintendent determined that the teacher hadn’t meant to sexually abuse

            Of the nearly 54% of abusers who resigned, weren’t rehired, retired, or were terminated, superintendents reported that 16% were teaching in other schools and that they didn’t know what had happened to the other 84%.

            All but 1% of these teachers retained their teaching license.

            It’s interesting that you ignore this growing issue and choose to focus on blaming your political enemies, while making jokes about students abused by teachers. Perhaps you are a school teacher? I’m beginning to suspect something more sinister.

          • Commander_Chico_Cognoscente

            For all we know, many of these incidents were from Catholic schools.

            I’m not a teacher, it does not pay enough to support my lifestyle. Are you a priest?

          • jim_m

            What a lame ass excuse. You are so full of crap. Even when presented with data you choose to ignore the data so you can continue on in your ignorant bigotry.

            I have said many times on this board what my profession is. No, I am not a priest, But I know that you are a bigot.

          • Vagabond661

            The teacher’s union makes it very hard to prosecute anyone for any crime or wrong doing.

          • Commander_Chico_Cognoscente

            So does the Catholic Church. They even give their bishops diplomatic immunity and transfer them to the Vatican.

          • Vagabond661

            IMHO all institutions guilty of this should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The children, being children, look to us to protect them from these animals.

          • Commander_Chico_Cognoscente

            .

            Yes, I do think there is a difference between a 23 year old female teacher seducing a 16 year old boy and a 45 year old priest anally raping an 11 year old boy. Like my support for America over Japan, I do not apologize for that.

            Shakeshaft’s study is bullshit. Anyways, if there were proportionally as many public school teachers as priests sexually abusing children, they’d be scores of stories every day.

            Google “priest charged with raping” and see how many stories pop up.

            Here’s a response to the discredited Shakesharft study:

            http://www.marksilk.com/2011/04/three_cheers_for_diarmuid_martin/

            They are even recently trying to stop tougher laws against child abuse:

            http://ncronline.org/blogs/examining-crisis/time-now-childhood-sexual-abuse-and-statutes-limitation?page=1

            Archbishop Dolan and all those who lie and obfuscate to cover up abuse are God damned liars. They will burn in hell, if there is a hell.

          • jim_m

            So you are saying that heterosexual abuse is OK or that you are OK with female abusers? Either is pretty repugnant when you stop to think. Oh, that’s why you support child sexual abuse; you don’t think.

          • http://wizbangblog.com/author/rodney-graves/ Rodney G. Graves

            It’s just his thing. And yeah, there’s something wrong with that.

          • Commander_Chico_Cognoscente

            So you think a 23 year old teacher having sex with a 16 year old boy is as bad as a 45 year old priest anally raping an 11 year old boy. O-tayyyy.

          • SCSIwuzzy

            1 in 10 of the victims were 11 when the abuse started, for both genders. Why are you focused on 11 year old boys being sodomized? Why the fixation?

          • Commander_Chico_Cognoscente
          • SCSIwuzzy

            Mode is the better calculation for this kind of data.
            Also, only a quarter of the allegations involve attempted or actual penetration of any sort.
            So again, why does the image of 11 year old boys being sodomized by a 45 year old man resonate with you so strongly? Are you by chance in your mid 40s?

      • SCSIwuzzy

        If you use the John Jay study from 2004, about 4% of priests active over 50 years have been accused of some form of sexual misconduct. The JJ study only discounted the most far out of allegations or those that were withdrawn, acknowledging that they would be “high” in their numbers by doing so. Of that ~4%, 55% faced a single allegation. Given the purposeful low standard for the study (again, by design and called out as such) its fair to assume that a good portion of the 55% to have turned out to be false allegations.
        Again, using the JJ study, a quarter of the allegations (~half of the multiple allegations for those following along at home) fell on just 149 priests (.0013% of all priests in the US over the 52 year scope of the study).
        You really think that celibacy is the root cause here?

        How does this fit with the fact that 40% of the allegations occurred between 1975 and 1980? Or that 10% of the class of 1970 would be accused of abuse?

  • Brucehenry

    I thought the expression was “soft-pedaling.” Am I wrong?

    • jim_m

      Nope. You are correct. It refers to the soft pedal on the piano that tones down the sound.

      • Brucehenry

        Thanks, I was almost sure of it.

      • SCSIwuzzy

        I thought the author was trying to make a pun. But looking back, yeah, it looks like a malapropism

  • MacLorry

    Pedophilia is just another step beyond homosexual. It’s disgusting, but so was homosexuality not that long ago. Pedophiles make the same arguments as gays, they were born that way and they should have the right to love whoever in the same way heterosexuals love whoever. They will label those who oppose them has haters and they’ll get some progressive judges to side with them.

    Sometimes the slippery slope really is a slippery slope.

    • Highsider

      “not that long ago”? It still is! The queers propoganda machine has failed except for making each other feel less disgusting than they really are.

  • BeoPuppy

    Oh, for heaven’s sake, have you actually read the article?

    It doesn’t say that child molestation is okay. It says that maybe we need to rethink the way society deals with people who feel attraction to children. So that maybe, with enough support, society can create a framework wherein pedophiles can control their urges and there will be LESS child molestation. If science and society can figure out a way in which less children get assaulted each year than surely that would be a good thing?

    The article never says that the assault of children should be de-criminalised. Once an assault happens courts must get involved and jail sentences handed down. But trying to find a way to have less rapes is a good thing.

    • jim_m

      So you are saying that child pornography, as long as it does not depict a physical sex act, should be legal?

      I’ve got a great way to reduce crime: Put criminals in jail. Statistically demonstrated to work every time.

      • Carl

        It works every time?

        Lol… Your approach takes action AFTER the child is molested.

        Yet another reason far right conservatives are such losers…

        • jim_m

          OK. So you advocate putting people behind bars before they commit crimes? Fascist.

      • BeoPuppy

        How do you get that from my post?

        Child pornography should never ever be legal. Never. I think we should have less, or rather no, child rape. And child pornography involves child rape I think it would be, well, bad. Extremely so.

        And jail time only happens AFTER a crime. Prevention is a better idea, for society, for would-be victims.

  • LiberalNightmare

    Seems like an odd point of view from the people that have spent the last few weeks telling us that rape is rape.

    Unless its……y’know … Rape-rape.

  • Highsider

    “if we agree on the fact that true pedophiles have an exclusive preference for children, which is the same as having a sexual orientation, everyone knows that there is no such thing as real therapy. You cannot change this person’s sexual orientation.”
    Well bunky, my own predilection is to forcefully insert the spherical end of a ball pein hammer into the brain tissue of perverts like Jefferson and the lowlife dog droppings he wants to protect. I can’t help it, it’s just the way I’m wired, so he’ll have to feel sorry for me too..