MasterCD

I will soon be moving to the D.C. area. I am so looking forward to living in civilization once again.

Pedofilia -- A Fetish?

In our community we have many different tastes and and many different kinks with more combinations of tastes, fetishes and kinks than there are people in our community. Because of the so very many different proclivities that are manifested in the leather community, we have adopted the following mantra: "Your kink is not my kink, but there's nothing wrong with your kink."

Unfortunately, there are some in society, at large, who take advantage of such open statements because of the inference they take from such statements that "anything goes." I do not believe "anything goes" was intended when the above phrase was originally coined. Nor do I believe it is intended by those who make such a statement today.

There are many activities in which we invlolve ourselves that are considered subversive and counter-cultural by us and are considered by the hegemonic society as morally, ethically or otherwise wrong, and therefore, illegal. For instance, sodomy in many states -- whether a heterosexual act or same-sex act -- is still illegal. Most of us would cite puritanistic laws such as that as overarching affronts of our personal freedoms. In most cases, we have a very strong argument.

However, there are some who would co-opt such an argument and use it to justify activities which harm others, and which do not allow for consent among all parties involved.

There are some who consider pedophilia a fetish. I argue that pedofilia, though it may be considered among the negative connotation that the DSM-IV often takes, is not a fetish. Pedophilia is a pathology. One that is usually charactarized by predatory action, and is generally extremely difficult, if not impossible, to rehabilitate. Thus, pedophilia is not an illegal activity that is only illegal due to the puritanical mores of our society. It is illegal to protect innocent victims from predators who would use everything within their grasp allow them to prey on innocent victims.

We must be careful when making statements and alliances with  one another which are meant to support one another, that we do not, in our statements, harbor a safe place for predators to justify their pathological thoughts and actions.