STEPHEN COLLINS,
A Chara, - Kevin Myers (August 14th) correctly identifies one danger implicit in allowing children to have untrammelled access to the Internet - - that of their vulnerability to paedophiles using that medium. His essay then attempts to explain away a frightening fact of life by blaming it - at least in part - on "a cyberworld of evil, for which we are hopelessly unequipped". This is scaremongering that fails to address the root of the problem. Furthermore, and in particular, he is wrong to suggest (in paragraph six) that we should not try to debate "the adult desire to have sex with children" with Thomas O'Carroll and other paederasts.
Firstly, we can and must argue intelligently and rationally about these issues. We cannot shy away from moral imperative. It is not enough to throw Mr O'Carroll "into a cell and (leave him) there"; he should be proven wrong.
As Mr Myers points out, paedophiles very often use the language of freedom and sexual liberty to justify their actions. Particularly in modern society, where we celebrate the distinction between sexual pleasure and procreation, any argument couched in such terms prima facie appears to hold currency.
The most obvious line of reasoning against such argument in this context is that of consent. We know and understand why sexual intercourse between consenting adults is preferable to situations where consent has been obviated by trickery, deceipt or force. Children, on the other hand, cannot possibly consent to sex simply because they do not understand it, let alone the myriad different ways in which it will hurt them. Anybody who argues for the primacy of adult sexual desire over the safety of children should be seen for what they are.
Secondly, paedophilia is in any event not a sexual act. Rape is understood to use "sex as violence"; paedophilia, given the vulnerability of its victim, should be understood to use "sex as torture." Only by resorting to such graphic and emotive terminology can we understand that paedophilic acts bear no relation whatsoever to the idea of "sex" held by consenting adults. We cannot allow that concept to be diluted beyond all recognition to include acts of child abuse.
There is another tragic dimension to these acts which, whilst lesser than that of the victims, should be remembered in order to understand them.
Paedophiles will almost inevitably, if not always, have been abused as children. That does not mitigate the choices made by such people.
On the contrary; to consciously inflict a well-understood harm on innocents makes the perpetrator all the more culpable. But the cyclic nature of paedophilia is perhaps the extra turn of the screw that makes it truly frightening. - Is mise,
STEPHEN COLLINS,
Sir John Rodgerson's Quay,
Dublin 2