THE USUAL OBJECTIONS: “THE CHILD IS NOT YET MATURE ENOUGH FOR SEX”
BY EDWARD BRONGERSMA

Presented here is the introduction and first part of “The Usual Objections”, a section of “Negative Aspects of Man/Boy Relations: Presumed and Real”, the fourth chapter of Loving Boys, the encyclopaedic study of Greek love by the eminent Dutch lawyer, Edward Brongersma, of which the second volume (including this) was published by Global Academic Publishers in New York in 1990.

The Usual Objections

Boy-love can occur in both casual and more enduring relations. Just as in all relations between human beings, it has its pleasant and unpleasant sides. In this chapter we will concentrate on the unpleasant aspects, leaving the pleasant ones to the next.

Many of the unpleasant sides of boy-love exist only in the imagination and have no basis in reality. We gave a few examples in the introductory satire. Others, unfortunately, do exist, but we must be careful to make the proper distinctions. Some – as, for example, prostitution – are common to sexual relations of every kind and are therefore not peculiar to boy-love. Others – as, for example, the fact that the sexual attractiveness of the younger partner is linked to a particular period of his life – are specific problems of boy-love. 

“The Child is Not Yet Mature Enough for Sex”

Under contract from the Swedish government, child psychiatrist Elsa-Brit Nordlund studied between 1944 and 1949 hundreds of cases of sexual contacts involving children which had resulted in criminal trials. She came to the conclusion that the sex itself didn’t cause any harm to the child, providing the adult partner didn’t use any violence.^[1]

Since indecent assault and rape will be discussed a little later in this chapter, we will here consider only those activities which do not come into conflict with the boy’s will.

The outcome of Nordlund’s research is hardly surprising. How could any activity which is so clearly a part of human nature ever hurt a child?^[2] People may say that the child is not yet mature enough for it, but precisely what kind of maturity are they talking about? Certainly he is mature enough to experience feelings of lust; the frequency of masturbation in babies and orgasm in toddlers clearly shows that a child is ready for these feelings from the moment of his birth.^[3] As for the objection that he is not yet mature enough to have the “deeper” experience of being emotionally related to the partner, boys may well be unable to have certain feelings yet which adults value highly, and therefore certain potentials of a relationship won’t be understood or even noticed. This is quite normal and quite common in youth. Why should this suddenly be viewed with such intense concern if it happens in a sexual setting?^[4]

In the first chapter we saw that there are different aspects of sexuality. For the aspect of lust, of pleasure, the child is prepared from the moment he is born; to the aspect of love he will gradually develop receptivity from infancy on; for the aspect of a dionysic union with the forces of primordial nature he might have to wait until puberty; to participate in its procreative aspect he will probably have to attain adulthood in his society.  

Once the boy reaches puberty the objection that he is not yet mature enough loses conviction even in the minds of those who offer it. Fifteen-year-old Achilles in his love for Patroklos, boys in history showing their willingness to sacrifice their lives for the men they loved,^[5] or the Jerome whose diary we have already quoted (No. 37) – one would have a hard time convincing any of them that they “weren’t old enough”.

Continue to The Usual Objections: "The Child Cannot Give Informed Consent"

^[1] Ullerstam, L., De erotiskeminoriteter. Ullerstam Stig Vendelkaers, 1964. pp. 56-57. [Author’s note]

^[2] Bendig, B., Padophile Sexual delinquenten als politisch Verfolgte?Privatdruck, 1980. p.  157. [Author’s note]

^[3] Stockert, F.-G. von, Die Sexualität des Kindes. Stuttgart: Enke, 1956. pp. 10, 24, Borneman, E., Lexikon der Liebe. Frankfurt: Ullstein, 1978. p. 114. [Author’s note]

^[4] Pieterse, M., Pedofilie. Doctoraalscriptie Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, 1978, p. 67; Möller, M., Pedoflelerelaties, Deventer: Van Loghum Slaterus, 1983. p. 26. [Author’s note]

^[5] Dover, K. J., Greek Homosexuality, London: Duckworth, 1978, p. 191. [Author’s note]