FANTASY INTERPRETATION OF EXPERIENCE: SELF-SEDUCTION AS A CAUSE OF PEDERASTY BY PARKER ROSSMAN

The following is one of the sections of the fourth chapter of Dr. Parker Rossman’s Sexual Experience Between Men and Boys (originally published in 1976), entitled "Why Do They?", introduced here, and intended to explain why in general some men desire boys, though in practice limited in its evidence to what was then recent in countries with a Judaeo-Christian tradition.

Fantasy Interpretation of Experience: Self-seduction

Whether the body writes the scenario for the development of sexual inclinations or whether it is written by parents, society, one’s peers or oneself, some combination of various factors comes into play to shape erotic preferences and tastes. Whatever those factors are, each person has the task of integrating his experience, of discovering his sexual nature and identity, and of coming to an understanding of his sexuality which makes sense in terms of his possibilities. When one seeks to compare as the cause of their pederasty these different theories which different subjects propose, one finds that each hypothesis may have merit for a particular case. Instead of choosing among them, perhaps one must seek some complex combination of causes, with clues as to the nature of a specific individual being related to his own interpretation of his erotic experience through fantasy and how he understands the explanations of other persons. One pederast said: “It is a mistake to assume that all human beings are the same. If there are five different models for sexual normality: subjective, moralistic, cultural, statistical, and clinical, how am I to define it?” Another wrote: “I resonate to the suggestion that a boy does not so much learn pleasure through sex play, as that if his imagination is lively enough, he fails to repress it as society expects. Through my own imaginative experience I cultivated my own erotic potential, and society ought to encourage the development of each youngster’s sexual powers and eroticism, just as cultivation of his mind and calisthenics for his body are encouraged. My profession gives me many opportunities to observe how society inhibits the creative potential of many kids by stultifying their eroticism, which ought to flower to stimulate creativity and imagination. How do I explain my pederast inclinations? Society failed to interpret my sexual pleasure to me when I was young, so I developed my own explanations and interpretations. Despite the rumors I heard, I found out through my own experimentation that sex play with other boys was fun and good. Through my own imaginative fantasies I made a place for such play within my philosophy of life, and free from inhibitions I had a series of delightful sexual experiences in adolescence which I integrated into my personality and self-understanding as they occurred, one by one - some with boys and some with girls. Although I found the female delights were most enchanting, I was not completely wooed away from boys because by then I had already incorporated into my personality and self-definition a kind of bisexuality and philosophy of sex freedom which motivated me to enjoy any and all sexual opportunities that presented themselves. Can anyone doubt that in all areas of experience the tastes we develop when we are young remain with us for all our lives? And tastes are not merely developed through experience, but also through what one hears said about that experience, and how one is led to interpret it.”

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