Fr.Andrew

(Fr Andrew): If you want my thresholds, you'll have to give me some time to sort them out. Offhand, I'd say that any sort of bullying is abusive toward others...and that such things as shoving sharp objects into various bodily orifices would be self-destructive.

Ronin

I am not your keeper.


What would you consider 'bullying'?

What brings you to the conclusion that shoving sharp objects into various bodily orifices would actually be self-destructive, if you were monitoring the five year old making such an exploration?

HelenM

I don't think 'pain' is the only issue. It could be that there is more danger for a child who has someone else intentionally trying to demonstrate that a certain activity is pleasurable. That is what will cause the child to seek more. And perhaps it is not in the child's best interests to have someone cause them to seek out certain behavior, just as it's not in their best interests to demonstrate to them that smoking or recreational drugs induce pleasurable effects (in my opinion).

Would you say that this could compromise the free-will of a child: an adult deliberately does things in an attempt to get a child hooked on certain behavior the adult wants to engage in with the child.

Maybe the adult even uses some kinds of drugs to increase the likelihood that the child will associate pleasure with behavior that adult engages in with them.

Do you think that children could be influenced in that way - that adults can cause them to seek out certain kinds of interactions such as intergenerational sex?

Would that affect the future-decision making of the child? If so, is that morally acceptable or morally wrong?

If the child seemed to have experienced pleasure and no pain at the hands of the adult, can we conclude that the child has been done no harm in any way?

I suppose my question is: is it morally acceptable to do what may push a child in the direction of becoming 'addicted' to underage sexual contact and/or intergenerational sex, even if one could argue that the child experiences only pleasure in the process? Is it in the child's best interests, long-term? Will it lead to more pleasure for the child, long-term? How will the child be affected, long-term - in good or bad ways?

(Notwithstanding personal testimonies of how some specific people have not been affected adversely long-term by childhood experiences - which to some extent is a subjective determination' anyway...)

Helen

Odemus

How can one be so consumed with children and sexuality unless one is in fact a pervert-and very likely a potential sex offender?

yguy

And just how would you suggest legal authorities draw such distinctions when children often don't raise objections about such incidents for years aftewards? If an adult and child are caught in the act, and the kid claims to have fully consented, why should he/she be believed, seeing how children can be manipulated or pressured into thinking they want things they actually don't, as anyone who was pressured as a child to "accept Jesus as Lord and Savior" can attest?

Amen-Moses

Are all criminologists closet serial killers?

Amen-Moses

Fr.Andrew

(Fr Andrew): What's that mean?



(Fr Andrew): I fail to see how this line of questioning pertains to the question I posed in the OP. Could you establish a connection?

[edited by Fr Andrew to remove uncalled-for insult. Sorry, ronin~...I've had a long day. Everything's been just out of reach.]

Fr.Andrew

(Fr Andrew): Exactly. I'm a student of religion, but I'm certainly not a potential theist.

Fr.Andrew

(Fr Andrew): I have the same concern, and tried to word my question so as to eliminate the possibility of adult influence. I'm talking about when the child becomes interested. And whichever way the child then wants to go.
I don't think children should be "pushed" in any direction with respect to (at least) their sexuality.

Odemus

No, they are people who make a willing sacrifice to do what most of us do not have the capacity for-study and learn the mind and behaviour of criminals to better facilitate their capture. Criminologists make the world a better place by performing an often times thankless job. Mr. Andrew is simply someone who displays an uhealthy fascination with children. I see an immense difference, don't you?