A leading academic journal has published an article questioning the need for age of consent laws and claiming that discussions of “youth sexuality” are unjustly hindered by “cancel culture.” The author, Marshall Burns, is a physicist and technology entrepreneur who was involved in the development of the early computer industry and operates a website titled “Consenting Juveniles.”
In his article, which was published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior in June and titled “The Elephant in the Room: Youth Sexuality,” Burns argues that “sexual relations between youths and adults” is wrongfully seen as a contentious issue in society.
Another academic text cited by Burns as further evidence of the supposed harmless nature of adult-child sexual encounters is the 2002 book Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex, published by the University of Minnesota Press and written by Judith Levine.
In Harmful to Minors, Levine argues against “harmful protection” of children from sexuality, criticizes feminist arguments against pornography, and downplays the physical and emotional consequences of child sexual abuse.
Significantly, Levine cites as an influence in her work the perspective of attorney Lawrence Allen Stanley, who, during the course of his career, would defend men in possession of child sexual abuse materials.
The former attorney who was said to have been on the steering committee for the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) also had a prior criminal record: in 1998, a Dutch court convicted Stanley in absentia for sexual abuse of three children ages 7 to 10, after which, he fled to Brazil.
A lawyer defending a male on child sex charges is a lawyer doing what they are trained to do. In no way is it an admission or can it be implied that sexual relations between adults and children are OK.
Burns is a physicist and is as qualified as a plumber to argue his point.
Those of us who work in the field, as I did, see the damage these actions have and know better.
Over 70% of the AOD clients I worked with had a sexual assault history, almost always starting in childhood.
The so called academics above should never be left in charge of children nor should anyone who pushes such a line.