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Abstract
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The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in its valuable work has confirmed what was already known--albeit in more shocking detail than many would have expected--the extent of historical paedophilia in the Catholic Church.
The Royal Commission's findings have revealed that in the period from 1950 to 2010 child sexual abuse was rife in Australia--and other societies. There was child sexual abuse in religious, secular and government institutions alike. The Catholic Church was not the only cab on the rank.
It should be remembered that, not so long ago, paedophilia in general and pederasty in particular were somewhat fashionable in intellectual circles. Remember Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita, which celebrated the relationship between a middle-aged man and a twelve-year-old nymphet? There was scant criticism when the novel and the first film version of Nabokov's work were released...
In November 2012, the British historian Dominic Sandbrook reviewed Ben Thompson's edited collection Ban This Filth!: Mary Whitehouse and the Battle to Keep Britain Innocent (2012) in the Sunday Times. Sandbrook wondered if Mrs Whitehouse was "quite as cranky as she looked at the time". He quoted from a letter Mary Whitehouse wrote to the BBC objecting to the 1973 song "Do You Want to Touch Me (Oh Yeah)" on the BBC show Crackerjack... But the singer-songwriter was none other than Gary Glitter--who, in time, became a convicted paedophile.
In Australia, the ABC still will not redress--or even report--the fact that in July 1975 its chairman Professor Richard Downing declared that Australians should "understand" the urges of pederasts and said that "in general, men will sleep with young boys". Professor Downing, speaking in his official capacity as ABC chairman, was defending an ABC Radio program which was presented by self-confessed paedophile Richard Neville. Neville interviewed three pederasts in the ABC's Sydney studio who spoke about their assaults on young boys. The ABC did not report the matter to New South Wales Police at the time and has never adopted a duty of care with respect to the pederasts' victims--who, if alive, would be around fifty years of age today....
Language: en |