Article (India Knight): questions whether paedophilia is becoming 'acceptable' or should be 'unforgivable'

[...] I hate to say it, but middle-aged gay men with a liking for “boys” fall into this category, especially if they are intelligent, articulate and witty: people just turn a blind eye, think about Thomas Mann and Death in Venice, and never express the opinion that an adult male fancying someone young enough to be their grandson is, well, distasteful.

Express the opinion that, in your view, old blokes drooling at 14-year-olds is really unpleasant and unattractive, and you’re accused of being a) illiberal; b) homophobic; and c) generally bigoted. And then people give you long lectures about the Greeks, as if you hadn’t gone to school. It’s absolutely extraordinary. [...]

I also think, prison overcrowding aside, that there is a general movement afoot among the self-styled intelligentsia that now believes that “boy love” (oh, please) is on a par with, say, sadomasochism: not necessarily something you’d elaborate about over supper, but not that wildly unacceptable either.

The heterosexual version, mercifully, still remains infradig when it comes to infants and young children, but a liking for pre-pubescent Lolitas is not as completely unacceptable as it once was — and we can see the consequences of that erosion in any department store stocking hideous, age-inappropriate clothing for very young girls. [...] Rear more