Pederasty

Pederasty or paederasty (/ˈpɛdəræsti/) is a sexual relationship between an adult man and a boy. It was a socially acknowledged practice in Ancient Greece and Rome and elsewhere in the world, such as Pre-Meiji Japan.

Pederastic kissing on an Attic kylix (5th century BC)

In most countries today, the local age of consent determines whether a person is considered legally competent to consent to sexual acts, and whether such contact is child sexual abuse or statutory rape. An adult engaging in sexual activity with a minor is considered abusive by authorities for a variety of reasons, including the age of the minor and the psychological and physical harm they may endure.

Etymology and usage

Pederasty derives from the combination of Ancient Greek: παίδ-, romanized: paid-, lit. 'boy, child (stem)'^[1][2] with ἐραστής, erastēs, 'lover' (cf. eros). Late Latin pæderasta was borrowed in the 16th century directly from Plato's classical Greek in The Symposium. (Latin transliterates αί as æ.) The word first appeared in the English language during the Renaissance, as pæderastie (e.g. in Samuel Purchas' Pilgrimes), in the sense of sexual relations between men and boys.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as "Homosexual relations between a man and a boy; homosexual anal intercourse, usually with a boy or younger man as the passive partner".^[3]

History

Ancient Greece

Main article: Pederasty in ancient Greece

Further information: Homosexuality in ancient Greece

Pederasty in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged romantic relationship between an adult male (the erastes) and a younger male (the eromenos), usually in his teens.^[4] This age difference between a socially powerful and socially less-powerful partner was characteristic of the Archaic and Classical periods, in both heterosexual and homosexual relationships.^[5] The influence of pederasty on Greek culture of these periods was so pervasive that it has been called "the principal cultural model for free relationships between citizens."^[6] The practice was viewed with concerns and disapproval by certain social groups.^[7] In some Greek cities, such as Sparta, pederastic relationships were explicitly accepted; in other locations, such as Athens, laws were eventually enacted to limit such relationships, though not explicitly prohibit all instances of them.^[8]

In the writings of Xenophon, Socrates condemned such practice without further qualification; however, in the writings of Plato, he considered pederasty as a superior form of love compared to the love of women. Such conflicting statements could have resulted from each author using Socrates as a spokesman for their own viewpoints. The Socratic writings of the two authors were one of the main texts that led to Kenneth Dover's and Michel Foucault's understanding of pederasty as a matter of debate in Ancient Greece.^[7]

Some scholars locate its origin in initiation ritual, particularly rites of passage on Crete, where it was associated with entrance into military life and the religion of Zeus.^[9] It has no formal existence in the Homeric epics, and seems to have developed in the late 7th century BC as an aspect of Greek homosocial culture,^[10] which was characterized also by athletic and artistic nudity, delayed marriage for aristocrats, symposia, and the social seclusion of women.^[11] Pederasty was both idealized and criticized in ancient literature and philosophy.^[12] The argument has recently been made that idealization was universal in the Archaic period; criticism began in Athens as part of the general Classical Athenian reassessment of Archaic culture.^[13]

Scholars have debated the role or extent of pederasty, which is likely to have varied according to local custom and individual inclination.^[14] Athenian law, for instance, recognized both consent and age as factors in regulating sexual behavior.^[15]

Enid Bloch argues that many Greek boys in these relationships may have been traumatized by knowing that they were violating social customs, since the "most shameful thing that could happen to any Greek male was penetration by another male." She further argues that vases showing "a boy standing perfectly still as a man reaches out for his genitals" indicate the boy may have been "psychologically immobilized, unable to move or run away."^[16] One vase shows a young man or boy running away from Eros, the Greek god of desire.^[17]

Ancient Rome

Main article: Homosexuality in ancient Rome

Further information: Sexuality in ancient Rome

 

Zeus (or Jupiter) in the form of an eagle abducting Ganymede; 1st-century AD Roman bas-relief

In Latin, mos Graeciae or mos Graecorum ("Greek custom" or "the way of the Greeks") refers to a variety of behaviors the ancient Romans regarded as Greek, including but not confined to sexual practice.^[18]: 72 Homosexual behaviors at Rome were acceptable only within an inherently unequal relationship; male Roman citizens retained their masculinity as long as they took the active, penetrating role, and the appropriate male sexual partner was a prostitute or slave, who would nearly always be non-Roman.^[19] In Archaic and classical Greece, paiderasteia had been a formal social relationship between freeborn males; taken out of context and refashioned as the luxury product of a conquered people, pederasty came to express roles based on domination and exploitation.^{[20]: 37, 40–41 et passim} Slaves often were given, and prostitutes sometimes assumed Greek names regardless of their ethnic origin; the boys (pueri) to whom the poet Martial is attracted have Greek names.^[21][22] The use of slaves defined Roman pederasty; sexual practices were "somehow 'Greek'" when they were directed at "freeborn boys openly courted in accordance with the Hellenic tradition of pederasty".^[18]: 17

Effeminacy or a lack of discipline in managing one's sexual attraction to another male threatened a man's "Roman-ness" and thus might be disparaged as "Eastern" or "Greek". Fears that Greek models might "corrupt" traditional Roman social codes (the mos maiorum) seem to have prompted a vaguely documented law (Lex Scantinia) that attempted to regulate aspects of homosexual relationships between freeborn males and to protect Roman youth from older men emulating Greek customs of pederasty.^{[20]: 27 [23]}

Theologian Edith Humphrey commented that "the Graeco-Roman 'ideal' regarding homosexuality entailed erotic love, not of children, but of young (teenage) males of the same age that a young woman would be given in marriage, and that frequently the more mature male was only slightly older than the partner."^[24]

Pre-Meiji Japan

Main article: Homosexuality in Japan § Pre-Meiji Japan

Pederasty in Japan prior to the Meiji Restoration was present in similar forms across different societal contexts. Accounts of Buddhist monasteries, samurai circles, and kabuki theatres all commonly noted the presence of relationships between adolescent or pre-pubescent boys (sometimes classified as wakashū) and older male mentor figures.^[25][26] Art and literature of these relationships was common, with perhaps the most well-known collection being ukiyo-zōshi poet Ihara Saikaku's The Great Mirror of Male Love.

Afghanistan

Main article: Bacha bazi

Bacha bāzī (Persian: بچه بازی, lit. 'boy play') is a practice in which men (sometimes called bacha baz) buy and keep adolescent boys (sometimes called dancing boys) for entertainment and sex.^[27] It is a custom in Afghanistan and in historical Turkestan and often involves sexual slavery and child prostitution by older men of young adolescent males.^[28]

According to German ethnographic research, the phenomenon is up to a thousand years old. As far back as the 9th or 10th century, the mountainous regions that are now northern Afghanistan were known for this practice.^[29]

Victorian England

Classical studies during the time of the Victorian era rapidly changed with the exploration of what ancient Greece had to offer, quickly garnering admiration by those in study and capturing the attention of Victorian writers. Holding esteem of the Greeks, the Victorians began to model and apply Greek concepts and more onto their modern life. This application of Greek philosophy manifested with the Victorians’ examination of Plato and subsequently the Greek concept of pederasty which had them evaluating and applying this conception of intimate Greek encounters to those found within the Victorian era.^[30] This fascination and admiration led to works of literature which commemorated Pederasty and same sex love by numerous individuals of this time such as John Addington Symonds with his essay “A Problem in Greek Ethics,” or Oscar Wilde with his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, amongst others.

While there was a celebration of same-sex love to be found in pederasty by some individuals during this time, there was also a moral repudiation of it as well that found pederasty to be a degradation of the youthful soul. This view was put into law with the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 under section 11, the Labouchere Amendment.^[31] It was this piece of legislation that cemented the discussion on pederasty and its reception by the public and mainstream media with the legal prosecution of Oscar Wilde whose novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, was used as evidence to secure his imprisonment and conviction, labeling him as a “sodomite” under the eyes of the law.^[32]

Pederasty is also associated with the late-19th-century Decadent movement which took place amidst the European literary and artistic community. The Greek practice was used by decadents to reinforce their own identity and non-conformance with heterosexuality.^[33]

Within this movement was the emergence of the coterie known as the Uranians, pederasty being a theme often written upon in their poetry. The group was one of intimacy and wrote their works for themselves and shared amongst themselves, the group meaning to be a safe space and a source of consolidation for those who admired pederasty, devising it as “erotically and aesthetically superior to heterosexuality.”^[34]

Differences between Victorian and Ancient Greek pederasty

Though Victorians took inspiration from the Greeks regarding pederastic relationships, the social context of Victorian pederasty was different from Greek pederasty. Victorian pederasty did not share the factor of community acknowledgement. The Victorian era also lacked the notion that "asymmetry" in relationships, including age disparity and social status, was to be expected and aspired to. Sandra Boehringer and Stefano Caciagli comment that Greek and other ancient societies existed "before sexuality." Having a preference for gender or age did not assign a label to a relationship, but this did not preclude groups from disapproving of or enacting laws against pederastic practices.^[35]

Pederasty in literature

Hellenism and Homosexuality in Victorian Oxford (1994)

Linda C. Dowling, author of Hellenism and Homosexuality in Victorian Oxford^[36] discusses in her novel the intricacies of homosexuality and homoeroticism that were part of Victorian culture in mid-century Oxford. Pederasty was briefly mentioned in lieu of William Hurrell Mallock's The New Republic, which is a parody of "aesthetic" verse in the epigraph for the Oxford pamphlet Boy-Worship, where pederasty is cited as "being a mode of male romantic attachment".^[36] In The New Republic, Mallock mocks many important figures in Oxford University, including Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde, and its references to Aestheticism and Hellenism.

In Dowling’s Hellenism and Homosexuality in Victorian Oxford^[37] it was noted that William Johnson Cory classic paen paiderastia, Ionica (1858) enabled the Oxford cult of “boy worship” to surface, and influence the upbringing of the Uranian literary movement, which celebrated “heavenly” love between men, which is highly influenced by Plato's Symposium of 180e. Similarly to pederasty, Uranians have been influenced by the Ancient Greek to write poetry that represented homoeroticism and homosexuality of adolescent boys in the Decadent era. Dowling notes these detailed accounts of many different scholars in Victorian Oxford in order to reform the homosexual studies of Hellenistic culture that influenced the Decadent movement of the nineteenth century.

The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888)

Oscar Wilde expresses a pederastic ethos to his stories by focusing on the intersection between “sensual experience and moral enlightenment."^[38] Beginning in 1885, Wilde would look for attractive boys and invite them to a dinner party under the notion of mutual pleasure and the satisfaction of all the senses; emphasizing “physical senses as a means to artistry.”^[38] Wilde often utilized fairy-tale conventions by writing events and actions in threes, clarifying structure by repeating images or phrases, and using biblical style and diction.^[38] "The Happy Prince" is the first tale in The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888) that describes a growing relationship between a Prince and a Swallow until they both meet their fateful deaths.

In Wilde’s general story model, the connection between the older and younger men is spurred by the fact that they are completely different in nature.^[39] The Prince is a large statue towering over the city, inherently an inanimate object, while the Sparrow is a tiny bird, always moving “of a family famous for its agility.”^[40] In this work, the Prince is portrayed as a youthful character, as his own experience in life has been limited to playing with his companions in the garden and dancing in the Great Hall. His childishness is also seen in his lack of knowledge regarding emotions, as he “did not know what tears were,” living a life “where sorrow is not allowed to enter.” ^[40] The Swallow is older, as he has had many experiences in life, having traveled to many places. In addition to this foundation of inequality, exchanging ideas is also a vital proponent of pederastic thoughts.^[39] The Prince educates the Sparrow on the cruelties of the city he oversees, teaching him societal virtues. The story ends with the Sparrow asking the Prince, “Will you let me kiss your hand?” and the Prince responds, “But you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you," showing the extremely intense love that is shared between these two male figures.^[40] This story presents a pederastic view of a tale where there is mutual growth between student and teacher.

Pederasty Literature

Victorian Literary Works

• Ionica (1858) by William Johnson Cory^[41]
• The Romance of Lust (1873-1876) by Anonymous
• The Sins of the Cities of the Plain (1881) by Anonymous (attributed to pseudonym - Jack Saul)
• Psychopathia sexualis (1886) by Richard von Krafft-Ebing
• Long Ago (1889) by ‘Michael Field’ (Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper)
• The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) by Oscar Wilde
• Teleny, or The Reverse of the Meda (1893) by Anonymous
• Boy-Worship (1880) by Charles Edward Hutchinson
• The New Republic (1877) by William Hurrell Mallock
• The Happy Prince and Other Tales

Greek Literary Works

• Phaedrus by Plato
• Symposium a liber amoris by Plato

Modern view

In the modern world, an adult engaging in sexual activity with a underage person may be considered child sexual abuse or statutory rape, depending upon the local age of consent. In the case of underage heterosexual relationships, which were also practiced by the Greeks, it may also be considered child marriage. Age of consent laws exist because minors are considered incapable of meaningfully consenting to sexual activity until they reach a certain age.^[42][43] Prepubescent and adolescent children are not socially equal to adults, and abusers emotionally manipulate the children they victimize.^{[44]: 65–66} These laws aim to give the minor some protection against predatory or exploitative sexual interaction with adults.^[43][45]

Child sexual abuse has been correlated with depression,^[46] post-traumatic stress disorder^[47] and anxiety.^{[48][49][50][non-primary source needed]}

Contemporary homosexual pedophiles may describe themselves as "boy lovers",^[51][52] and sometimes appeal to practices in Ancient Greece as a justification of sexual relationships between adults and minors.^[53][54]

Though outlawed, bacha bazi is still practiced in certain regions of Afghanistan.^[55][56]

See also

• Bacha bazi
• Catamite
• Greek love
• History of erotic depictions
• History of homosexuality
• History of human sexuality
• Homoeroticism
• Homosexuality in ancient Greece
• Homosexuality in ancient Rome
• Homosexuality in China
• Homosexuality in India
• Homosexuality in Japan
• Intercrural sex
• Kagema
• Köçek
• Korephilia (female counterpart)
• List of pedophile advocacy organizations
• North American Man/Boy Love Association
• Pederasty in ancient Greece
• Sexuality in ancient Rome
• Wakashū

References

1. Marguerite Johnson, Terry Ryan. Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature: A Sourcebook p. 110.
2. Liddell and Scott, 1968 p. 585.
3. Oxford English Dictionary, "pederasty".
4. C.D.C. Reeve, Plato on Love: Lysis, Symposium, Phaedrus, Alcibiades with Selections from Republic and Laws (Hackett, 2006), p. xxi online; Martti Nissinen, Homoeroticism in the Biblical World: A Historical Perspective, translated by Kirsi Stjerna (Augsburg Fortress, 1998, 2004), p. 57 online; Nigel Blake et al., Education in an Age of Nihilism (Routledge, 2000), p. 183 online.
5. Nissinen, Homoeroticism in the Biblical World, p. 57; William Armstrong Percy III, "Reconsiderations about Greek Homosexualities," in Same–Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity and in the Classical Tradition of the West (Binghamton: Haworth, 2005), p. 17. Sexual variety, not excluding paiderastia, was characteristic of the Hellenistic era; see Peter Green, "Sex and Classical Literature," in Classical Bearings: Interpreting Ancient Culture and History (University of California Press, 1989, 1998), p. 146 online.
6. Dawson, Cities of the Gods, p. 193. See also George Boys-Stones, "Eros in Government: Zeno and the Virtuous City," Classical Quarterly 48 (1998), 168–174: "there is a certain kind of sexual relationship which was considered by many Greeks to be very important for the cohesion of the city: sexual relations between men and youths. Such relationships were taken to play such an important role in fostering cohesion where it mattered — among the male population — that Lycurgus even gave them official recognition in his constitution for Sparta" (p. 169).
7. Lear, Andrew (15 November 2013), Hubbard, Thomas K. (ed.), "Ancient Pederasty: An Introduction", A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 102–127, doi:10.1002/9781118610657.ch7, ISBN 978-1-118-61065-7, retrieved 13 June 2023
8. "How the ancient Greeks viewed pederasty and homosexuality". Big Think. 13 January 2023. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
9. Robert B. Koehl, "The Chieftain Cup and a Minoan Rite of Passage," Journal of Hellenic Studies 106 (1986) 99–110, with a survey of the relevant scholarship including that of Arthur Evans (p. 100) and others such as H. Jeanmaire and R.F. Willetts (pp. 104–105); Deborah Kamen, "The Life Cycle in Archaic Greece," in The Cambridge Companion to Archaic Greece (Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 91–92. Kenneth Dover, a pioneer in the study of Greek homosexuality, rejects the initiation theory of origin; see "Greek Homosexuality and Initiation," in Que(e)rying Religion: A Critical Anthology (Continuum, 1997), pp. 19–38. For Dover, it seems, the argument that Greek paiderastia as a social custom was related to rites of passage constitutes a denial of homosexuality as natural or innate; this may be to overstate or misrepresent what the initiatory theorists have said. The initiatory theory claims to account not for the existence of ancient Greek homosexuality in general but rather for that of formal paiderastia.
10. Thomas Hubbard, "Pindar's Tenth Olympian and Athlete-Trainer Pederasty," in Same–Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity, pp. 143 and 163 (note 37), with cautions about the term "homosocial" from Percy, p. 49, note 5.
11. Percy, "Reconsiderations about Greek Homosexualities," p. 17 online et passim.
12. For examples, see Kenneth Dover, Greek Homosexuality (Harvard University Press, 1978, 1989), p. 165, note 18, where the eschatological value of paiderastia for the soul in Plato is noted. For a more cynical view of the custom, see the comedies of Aristophanes, e.g. Wealth 149-59. Paul Gilabert Barberà, "John Addington Symonds. A Problem in Greek Ethics. Plutarch's Eroticus Quoted Only in Some Footnotes? Why?" in The Statesman in Plutarch's Works (Brill, 2004), p. 303 online; and the pioneering view of Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex (Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1921, 3rd ed.), vol. 2, p. 12 online. For Stoic "utopian" views of paiderastia, see Doyne Dawson, Cities of the Gods: Communist Utopias in Greek Thought (Oxford University Press, 1992), p. 192 online.
13. See Andrew Lear, 'Was pederasty problematized? A diachronic view' in Sex in Antiquity: exploring gender and sexuality in the ancient world, eds. Mark Masterson, Nancy Rabinowitz, and James Robson (Routledge, 2014).
14. Michael Lambert, "Athens," in Gay Histories and Cultures: An Encyclopedia (Taylor & Francis, 2000), p. 122.
15. Gloria Ferrari notes that there were conventions of age pertaining to sexual activity, and if a man violated these by seducing a boy who was too young to consent to becoming an eromenos, the predator might be subject to prosecution under the law of hubris; Figures of Speech: Men and Maidens in Ancient Greece (University of Chicago Press, 2002), pp. 139–140.
16. Enid Bloch (21 March 2007). "Sex between Men and Boys in Classical Greece: Was It Education for Citizenship or Child Abuse?". The Journal of Men's Studies. 9, Number 2 / Winter 2001 (2). Men's Studies Press: 183–204. doi:10.3149/jms.0902.183. S2CID 143726937.
17. "Like the depiction of Eros pursuing a young man... for this lust is not entirely free of violence, and there can be something slightly frightening about it (after all, the boy in Ill. 19 is running away)" Glenn W. Most "The Athlete's Body in Ancient Greece" in Stanford Humanities Review V.6.2 1998
18. Williams, Craig Arthur (10 June 1999). Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity. Oxford University Press. p. 72. ISBN 978-0-19-511300-6. Greek love is a modern phrase.
19. King, Helen, "Sowing the Field: Greek and Roman Sexology", in Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Science: The History of Attitudes to Sexuality (Cambridge University Press, 1994), p. 30.
20. Pollini, John, "The Warren Cup: Homoerotic Love and Symposial Rhetoric in Silver", in Art Bulletin 81.1 (1999)
21. Joshel, Sandra R., Slavery in the Roman World (Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 78 and 95
22. Younger, John G. Sex in the Ancient World from A to Z (Routledge, 2005), p. 38.
23. Bremmer, Jan, "An Enigmatic Indo-European Rite: Paederasty", in Arethusa 13.2 (1980), p. 288.
24. Humphrey, Edith M. . AugustineCollege.org. Dialogue on Same-Sex Unions. Archived from the original on 30 June 2002. Retrieved 28 October 2008.
25. Schmidt-Hori, Sachi (2021). TALES OF IDOLIZED BOYS: MALE-MALE LOVE IN MEDIEVAL JAPANESE BUDDHIST NARRATIVES. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 9780824886790.
26. Pflugfelder, Gregory M. (1997). Cartographies of desire: male–male sexuality in Japanese discourse, 1600–1950. University of California Press.
27. Jones, Samuel V. (25 April 2015). "Ending Bacha Bazi: Boy Sex Slavery and the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine". Indiana International & Comparative Law Review. 25 (1): 63. doi:10.18060/7909.0005. ISSN 2169-3226.
28. "Boys in Afghanistan Sold Into Prostitution, Sexual Slavery" 2013-12-03 at the Wayback Machine, Digital Journal, Nov 20, 2007
29. Ingeborg Baldauf's Die Knabenliebe in Mittelasien: bačabozlik, Berlin: Das Arabische Buch, 1988, p.5
30. Hurst, Isobel (4 June 2010). "Victorian Literature and the Reception of Greece and Rome: Victorian Literature and the Reception of Greece and Rome". Literature Compass. 7 (6): 484–495. doi:10.1111/j.1741-4113.2010.00712.x.
31. Orrells, Daniel (2012). "Greek Love, Orientalism and Race: Intersections in Classical Reception". The Cambridge Classical Journal. 58: 194–230. doi:10.1017/S1750270512000073. ISSN 1750-2705. JSTOR 26430986.
32. Stern, Simon (2017). "Wilde's Obscenity Effect: Influence and Immorality in The Picture of Dorian Gray". The Review of English Studies. 68 (286): 756–772. doi:10.1093/res/hgx035. ISSN 0034-6551. JSTOR 26802391.
33. "Queer Decadent Classicism: Late-Victorian Representations of Ancient Roman Literary Culture". escholarship.org. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
34. Taylor, Brian (February 1976). "Motives for Guilt-Free Pederasty: Some Literary Considerations". The Sociological Review. 24 (1): 97–114. doi:10.1111/j.1467-954X.1976.tb00575.x. ISSN 0038-0261. PMID 968516.
35. Boehringer, Sandra; Caciagli, Stefano; Stevens, Anne (2015). "The age of love: gender and erotic reciprocity in archaic Greece". Clio. Women, Gender, History (42): 24–51. ISSN 2554-3822. JSTOR 26273656.
36. Dowling, Linda (1994). Hellenism and Homosexuality in Victorian Oxford (1 ed.). Cornell University Press. p. 111. ISBN 978-0-8014-2960-6. JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctt1287c6w.
37. Dowling, Linda (1994). Hellenism and Homosexuality in Victorian Oxford (1 ed.). Cornell University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-8014-2960-6. JSTOR 10.7591/j.ctt1287c6w.
38. Wood, Naomi (2002). "Creating the Sensual Child: Paterian Aesthetics, Pederasty, and Oscar Wilde's Fairy Tales". Marvels & Tales. 16 (2): 156–170. doi:10.1353/mat.2002.0029. ISSN 1521-4281. JSTOR 41388625.
39. Leeds), Chris Bartle (University of (2012). "Pederasty and Sexual Activity in Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince and Other Tales"". Victorian Network. 4 (2): 87–106. doi:10.5283/vn.39. ISSN 2042-616X.
40. "The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde". www.online-literature.com. Retrieved 15 March 2024.
41. Cory, William Johnson (1891). Ionica. University of California Libraries. London : G. Allen.
42. "Can Statutory Rape Laws Be Effective in Preventing Adolescent Pregnancy?". Guttmacher Institute. 15 June 2005. Retrieved 24 March 2008. Statutory rape laws are based on the premise that until a person reaches a certain age, that individual is legally incapable of consenting to sexual intercourse.
43. Sutherland, Kate. "From Jailbird to Jailbait: Age of Consent Law and the Construction of Teenage Sexualities". William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice. 9 (3): 313–349. Retrieved 13 September 2019. age of consent laws render teenagers below a certain age incapable of consent to sexual activity...The justification usually put forward for age of consent laws is the protection of young persons from sexual exploitation by adults.
44. Salter, Anna (2018). Predators: pedophiles, rapists, and other sex offenders. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-1-541-67382-3.
45. (PDF). U.S. Department of Justice – Office for Victims of Crime. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 March 2008. Retrieved 24 March 2008. a number of different motivations were observed on the part of State legislators, including:...Desire to protect minors below a certain age from predatory, exploitative sexual relationships—for example, with much older partners.
46. Roosa MW, Reinholtz C, Angelini PJ (February 1999). "The relation of child sexual abuse and depression in young women: comparisons across four ethnic groups". Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. 27 (1): 65–76. PMID 10197407.
47. Widom, Cathy Spatz (August 1999). "Posttraumatic stress disorder in abused and neglected children grown up". The American Journal of Psychiatry. 156 (8): 1223–1229. doi:10.1176/ajp.156.8.1223. PMID 10450264. S2CID 7339542.
48. Levitan RD, Rector NA, Sheldon T, Goering P (2003). "Childhood adversities associated with major depression and/or anxiety disorders in a community sample of Ontario: issues of co-morbidity and specificity". Depression and Anxiety. 17 (1): 34–42. doi:10.1002/da.10077. PMID 12577276. S2CID 26031006.
49. Dinwiddie S, Heath AC, Dunne MP, et al. (January 2000). "Early sexual abuse and lifetime psychopathology: a co-twin-control study". Psychological Medicine. 30 (1): 41–52. doi:10.1017/S0033291799001373. PMID 10722174. S2CID 15270464.
50. Kendall-Tackett, K. A.; Williams, L. M.; Finkelhor, D. (January 1993). "Impact of sexual abuse on children: a review and synthesis of recent empirical studies". Psychological Bulletin. 113 (1): 164–80. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.113.1.164. ISSN 0033-2909. PMID 8426874. page 170
51. Lynch, Virginia A.; Duval, Janet Barber (2010). Forensic Nursing Science - E-Book. Elsevier Health Sciences. p. 424. ISBN 9780323066389. There are child sex offenders who willingly describe themselves as boy lovers, girl lovers, child lovers, and pedophiles but will adamantly argue that they are not predators.
52. Thio, Alex; Calhoun, Thomas C. (2004). Readings in Deviant Behavior. Allyn and Bacon. p. 274. ISBN 9780205389155.
53. Durkin, KF; Clifton DB (1999). "Propagandizing pederasty: A thematic analysis of the on-line exculpatory accounts of unrepentant pedophiles". Deviant Behavior. 20 (2): 103–127. doi:10.1080/016396299266524. The use of the BIRGing [basking in reflected glory] account allows them to feel a connection to noteworthy men such as...many of the ancient Greek poets and philosophers.
54. Nardi, Peter M.; Schneider, Beth E. (2013). Social Perspectives in Lesbian and Gay Studies: A Reader. Routledge. p. 320. ISBN 9781136219382. Paedophile activists themselves...have found it necessary to adopt...legitimation. The first, the 'Greek love', legitimation basically argues for the pedagogic value of adult-child relations, between males. It suggests – relying on a mythologized version of ancient Greek practices – that in the passage from childhood dependence to adult responsibilities the guidance, sexual and moral, of a caring man is invaluable.
55. Qobil, Rustam (7 September 2010). "The sexually abused dancing boys of Afghanistan". BBC News. Retrieved 9 May 2016. I'm at a wedding party in a remote village in northern Afghanistan.
56. Mondloch, Chris (28 October 2013). "Bacha Bazi: An Afghan Tragedy". Foreign Policy Magazine. Retrieved 23 April 2015.

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