wdoherty@bbncca.ARPA (Will Doherty) (01/15/84)
Dear "Lance," I will try to explain the situation involving identical twins in a message directed to you, not to the net. I too am glad to see the articles from Steve Dyer, Mike Simpson, and "Felix." You say they are doing "a good job of expressing the feelings of the young gay mainstream." With this comment, I must take issue. I believe that they are expressing their feelings as gay men in our society. To claim however that they are representatives of some enshrined "mainstream" is, I believe, a misrepresentation. In fact, to me, this kind of language smacks of the rhetoric used by straight people to deny lesbians and gays their rights. I could for instance say, "Such and such persons are doing a good job of expressing healthy sexuality." If I were a psychologist living more than about 15 years ago, I might have made this statement to contrast "healthy" heterosexuals with those dirty child-molesting homosexuals. Well, we've made some progress since then. But we still have a long way to go. If I were to take the final paragraph of your recent message to me and alter it a little bit the result might prove illuminating. You said: "Will Doherty, and other members of NAMBLA do not represent the mainstream. They are a fringe group that offends almost all other gay people. I may sound very promiscuous in my articles, but I think anyone who seduces a child should go to prison. NAMBLA has done and continues to do a great deal of harm to the gay liberation movement!" If I were the hypothetical "average" citizen of, well let's pick the height of the McCarthy era, say 1957?, I may have composed a very similar paragraph: "'Lance,' and other members of the homosexual movement do not respresent the mainstream. They are a fringe group that offends almost all other decent citizens. I may sound sexually permissive in my articles, but I think any homosexual who seduces a man should go to prison. The homosexuals have done and continue to do a great deal of harm to the decent citizens of our country!" [Or replace all references to homosexuality with refs to communists.] I said specifically in my earlier message that I would be willing to debate the issue of crossgenerational sexuality on rational terms. I again make that offer. I also request that you examine what bothers you about cross-generational sexuality and tell me so that I can either change my opinion or explain to you why I disagree with you. Perhaps you will decide not to discuss this matter because you feel you already have made up your mind on the matter. But I will await your response rather than attempting to predict your behavior. I would not attempt to say that there are not some very important issues of power and consent which enter into a careful examination of crossgenerational sexuality, as well as of any kind of sexuality. I will attempt to discuss those issues, beginning with excerpts from some of NAMBLA's literature. I will do so at the request of several individuals who have sent me mail. I also would like to mention that at least one other NAMBLA member reads this list, unbeknownst to me until that person sent me mail after I gave my first flame. By the way, I'm 21. I've made love with people ranging in age from 15 to 56, although I do not regard either age as a limit. I've been making love with older men since I was 14 (mostly *my* choice). It's easy for people to get worried about their image as a group, about getting associated with "subversive" types like NAMBLA. But the fact remains that thousands of boys seek out sex with men and girls seek out sex with women, as well as vice versa. We must be very careful not to deny youth and child sexuality. Our present society is sexually-repressive enough to deny even most adult sexuality. The only way these attitudes can begin to change is through open dialogue and understanding of the pertinent issues. Will Doherty decvax!bbncca!wdoherty PS: I guess I should make it absolutely clear that my views in no way represent the views of my employers.