{"id":783,"date":"2008-08-23T12:23:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-23T12:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/2008\/08\/23\/gary-glitter-what-do-we-do-about-paedophiles\/"},"modified":"2008-08-23T12:23:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-23T12:23:00","slug":"gary-glitter-what-do-we-do-about-paedophiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/2008\/08\/23\/gary-glitter-what-do-we-do-about-paedophiles\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Glitter – what do we do about paedophiles?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gary Glitter is back in the UK after completing his sentence for having engaged in sex with under age girls back in Thailand. The tabloids are, of course, having a field day, unleashing all the venom and bile they can muster against this convicted “paedo” and “ageing pervert<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

I have been thinking about how we should deal with paedophiles recently, and have come to a few surprising conclusion (that’s to say, I surprised myself). Let’s start with a thought experiment.<\/p>\n

A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT<\/span><\/p>\n

Suppose that you find yourself inhabiting a world in which mature responsible adults have the bodies of children, and immature, vulnerable children have the bodies of mature adults.<\/p>\n

Gary Glitter would find himself very much at home if born into such a such a world. He can have consensual sex with those he finds sexually attractive.<\/p>\n

I, on the other hand, am in trouble. I find myself sexually attracted exclusively to individuals who are immature and vulnerable and certainly not in a position to enter responsibly into any sort sexual relationship. Of course, that’s not my fault. But what if I nevertheless act on this impulse? Then I have done something very wrong, undoubtedly. Something for which I can be blamed.<\/p>\n

But (and here is the key question), finding myself born into such a world, could I be sure that I would not ever succumb to temptation?<\/span> Actually, I couldn’t be sure. My drive to have sex with adult-bodied women is very strong, and I am not sure I could succeed in suppressing it over an entire lifetime. Put me in a situation where I am surrounded by such adult-bodied, yet immature and vulnerable individuals, could I be trusted? Or would my resolve gradually weaken? Might I begin to find all sorts of justifications for having the occasional grope, etc.? Let’s not forget how many Catholic priests have succumbed.<\/p>\n

I’d like to believe that, stuck with those desires in that situation, I would be strong and virtuous. But I am aware that I may well flatter myself. Fact is, I wouldn’t trust me.<\/p>\n

So here are some of the conclusions I am inclined to draw:<\/p>\n

The fact that I inhabit a world where my sexual desires can be satisfied without harming the innocent and vulnerable, whereas Gary Glitter does not, is a matter of my good fortune and his Glitter’s bad luck<\/span>. There’s nothing much that either one of us can do about our desires, or about the kind of world we find ourselves in.<\/p>\n

And we can’t be held morally responsible, surely, for things that are outside our control.<\/p>\n

Glitter can control his damaging behaviour<\/span>, of course. And he has failed to do so. That’s terrible. However, I’m not at all confident I, or indeed, many of us, would fare any better in controlling our behaviour, were we in his position.<\/p>\n

But then there is a question about just how<\/span> culpable he is. Blameworthiness is a matter of degree, and I am suggesting that, while blameworthy, he may not be nearly as blameworthy as most of us suppose (the issue here is moral luck<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

However, while I don’t blame Glitter for his desires, and while I find it difficult to get too judgemental about his behaviour, I’m also inclined to think that paedophiles, if<\/span> innately stuck with that desire, are unlikely ever to be “cured”<\/span> (anymore than I could be “cured” of my desire for adult women, were I to find myself in a situation where that was deemed aberrant).<\/p>\n

My best guess is that most of those sexually attracted primarily to children will always pose a very significant risk to children. <\/span>No matter how good and sincere their avowed intentions might be right now (compare the decision to pack in smoking: it’s often sincerely and passionately declared, but rarely followed through).<\/p>\n

In which case, while they might not deserve<\/span> a lifetime’s incarceration or very close monitoring and control, that may nevertheless be justified.<\/p>\n

<\/span>I am also inclined to think that merely being found in possession of child pornography warrants the imposition of a lifetime’s close control and supervision. Whether deserved<\/span> or not.
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Gary Glitter is back in the UK after completing his sentence for having engaged in sex with under age girls back in Thailand. The tabloids are, of course, having a field day, unleashing all the venom and bile they can muster against this convicted “paedo” and “ageing pervert“. I have been thinking about how we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paedophilia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}