Tatchell again

[Coyoacan]

Has anyone seen this: www.petertatchell.net/lgbt_rights/age_of_consent/im-14-im-gay-i-want-a-boyfriend/?fbclid=IwAR0qfQRrnXWbNuUukcyjOvisut1K6wuUfB_VEzG49gpzw3Pv3m-doHsCwus

Just in case we had any remaining doubts about this man.

Now I'd say 12 is far too young. I think 14 is an absolute minimum

12! We really can't forget that for girls, this means potential pregnancy - 12 year olds are still not physically mature, let alone mentally - it's even more dangerous for them to get pregnant than an adult.

I really think children need protecting from themselves sometimes-in this age of cameras on phones & images being shared on social media, 16 is a good age for consent to be given. Many are not mature enough at 16.

I cannot believe that Tatchell is using this boy as an example of why the age on consent should be lowered! This boy was taken into care at 11 and became a rent boy! Lee is both a victim and perpetrator of abuse. The fact that he was highly sexualised is a child is a sign of abuse. It’s a very sad and tragic story. The only good point he makes in that article is that it is considered worse in the eyes of the law to abuse young boys than young girls , which is likely due to a combination of misogyny and homophobia, but rather than arguing to protect girls better, he is arguing to protect boys less. Truly shocking.

I couldn’t read that all the way through, it’s too sickening. There you see the words of a child who has been groomed and sexually abused, and Tatchell is going yeah of course, that all sounds sensible. I wonder how he met this child? I don’t even want to think about the physical damage an adult male penis could do to an 8 yo’s body. Please don’t think about that, brain.

That poor lad. Definitely grooming and abuse.

I now know to disregard anything I read from Tatchell. Thanks for sharing OP.

I cannot believe that Tatchell is using this boy as an example of why the age on consent should be lowered! This boy was taken into care at 11 and became a rent boy! Lee is both a victim and perpetrator of abuse. The fact that he was highly sexualised is a child is a sign of abuse

Quite bizarre, really, that he thought this would convince people to lower the age of consent.

All it makes me want to do is keep him well away from children

I think that until very recently it was generally accepted that a power imbalance was a normal part of a heterosexual relationship

I'm not at all sure that's true. There is more emphasis in public life now, but no-one normal would read that article in1997 and think it was other than deeply creepy.

It says he also had sex with his friend Johns twin sister - at age 9? But preferred sex with John.

How the hell had an 8 year old seen oral sex on telly? I'm in my 50s and I've never seen that! Not in any detail anyway (Rocky Horror Picture Show used to be an 18)

Utterly grim

Interesting how "Lee" appears to be giving Tatchel the answers that end up fitting his own apparent agenda.

He "challenges" him in this "interview" but to me the questions seem to be a way of leading him rather too neatly to the answers Tatchel wants.

He certainly seems to end up agreeing to it all pretty unreservedly.

I wonder if this "Lee" ever actually existed outside Tatchel's twisted mind. Or was this just a vehicle to get his own views across?

Either way, he seems oblivious to the reality that "Lee's" story would fill any normal mind with compassionate horror and disgust for the men who are abusing him.

I wonder if this "Lee" ever actually existed outside Tatchel's twisted mind.

I assumed he met Lee in some kind of Professional capacity.

Tatchell appraising the physical attractiveness of a 14 year old boy was pretty stomach-churning on its own let alone the rest.

There is clearly a lot more to Lee's story then this. Having sex with other kids at 8 and taken into care at 11.why was this child not treated by Tatchell as an abuse survivor?

I used to think Tatchell was great. Let down isn’t even close to the right word.

Apparently the article was originally written for this publication.

I also wonder if Lee ever existed and it was all just a work of fiction from PT's twisted brain. Makes me sick.

Just for the record, I always thought he was a pillock even before learning about his dubious past

Those words don't sound like the words of a 14 year old boy from a very troubled background, who presumably had breaks in his education.

It is presented as direct quotes. Lee has an impressive vocabulary and I didn't spot a single grammatical error.

Good point Lass either Lee was made up entirely or his dialogue was 'modified'. I find it disturbing that PT could think putting that dialogue in an abused boys mouth supported his argument for lowering age of consent.

There is more emphasis in public life now, but no-one normal would read that article in1997 and think it was other than deeply creepy

Yes, I agree that it's difficult to imagine anybody ever reading the article and not seeing that Lee has been abused.

However, I think in Tatchell's head he is arguing that it's fine to have sex with a 14 year old boy because nobody cares if older men have sex with 14 year old girls. This was written less than 10 years after Bill Wyman married Mandy Smith. Their relationship was certainly scandalous, but they still managed to have a big white wedding.

I think now (at least in the UK) people are unconcerned about the behaviour of consenting adults but far more aware of abuse. In the 80's, Bill Wyman was certainly seen as a dirty old man, but also lucky. Now you would hope that most people (who aren't Peter Tatchell) would be able to explain why the relationship was wrong.

Even in 2018 Tatchell appears be living in a fantasy land where on one hand 16 year olds are regularly being prosecuted for having sex with 15 year olds, but on the other it’s perfectly easy to prove a rape has occurred when necessary.

One of the powerful scenes in Unforgotten Series 2 was when Tessa, the police officer wife of a child rapist, who had known about her husband's activities but tried to maintain she hadn't, broke down and said of the 80s:

[it was an era when] a rock star could go on telly and be interviewed about his underage girlfriend without getting arrested. We all bought into that – until we didn’t.

Tatchell is a perfect example here of what happens when you conduct thought-experiments but somehow overlook the very real-life consequences in front of you.

We all understand Tatchell's perspective although he's affecting to believe that we don't grasp his nuance. It's just that other people's perspective is that he is describing CSA.

The whole interview is deeply creepy. If Lee was real it's tragic that sex has become such an obsession and a validation for him.

I get that teenage boys might be seen to be "obsessed" by sex- but there is a world of difference between say the In Betweeners talking about sex and making puerile jokes whilst knowing in reality they aren't actually going to get much if any, and Lee for whom sex is an obsessive compulsion to validate who he is.

This from Beatrix Campbell is excellent

www.beatrixcampbell.co.uk/peter-tatchell-women-and-children-why-are-we-so-disheartened-and-worried/