CHILD SEX
Harris Mirkin, a professor of political science at the University of Missouri, wrote an article called "The Pattern of Sexual Politics: Feminism, Homosexuality and Pedophilia" for the Journal of Homosexuality. He argued that society's reflexive horror over adult-child sex is similar to early public response to female sexuality and homosexuality. He called for less hysteria over the issue. "In sexual politics, definitions are characteristically vague, so that statistics from the mildest activities can be blended with images from the most atrocious," he wrote. "Though Americans consider intergenerational sex to be evil, it has been permissible or obligatory in many cultures and periods of history." He later explained: "There are different degrees of nonconsent, different degrees of a kid going along." He said he resented that many teachers are now afraid to hug students for fear of being accused, or the notion that a teen boy would necessarily suffer if he were seduced by an adult woman.
Free speech, or not free speech?
VERDICT: Free speech, according to the university. Although outraged state legislators voted to withdraw $100,000 in funding, the school defended Mirkin's right to express unorthodox views. "We got out of the Dark Ages when we said we could challenge belief," its chancellor said. The lawmaker who led the charge to punish the school responded that Mirkin "doesn't have a right to espouse his illegal views on the taxpayer dime."
