If Everything Is A “Construct” To Be Deconstructed Then Why Not Pedophilia? Leading Deconstructionists Approved Of It

“French law recognises in 12- and 13-year-olds a capacity for discernment that it can judge and punish,” said a second petition signed by Sartre and De Beauvoir, along with fellow intellectuals Michel Foucault, Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida; a leading child psychologist, Françoise Dolto; and writers Philippe Sollers, Alain Robbe-Grillet and Louis Aragon. “But it rejects such a capacity when the child’s emotional and sexual life is concerned. It should acknowledge the right of children and adolescents to have relations with whomever they choose.”

Such tracts and manifestos were not just acceptable but fashionable at the time. “A lot of good came out of 68, but we have to face it now, the era was naive,” Roland Castro, an architect who was a prominent figure in the uprising, said yesterday. “We said everything and its opposite, hastily, without reflection. And in trying to break out of all the old barriers, we ended up pulling them down altogether.” Read more»

John Henley, “Calls for legal child sex rebound on luminaries of May 68,” The Guardian (February 23, 2001). HT: Capel Loft

Resources

    Post authored by:

  • R. Scott Clark
    Author Image

    R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

    More by R. Scott Clark ›

Subscribe to the Heidelblog today!


3 comments

  1. RSC,

    This reflective exercise is a single theme reading across recent Heidelblog posts. The single theme is a difference between deconstruction and critical theory.

    In order to highlight this particular difference, let’s define deconstruction as: taking apart a conceptual identity; undermining some particular meaning. And let’s define critical theory as: putting two identities at odds (across a power differential); adding a pejorative meaning.

    Joe in St Louis

    Deconstruction in Revoice undermines the conceptual meaning of homosexual identity. For instance, the addition of benign qualities such as architecture and baking undermines understanding the defining feature of homosexuality as homoerotic lust.

    Critical theory in Revoice puts homosexual and heterosexual identity at odds. For instance, now the problem is not homoerotic lust, the problem is shame and alienation caused by the majority heterosexual response to the homoerotic lust.

    Deconstruction is Racial Reconciliation undermines the conceptual understanding of white and black. For instance, most definitions of race include culture which is myriad even within a particular “race” and is constantly changing and blending.

    Critical Race Theory puts white and black identity at odds. For instance, now the problem is not only education or poverty etc, the problem (shame, alienation, power difference) is caused by the majority white response to skin color.

    Deconstruction in May 68 undermines common concepts of the age of consent. For instance, the fact that 12-year-olds are recognized as having discernment that can be judged and punished in some areas is used as reason they should have discernment in sexuality.

    Critical Theory in May 68 puts teleiophiles at odds with pedophiles. For instance, now the problem is not pedophilia but the wrongful imprisonment caused by the majority teleiophile response to pedophiles.
    This article also puts teleiophiles at odds with the children. For instance, now the problem is not the the sexual desires of the pedophiles – it’s the oppression of the children’s desire.

  2. Be careful with these posts–you could get accused of advocating for pedophilia. Like the actress from The Mandalorian just got booted from the show because of a post in which she compared the current political climate to the totalitarianism of Nazi Germany, whereby not just soldiers but neighbors would drag Jews from their homes and beat them. What did they accuse her of? Yup…anti-Semitism.

    Somehow, even though she was clearly saying it was horrible, she was fired for “abhorrent” discrimination against religious identities. And of course, somehow, even though she mentioned nothing of LGBTQ+, she was accused of transphobia, too. You know…for good measure.

    • That is one of the beautiful things about this blog, it is independent. Unless they come after whoever hosts the site (and even then he can still host it on his home computer) Dr. Clark can say/type whatever he wants. The internet, for the savvy, is still a bastion of free speech.

Comments are closed.