Chellow Dene Woods on the outskirts of Bradford was my playground. It was an enormous wooded area that housed two enormous reservoirs. The woods and streams were just fantastic for making dens and putting up Tarzan swings.

It felt like we virtually lived there. We played cowboys and Indians every day, rode our bikes which off the road was exciting and exhilarating. We had not a care in the world, we only went home when the street lights came on, that was the signal. All the kids went in at this time. It was simply the rule and you did not argue.

In the local park, safely, we played cricket and of course football. I can remember teams of fifteen on each side, kicking the hell out of each other and yes, we had jumpers for goalposts.  

At thirteen and fourteen things changed and I can clearly remember becoming interested in girls, not as playmates on the swings and bike chases, but different. Games like kiss catch became the norm. This was a subtle change and it opened up a whole different world, feelings and thought processes.

I now have granddaughters, my oldest is going to be nine this year, she is a sweetie, makes songs up and sings them to herself, plays with the LOL dolls (the latest trend) and paints and sketches a lot. She also has not a care in the world, she is happy, growing, safe amongst her peers and innocent of the kind of world she could become exposed to.

Can you imagine then my worry frustration, nay anger, at the so-called experts who would, if allowed, pervert her and many thousands like her!

So-called ‘experts’ are becoming more and more vocal. They are finding an ever- increasing audience to listen to their ‘expert’ views. Many of them are in academia which they believe adds weight to their argument and view point. Sadly, many within their audience allow credence to be attached to their ‘findings’ based on an academic background and an acceptance that ‘it must be right’.

In 2014 Cambridge University held a conference, this was a very disturbing event in that the papers submitted for debate and promulgation included titles such as:

“Liberating the Paedophile – a discursive analysis” .Yes I had to look up the word discursive: “the attempt to transform utterances from one discursive context to another”

Still no wiser … The other paper submitted for discursive analysis was “Danger and difference: the stakes of hebephilia”

Back to the on- ine dictionary for this ex -copper that dealt with rapes and child abuse cases, therefore I have seen at first hand victims of these horrendous crimes: – Hebephilia “Strong persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent children, which is typically ages 11-14”.

My first question here just has to be: why? Why would a gathering of academics wish to debate and discuss these two subjects? There are surely more pressing issues. Was it a genuine attempt to shed light on this problem within society? Or was it, within the academic world an attempt to seek legitimacy for holding such predilections.

When I say that one of the main themes of the conference was that “Paedophillia is natural and normal” I begin to think the latter applies. When you add into the soup the fact that one of the invited guests and enthusiastic participant from the floor was Tom O`Carroll I most definitely rest on the legitimacy making argument. Mr O`Carroll is a multiple child sex offender and former head of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE).

Leaving aside paedophilia I examine some other so called ‘experts’ who would seek to pervade the growing experience of young children. Sex education in schools has always been poor, it is a subject treat as a “must do” but no one really has taken it seriously.

There are though red lines, lines in the sand that have to be drawn. Exploring an individual boy’s or girl’s sexuality is a natural rite of passage, it is something to be discovered in private and with no interference. Young people will find their own way at their own speed when and only when the time is right. Modern children are swayed and educated by the internet, with porn so readily available parental controls cannot stop the inquisitive teenager finding out what it is all about. The influence of porn on young developing minds is another topic for another day but it warrants talking about.

Nadia Bokody, a so called “expert” who is the editor of ‘She Said’, wishes to teach all eleven-year-olds how to masturbate. This would take place in the classroom. For so many reasons this is so wrong! I cannot agree to a stranger trying to teach eleven-year-old girls and boys – who will be at very different levels of bodily development and different levels of understanding and maturity – such an intimate act that will take place naturally.

I would suggest that she uses the funding she is given to do this and the time she would devote to it, to seek therapy herself. Let children be children, leave them their innocence for as longs it lasts. Allow them freedom to grow and develop in all matters of life at their own pace, speed and within a comfort of privacy that they will need.

The world for so many reasons is off its axis. We do not need to create a bubble for kids where we force them to confront issues and problems that will inevitably arrive at their doorstep eventually.

No, teachers, experts and academics with a very different view to the norm: leave our kids alone.  

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email