The underlying assumption of this politics is that fantasy leads to acts (according to the "domino theory" described by Gayle Rubin's Thinking Sex). Someone who downloads those kinds of pictures is inevitably liable to move forward and eventually indulge in pedophiliac acts : according to this understanding, pictures lead to acts which are in this case necessarily rapes. Needless to say it is too simple a picture, not to say a preposterous one... well, I wish it were needless to say ! Not only is it untenable because the contemporary denial of childhood sexual feelings is ridiculous. But also because while it might be the case that sometimes watching pictures leads to acts, it might just as well be the case that some other times watching pictures is the condition for not acting, while in some other cases, there will not be any connection between acting and watching pictures. To my knowledge, there are no data documenting the relations between acting and fantasizing. But when it comes to pedophilia, we do not need data nor complexity, the only acceptable picture needs to be a black and white one (and in dress!) : fantasy is enough to constitute the crime, acting is in itself raping (no matter how old the kid was, whether or not he/she was consenting and so on).
While reading this, some people might think I am exaggerating. Let me just quote one of the press articles I read today in Le Journal du Dimanche. This newspaper is a fairly famous one, not notoriously conservative (not particularly progressive either), that comes out on Sundays. If you read the article (that is in French and that I would hate to translate !), you will see that it is devoted to two politician's and one politician relative's implications in pedophiliac scandals. The article starts out with a right-wing deputy major in Vezelay, a smaller city in the department of Yonne. This one is charged with sexual assaults on his nephew, whom he accordingly first raped when he (the victim) was 10 or 11 years old; it lasted several years. This man is now in jail. Then they allude to Julien Bobot: think of the devastating consequences of linking together these two cases, one of which is about rape, while the other is about fantasy and downloading pictures while sitting alone behind your screen. And then, to make sure that we are indeed talking about the same topic, the article alludes to French Minister of Justice's brother-in-law who has also, they say, been arrested for sexual assault on a young girl.
Unfortunately, I was not fantacizing, and they clearly suggest an equation between these very different cases.
I have very little reason to stand up for Julien Bobot : he is straight (there may or may not be a joke here !), and above all he is a member of a party I do not consider anymore to belong to the political left. But I consider it to be a duty. One of the main reasons why I feel this way is that Julien Bobot's friends are unlikely to stand up for him. I really wish they would, but I am at best doubtful. Let us wait and see. I also wish this party members and leaders would use the opportunity of this scandal to denounce a silly law that equates pedophiliac rapes, pedophiliac acts and pedophiliac fantasy. Unfortunately, I fear it is hopeless. The fact that the 10th arrondissement major has accepted the resignation of his "friend" is not a good sign.
Oh yes, because, also, clearly, pedophilia is one of these accusations where one does not need to wait until he (most of the time, it is indeed a "he") is convicted to be actually destroyed.
So what can we do?
(this is a pasting of a note I posted today on http://rostom-mesli.blogspot.com/)
I would like to point out that in order for mr. Bobot to have his pedophiliac fantasy material to download off the internet, someone out there has to commit the acts in order to produce said material.
I admit the material could all be fabricated via photoshop, CGI and all those yummy modern methods, but I strongly doubt it is.
Furthermore if he paid for the material he is directly supporting, if not encouraging people to perform pedophilliac acts/rapes.
Hi ! And thanks for your comment ! I had not seen it earlier, which is why I did not react to it.
I perfectly understand your concern.
However, I think we should distinguish between different situations. You would probably agree that it is not the same thing if the pictures feature naked children, masturbating children, or kids having sex. You would also probably agree that it makes a difference whether the kids are 6 years old or 15 years old. Finally, I hear the economical argument, but it should logically follow that if M. Bobot did not pay anything but contented himself with downloading free pictures, he did not enforce a preexisting system, and can therefore not be blamed for much.
I do not know the details of this specific case, so what I am writing here is more general. But as I am sure you are well aware, all these distinctions make very little difference with regards to the laws.
Furthermore, the simple fact of writing pedophiliac texts, which obviously do not involve "real" kids but fictional characters, can get you into legal trouble, at least in France. If the pictures are not photos but paintings, you do not necessarily escape liability either.
A long story short : I am not arguing that pedophiliac fantasy and love should be legal in any contexts; I just would like us and our law to grant these fantasies and these loves with the same complexity as others. They can be rape (in which case perpetrators should be condemned), they can be something else, and they even can arise from shared desire. There is no more uniformity in pedophilia than in any other sexual behavior, but hte law treats any manifestations nearly the same way – maybe because ultimately the goal of the law is less the protection of kids than the control of desires. That is what I would like to point out.