Report 2. Strategic considerations

Review yourself now and then

There are still a lot of groups, forums and web sites in the field of intergenerational love and intimate relationships. Ipce is one of them. Now and then it is good to overview the field and its groups, to review one's aims, goals, targets and methods, and to specify - in this case - the role of Ipce within it. 

NAMBLA does the same: now and then reviewing its position papers. Such positions should not be too specific, better to be broad like constitutions are. 

A new group has been formed, named "Act": a group of active people in this field who are trying to present a united vision and, in that sense, leadership. A paper with a draft vision was shown during the meeting, but not published here because it is still a draft. 

Targets, 'the public'

A group or organization has its members, and there is 'the public'. What is your target? Primarily, the target should be the members. 

In the past, NAMBLA has tried to reach 'the public' with position papers about a lot of subjects. Later, NAMBLA was attacked because of some specific opinions written in those position papers. Now, NAMBLA concentrates on their own membership, to form a self-conscious constituency. The Bulletin is now written primarily for the members. 

The Association Martijn does more or less the same with its Magazine OK. The several forums in this field do the same. There, the Internet generation meets each other - to find their own way in the changing world. 

'The public' can be split into a small top, a greater medium level, and 'the mass', just like a pyramid. Some say: we never try to reach the mass of the public, only the medium level (like journalists) and the top level (like scientists and politicians). The mass of the public is likely to be unwilling and unable to accept our message; they follow their own leaders. 

Public relations experts usually advise, in such situations, not even to try to reach the public as a whole, but only what they call 'ordinances'. In our case they are: individual boy/girl/child (etc.) lovers, their groups, journalists, scientists, students, opinion leaders, religious leaders, lawmakers - each group in its own way. Try to find points of contact and shared opinions. 

What Ipce does

What Ipce specifically does is: giving information as broad a sweep as possible - and as balanced as possible: more than 1000 files on its web site. Ipce takes no specific positions, except a series of statements. It provides information, so people can take up their own positions and make their own statements. Balance is intended by giving different opinions and essays, but not scientific reports if they are clearly flawed. So, not only are the Rind c.s.' reports on the Ipce web site, but also the counter reports and the whole discussion. 

Regrettably, nowadays, some 'science' is no objective science at all. People start with an opinion and then search for the facts to support that opinion. One can easily order and pay for such reports. For example, both the pro-tobacco scene and the contra-tobacco scene have many such reports.

Making a thousand files available is good, but a general overview is difficult, in spite of the specific overviews by subject and the fact that more such overviews will be made. Ipce should start its next project: making brochures (or files) with what public relation experts call "fast facts", short texts with the main messages and facts, some statistics, some quotes, some anecdotes or cases. No politic position, only facts, balanced facts and opinions: both pro and contra. Primarily for its own members and some others who may be interested: the ordinances, thus not written for 'the public'. This is work for Ipce as an international organization; a national or local group might earlier have been 'suspected' of having its own agenda.

Do not deliver your message as 'my agenda', but place it in a broader context. Send your opinion to a newspaper or magazine and then support it with: 'The newspaper or this magazine says ...'

Which message? 

The subject ought to be: relationships, not ‘paedophilia’. Intergenerational relationships are inherently neither good nor bad. They always depend on the quality and the consensus. It is a complex subject; there is never one truth nor one good answer or vision. Thus, give room for more answers and visions, and thus for further discussion. This is what Ipce does. 

Accept diversity in the several organizations; do not combat this, but accept and help each other. 

On the individual level

Some members say that they only work on the individual level, and that, in several countries, working as a group or in publicity is not possible; it will be used against you. But if working on the individual level is possible, one can possibly join with other individuals as well, maybe later forming a group. 

Note, says one member, that I work toward scientific understanding of intimate adult-child relationships and pedophilia as an existing phenomenon, thus I do not work 'for pedophiles'

Working with groups

In the Netherlands and in Germany there are still groups for people with paedophilic feelings. In these countries, this is possible. Working with groups has some risk - see what happened in both countries, but also possibilities. Such groups may exist at different levels: everybody has to begin with him or herself, and then a group may grow to a higher level. It is difficult to find active and sophisticated people for these groups. A lot of depression and fear hinders. We're living in a kind of Kafka's world. 

We nevertheless go on. Each one has to find one's own best way to live, then follow a road or route to sophistication and ability to be active. This requires time and patience. These kinds of groups can prevent problems for their members. If problems arrive, there is help. As a group, we develop experience and knowledge that can be made available to others. 

For example, what is going on in all those 'treatment' centres? The public does not know; they believe that ‘experts’ practise ‘therapy’, not knowing that, in fact, it is brainwashing by ideologists. It is all control of behavior, thoughts and fantasies. 

Working with art

In the world of the art are opportunities for progressive arts and artists: writers, painters, photographers - and the producers, the museums, the exhibitions. Kevin Esser, André Gide and Oscar Wilde are good examples; they are still widely read. 

As an example, a five-minute video was shown at the meeting. The video simply illustrates how boys are presented in TV advertisements: clearly as attractive. Short interviews might also be good. Young people understand the language of images quite well, and many of them have the equipment to make such presentations. Easier still is to make links to existing short films or presentations, such as from famous talk shows on TV. The Dutch web site is 
< http://www.pedofilie.nl/ > 

A script as an example

As another example, members present at the meeting played part of a script for a film. The passage was about openness to parents. In the script the boy intends to keep secret the relationship between himself and an adult friend, although it is entirely legal, because he knows that people will not understand it. The friend wants to be open with the parents, both his own and the parents of the boy. The adult does not want to burden the boy with a secret, but the boy says it is no burden at all. The passage is a discussion between the members of the self-help group. 

The very serious discussion makes clear that the attitude of most adults causes the spontaneity of the relationship to disappear because of this kind of problem. The relationship in the script is just at its point of consciousness, which is a point of no return. 

Secrecy can poison a relationship; openness can totally end it. For the boy, openness to his peers will result in being called a faggot; parents and other adults will immediately start talking about sex and make the relationship a problem. For the adult, openness to the parents is the crux of his ethics. 

The play makes clear that society not only rejects the sex (not present in that relationship) but the love, or even the liking for each other, and the choice to have a relationship outside the family. One might make a comparison with gay relationships in most South-European and other countries: they can be open without great problems. One knows, but one does not talk explicitly about it. 

Countries and cultures differ in talking about adult-child relationships. In the USA, there is no longer any differentiation between 'pedophilia' and 'prostitution', nor between 'pedophilia' (as a feeling or desire) and 'pedo-sexuality' (as a deed). Such nuances or differentiations are 'not done' nowadays in the US culture and language. In other countries and cultures, these differences can be taken into an overall view. 

Playing this passage demonstrated that even a few minutes of a film may be able to give insights of the ins and outs of such a relationship and each one's role in it. There is no background, no overview, only one event that prompts thinking about the subject. 

The post-modern child

The post-modern child in Western culture is different from children in earlier generations. Modern children mature earlier, are less childish. They have more freedom, money, their own TV and a PC, more power - and more weight. They know more about sex and have, at least in some countries, sexual experiences at a young age. The first question to a child in any TV show is: 'Do you already have a boy or girl friend? "Oh, cute!" say the adults, but at the same time there is a lot of pressure towards a hetero life style. Very young children use "faggot" or "pedo" as terms of abuse in the schoolyard. A trend?

The post-modern child lover

The modern child lover, the young adult, is far more conscious of themselves, their feelings and their position in society than his or her predecessors. They are more positive and strong - says one member, seeing this as a trend. Oh no, says another, I see a lot of depression and disillusion - seeing this as a trend. Both are reality. On several forums, they talk intensively with one another. Most of them seem to avoid any political or other action: they live their own lives, and that's it. We see quarrels, a lot of critics, not too much solidarity, and very little appreciation of what activists do. A trend?

…Who knows?  Will future generations see parallels with the history of the gay movement? Pressure from the outside does not automatically raise solidarity – It can produce internal friction..

The Internet provides the opportunity to be no longer isolatede. New groups arise, virtual groups appear. There are new ways to bring people together, new ways to send out messages, new ways for self-protection, caution and sophistication.

Recognizing trends and trend changes 

Figure:

Down --> Up

(1) (Relative) low
(2) Relative high 
(3) Relative low, but higher than previous one -> Be ready. 
(4) Trend break signal --> Act.

Up --> down

Similar, the other way around.

It may be worthwhile to have some means of recognizing trends and trend changes in order to choose the moment when our attempts to influence mass opinion may be most effective. The thought occurred to me that we might learn from so-called Technical Analysis techniques used in stock trading. Although this is not backed by any proof or theory that I know of, I suspect that similar human emotions play an important role in both political and market trends. The illustration explains one of the techniques used in stock trading to decide when to act (sell or buy). 

Provided you have a way of measuring and plotting a graph of the kind of trend you're interested in, it might be a good idea to use a similar technique to decide when and how to act. When the trend goes up it's the right time to be offensive and shout your message. When the trend goes down, however, your resources may be better spent in offensive actions ("fighting the enemy") and in preparing your material for the next up-trend.

Reactions