Berlin says in the interview that sexual activity between an adult and a child is wrong and harmful, so I do not think he is making the same argument as NAMBLA beyond saying that some people are born being attracted to children.



Well, there may be something to that. We know that people generally accept the situation they grow up in as the norm. It is possible that in a society that condones adults having sex with children that the child would be less likely to find what happened to them harmful, especially if there were also social norms governing what behavior was acceptable. We can see that in ancient Greece, Rome and Japan.

That said, we know from current examples of subcultures like polygamist groups that have sex with children that simply having a social norm does not take away a child's fear and confusion. We also know that the child's consent tends not to matter in most of those cases. So while society's response make a bad situation worse, there is still no way a child can cope with or would actually freely consent to sex with an adult.



I think calling it an orientation can be misleading in this case because we do not do the same thing with other age groups. No one says that someone attracted to older people has a sexual orientation to them. However, I think the word "orientation" is useful to the extent that tells people we are talking about the way a person was born.

I don't think Berlin is trying to justify adult-child sex. He is simply stating that if we are to prevent it, we must study it. Any hunter will tell you that you must study your prey to be successful. It is also true that merely passing laws outlawing something, no matter how draconian the punishment, does not equate with stopping or minimizing the behavior and in fact, may often make it worse. For example, prohibition was a roaring failure that simply pumped up armed gangs and widespread disrespect for the law. What does work rather well is Alcoholics Anonymous, where alcoholics are put at ease to discuss their habits and the damage it has caused. In an atmosphere that acknowledges the disease and proscribes a program of treatment, many of the most hopeless alcoholics have been reformed.

He is also trying to understand the dynamics of the organizations that have failed to protect the children. Now I will say, the ongoing rabid reaction of Penn State fans in defending Joe Paterno is hard to fathom, it really does boil down to them valuing football more than children.