Gert Hekma's ultimate victory

This blurring of boundaries is deliberate

At a Scottish school, a tribute to Alok Vaid Menon, who said “little girls are kinky”

After many years in the shadows, it seems that Dutch sociologist and paedophile apologist, Gert Hekma may finally be about to have his day in the sun.

For those unfamiliar with Mr. Hekma, Genevieve Gluck has recently written a superb piece on him, superb piece on him.  He was, from 1984 until 2017 assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam, where he lectured on matters including Marquis de Sade and wrote extensively on sexuality, including paedophilia.   

In 2004, Hekma was interviewed by Dutch pro-paedophilia association MARTIJN, (see also: Paedophile Information Exchange in the UK and NAMBLA in the US) where he described children as “sexy”, with “nice little blow mouths”; and also spoke of the need to force children into sexual activity for their own good.  In fact, in 2014 Hekma went so far as to co-create a petition addressed to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, pleading the Dutch Supreme Court to not ban MARTIJN which they eventually did. 

However, it was back in 2007 when Hekma came under heavy criticism for supporting the idea of including a ‘children’s boat’ at Amsterdam Gay Pride, for kids between the ages of 12 and 16, albeit accompanied by their parents.  Many people were deeply uncomfortable with the idea of a such a boat at a celebration of adult sexuality, both given the potential for grooming and the likelihood of playing into paedophilic narratives about child sexuality.  The proposals, which were eventually approved, were reported in characteristically glowing terms by Pink News and in an article (purported published in Gay City News in New York) which praises Hekma for his ‘bravery’ in uttering ‘unsayable truths’, specifically regarding what it described as ‘intergenerational sex’.

Fast forward to Pride 2019, York, England.  There are no boats here, but nor are there any parents.  

Instead, York Pride can proudly boast that: 

“teachers and students from 25 local schools and colleges will lead the York Pride parade from York Minster to the Knavesmire on Saturday 8th June [2019].  Students from all the York state secondary schools, Selby, Tadcaster, Malton and Ryedale, several local independent schools and York College and Askham Bryan will congregate at the beginning of the Parade in order to celebrate LGBT equality and inclusivity.  From the 25 schools and colleges, over 1000 school children and teachers are expected to participate in York Pride this year, following a historical 2017 when York Pride became the first Pride in the world to have students and teachers from all the schools in the city take part in the Parade." 

The announcement is notably silent about how many of the ‘over 1000 school children’ attending were under sixteen.  However, the list includes Ryedale High School, which has no sixth form, and pupils range in age from 11 to 16.  In fact, Ryedale High School are so enthusiastic about their involvement that they boast of it on their school website.

This is how far the Overton window of what constitutes grooming has shifted.  

How did anyone come to think this was okay?  

A part of it is the forced teaming of the LGB with T.  If you can be a ‘trans’ kid at four, why not an LGB one? But the issue is more complex than this.  Gay and lesbian kids are bullied and made to feel shame about their emerging sexuality.  But even as teenagers, they know what they are.  I knew what I was when I sneaked along to Pride as a teenager.  And it felt thrilling and transgressive and important to be there.  For the first time I was staking a claim on my adult sexuality.  

So why not involve schools?  Well, here’s why.  

Schools have a role to play in stopping bullying and in introducing children to the adult world in all its diversity in an age appropriate way.  They do not have a role to play in nurturing their pupils’ sexuality.  

School is not a place where sexuality should be “integrated in literature, history, geography, language acquisition, sports”, as Hekma described his ‘sex paradise’.  Schools are not a place for discussing sexual preferences as pizza toppings.  In case it needs saying: schools should not harness the power of porn to communicate comprehensive sex education.

Children and young people need privacy and space as they become sexual adults.  And part of that is the privacy of not being invited to define and express their sexuality by the adults responsible for their education.

Get a grip York, get a grip Ryedale High School.  Your role is not to help germinate your pupils’ sexual expression.  It is not to lead children on a parade that openly celebrates sex.  Your role is to give them a neutral space where they can be educated. 

If you still can't see why that is a problem, cast your mind back to 2007.  Consider why Gert Hekma was so keen to lobby for a kids’ boat at Pride.  Consider why a boat filled with children aged 12-16 celebrating their sexuality at Pride might have seemed so appealing.  Consider why it would work so neatly with his narrative.  

Now consider why - fifteen years later - as over 1,000 children and their teachers celebrate their queerness at Pride, people like Hekma may finally consider their time in the sun has arrived.

My thanks to subscriber Hedgehog for this piece.