appeal to nature

"hebephilia is both natural and wrong, apparently"

We need to be careful about appeals to nature. Certainly it is worth noting that hebephilic attraction is entirely natural, and that it can hardly be avoided for most humans. We can say that "ought implies can" when noting that it is wrong to criminalize sexual attraction because it is such a strong and inherent part of human nature that is impossible for most people to discard it, à la "Turn It Off" from the musical "The Book of Mormon". However, we should not forget that war is natural among chimps and ants, murder and rape are natural among many species, and cannibalism is natural among crocodiles. We rightly expect that human beings should not indulge every impulse and desire.

Excepting the recent persecution of ourselves, most people throughout history have understood that fantasies are different from reality and have not tried to criminalize thoughts. Even religious zealots who warned against sinful thoughts generally allowed that such issues were between the individual and God, but not a proper subject of civil law. We understand that thoughts of murder are not murder, and we understand that women who have the common fantasy of being abducted and raped do not wish to be abducted or raped in reality. It is worth noting that fairness demands that men's sexual fantasies should likewise not be pathologized or criminalized, and are nothing to be ashamed of - but actions are something else entirely. It is worth making such distinctions, even if we do not believe they apply in this case. After all, there are a multitude of healthy behaviors that are natural - thirst compels us to drink, hunger compels us to eat, fear compels us to use caution - and it is undeniable that sex is a healthy function as well - none of us would be here without it.

Rather than appeal to actions being natural, we should appeal to the role those actions play in nature. Among some of our closest non-human relatives, bonobos, researchers generally agree that promiscuous sex - including intergenerational sex - serves to reduce aggression and promote cooperation. It is hard to fathom how the same behavior would have the exact opposite effect among humans, but that is exactly what the abuse industry has been insisting for years. That sort of stupidity is worth calling attention to.