Re: Holy . . . wow

Thanks for those comments Markaba.

They don't understand that we experience love for children on top of the sexual attraction.

Or, 'within and beyond the sexual attraction'?

But we can maintain our friendships with children for years without any manifest sexual component.

Yes. And I think you're right this is something our critics, as you say, can't fathom; related to a lack of willingness to try and empathise on their part, again.

As regards the incest issue, I think the Greer quote I mentioned in the post primarily illustrates the damage that can be done by people in authority making assumptions of harm, and foisting that on the child, when the child has clearly experienced the situation differently. More generally, I'm not sure about innate disgust as opposed to socially conditioned disgust, partly because exceptions are always to be found, partly because of the wide range of interactions that can be termed sexual, and partly because of the sheer power of social conditioning.