Re: OK

I let you off with the first 'prick' but not the rest.

How magnanimous of you.

Either learn to control your temper and argue with less anger and rage governing your writing or don't bother replying to any future posts I make as they will simply be ignored.

I wasn't insulting to you initially. You only got my insults because of your snide condescension towards me. Do you think you were any less abusive than I was because you veiled your insults in less blatantly antagonistic language and thought I wouldn't notice? Look, I am who I am. If you want my sweet side, then be sweet to me, honey. It works both ways. I didn't used to be this way, but a lifetime of putting up with antis who would just as soon shoot me as look at me, even though I've done nothing to warrant it, has made me a little bitter. So maybe you could cut me a little slack on that, no? Moreover, this is a public board and you are not a moderator, so I will not take orders from you. I will reply to whatever posts I feel like replying to, including yours. Whatever you choose to do with them is up to you. Ignoring them will not stop me from replying. Sometimes I just need to vent.

Shows of anger are usually the result of finding oneself losing an argument or in losing status, or perhaps both. Often it is as a result of a firmly entrenched position, which I will admit I have on this particular question as you appear to have.

Maybe that's so in situations where the debaters have much less of an investment in the outcome, but in case you haven't noticed, we are pretty much the most despised group on the planet right now, at least in the Anglophone countries. Every century seems to have its favorite scapegoat group--it seems this century we're it. As an exclusive MAP, I have never even had a girlfriend. Not really. At 39 I am still a virgin. I live alone and I am partially disabled. I was fired from a good job because I happened to be outspoken about these issues on the net and did not hide my real-life identity (something I felt was important), and I was outed in my tiny Southern community because of that, rendering me basically unemployable here forever after. I have also been assaulted. My lifelong dreams of being a published writer and artist have also pretty much collapsed now. And of course, every child I've ever fallen for has been taken away from me by circumstances out of my control.

And on top of all that, like everyone else, I still have bad days sometimes (worse than usual, I mean), especially when someone like you has the gall to come in here and tell me what they think I am all about. So, you'll excuse me if I laugh at your contention that I am angry because I'm losing the argument.

Since I think the overall impact of legalising the possession of CP is huge compared to the benefits I am quite prepared to continue debating so don't accuse me of 'crying off'.

If you are prepared to continue debating, then let's debate. I promise I'll be much friendlier as long as you knock off the condescending attitude towards me.

I don't know your life-history as you don't know mine but anecdotal evidence could be provided by us both and is largely irrelevant to the discussion.

Anecdotal evidence can be useful in certain regards, which is exactly why I got into that deeply personal account. But here you are telling me not to get into anecdotes about myself whilst simultaneously telling me to read accounts by real abuse victims. Nice double standard. That story was more than mere anecdote; it was ultimately about my personal connection to these issues and why I hold the positions I do. Is it merely coincidental that the perfect example of the negative result of the taboo on youth sexuality happened in my own family? Only if you believe these are rare isolated cases. But I know they aren't. This is what happens when you demonize youth sexuality in the abstract rather than separate genuinely abusive cases from loving ones, even when adults are involved. The end result is not a system that empowers kids and punishes wrongdoers. Quite the opposite in fact--it is a system that disempowers those of us who love kids (and more importantly, kids themselves) and empowers the truly abusive by allowing them to use the taboo as leverage in order to manipulate kids into sex, and pretty much anything else they want to manipulate them into.