Yet again we are implored to “think of the children” by more than 250 000 supporters of a bill proposed in Poland that would put a 2-year prison penalty on…

…whoever publicly promotes or condones undertaking sexual activities by minors of less than 15 years of age, or supplies them with materials facilitating such activities.

Yes, you are reading this right. Two years in jail for giving a teen child a condom just in case, or informing them where kids come from. I won’t even mention the filth called “sex-ed classes”! Yes, this also pertains to parents. What should a parent say when a child comes and asks how did their little sister get inside mummy? “Go ask the good reverend”, I guess.

Of course there’s a question of how the “pro-family” organisations that promote this enlightened idea reconcile their “pro-familiness” with the fact that such a law would have a great potential for breaking families apart, but I’ll leave that one for the Dear Reader to ponder. Also, while I find hate speech laws to be a bit problematic, as long as we have them on the books, how about somebody look into how these people identify paedophilia with not being heteronormative, eh?

Live by the sword…¶

I’ll leave dealing with the cranial rectal syndrome that makes people propose banning the best weapon we have against paedophiles (education) because they are afraid of paedophiles to those better suited for the task. Something else interests me in this situation.

For years I have taken part in many meetings concerning proposed Internet censorship measures. Each and every time “the paedophile argument” was one of the big guns in the proposers’ arsenal. One of the organisations that used to propose such measures (and use such arguments), today went through the looking-glass:

We are convinced that the changes proposed will not amount to effective tools against paedophilia. The project aims to ban educating children and youth about human sexuality, which equips them with knowledge required to notice threats, maintain own integrity and look for help

It is hard to fathom that in the 21st Century it is still possible to propose criminal penalties for supplying children with knowledge about their development and the nature of sexual relations, and to lump custodians, teachers and educators providing such education with paedophiles

While I do find it a bit surprising, today I have to agree wholeheartedly with the President of Fundacja Dzieci Niczyje.