[Shasown]

Originally Posted by Zippy

well I would assume thats just the ones that could be found. The servants etc. What about the rentboys living on the streets? Presumably thats where he would find the younger ones. Then there's his foreign trips...

I called him a paedo because that is what he would be classed as today if he were conducting the same behaviour. I appreciate it was a different era but Im sure sex with children was still viewed with disgust. Especially by somebody of his age. The age of consent was still 16 round the time of his trial. Obviously there wasn't a gay age of consent but if there was one it would probably have been 2-5 years higher considering what it later became(now its the same).

There is absolutely no evidence to assume he carried out any form of paedophiliac actions, he had a preference for young men.

If there was any evidence at the time it would have come out. In either the libel case he instigated against Douglas or in the trials for sodomy.

Yes he was homosexual yes he liked younger lovers. Whilst there is something distinctly unpleasant and unsavory about adult males (or females) in their 30's or 40's pursuing young people in their late teens or early 20's. Its not illegal nor is it paedophilia. Its called Ephebophilia or Hebephilia


Do you not think Douglas would have not only accused him of homosexuality but also procuring the sexual services of children if there was any sort of inkling of it?

Douglas, hated not only any form of homosexual behaviour but also Wilde in particular, after all this was the man who had seduced and corrupted his son.

Wilde and his legal team withdrew the libel case against Douglas when it was apparent not only would Douglas prove beyond doubt (by witnesses) that Wilde was homosexual but would have also listed his own son as a witness against Wilde. Thereby bringing Wildes beloved Bosie into shaeful standing.

Douglas in turn handed over all the evidence he had gathered to defend himself in the libel case to the Crown and forced a prosecution leading to Wildes two trials.

There was nor is any evidence to suggest Wilde had any form of sexual liaison with prepubescent males. Only assumptions.