[patsylimerick]

Originally Posted by Zippy

who cares? You don't have evidence regards the ages of the numerous boys he went with either and thats what it comes down to.

And I'm not trying to persuade anybody. Think whatever you choose. The paedo accusations have hung over him like a black cloud for over a century so Im not making any exclusive revelations here! As Ive said all the literature surrounding him is littered with quotes and references about his numerous sexual encounters with rentboys and servants. If you choose to read all that and romanticise it thats your problem. Fact is, he lusted after boys.

But as he's been a corpse for over 100 years I don't think we need worry about children being sexually abused by him at this point.

and you yourself even suggested the random age group 15-19. So if you think 15 then I don't see why you struggle to think boys lower than that age is a great stretch. Especially when soliciting boys in the underground world of Victorian gay prostitution. But even a 15 year old is a boy btw so you have actually agreed he had sexual encounters with boys.

seems the only difference between us is that you seem sure he imposed a strict minimum age rule of 15 whereas I say its very probable he went with even younger.

Maybe we should do a poll of how many people think a 40 year old man having sex with 15 year old boys make him a paedo?

But whatever.

So here's where our difficulty lies - because I wouldn't consider that paedophilia. Most men admire teenage girls in a sexual way. They don't act on it, but they are sexually attracted to them. However, if he had sex with an 11 or 12 year old boy, it's a completely different thing. Then, and only then, he would be a paedophile. Many girls were married at 15 and 16 when Oscar Wilde was alive. As has already been said, you cannot apply the same moral standards in a completely different set of social circumstances.

But the central point remains, he was NOT a paedophile. He fancied younger men. If he's a paedophile then so are a very, very great many men who would consider themselves to be perfectly normal.