Beispiel Peter Schult

Beispiel Peter Schult – Pädophilie im öffentlichen Diskurs, or, in English, Peter Schult - Pedophilia in Public Discourse, is a 2006 biography on the life and thought of German anarchist MAP activist Peter Schult. The book also provides extensive discussion of the changing discourse around homosexual pedophilia in Germany from the post-war period after 1945.

A full version of the translation can be found here.

We summarize and quote English translated passages of this book below.

Contents

Table of contents

• "Peter Schult ... ah ... that name doesn't ring a bell ... "

Research experience on the life and work of Peter Schult .......................................... 7

• The homosexual paedophile as enemy of any organized society ......................................................... 17
• Peter Schult's long march to revolution 1928 - 1975 .............................................................................86

The years of decision 1976 - 1984 ...........................................................................119

• Greens, "Leftists" and the Paedophile after 1985 -

An outlook.............................................................................160

Introduction

As described in the introduction: "This book is divided into two parts: In the first and most extensive chapter, I trace the history of the medical pathologization of homosexual padophilia in Germany. The following chapters describe Peter Schult's life "between the fronts" of the German post-war society up to the bosom of the revolutionary movements in the wake of the student revolt of 1968 and the anarchic and political situation for Schult." (p. 11).

The introduction reflects on the difficulty of researching Schult and that, despite his popularity and notoriety during his lifetime and his association with many prominent political figures, no extensive research on Schult has yet been conducted before this book:

Peter Schult was a Paedophile/Pederast, anarchist, protagonist of the "Red Help" in the 1970s, a key figure of the undogmatic left. He was close to the anarchist counterpart of the RAF, the "Bewegung 2. Juni" [The 2 June Movement - Newgon], and at the same time moved in the environment of Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Joschka Fischer, Otto Schily and many others. His opponents in those years were up-and-coming politicians from conservative or economically liberal parties, who today, in view of a life like Schult's, would call for "cutting away" and castration. It is not surprising, therefore, that Schult has not received any attention in the reception of contemporary history. Historical research is inextricably linked to the allocation of funds, so that generally only what is politically desired is researched. Peter Schult is not one of them. (p. 10).

In addition to lack of financial motive, Mildenberger suggests censorship/self-censorship to be an issue, both of people who wish to remain silent or ignore/disavow their past associations, and archival censorship. In a moment of trivia, the author reveals that the character Christoph Graf in Gerhard Seyfried's novel "Der schwarze Stern der Tupamaros" (The Black Star of the Tupamaros) is partly based on Schult (p. 7).

Ch. 1 - The homosexual paedophile as enemy of any organized society

The chapter traces debates of early sexologists/psychiatrists about homosexual pedophilia. Mildenberger sets out the issues with popular discourse:

No sexual play/evasion/perversion has been so little scientifically researched and so much unscientifically discussed as paedophilia. [...] "Paedophilia" includes both non-violent contacts and violent excesses. This leads authors to associate paedophilia and sexuality in childhood and adolescence with the formation of criminal associations, in order to emphasize the traditional worldview of the Christian family as the ideal. The fact that sexuality is an integral part of the social life of children and adolescents among each other is deliberately suppressed or pathologized. With regard to the definition of the term "child," numerous researchers remain conspicuously vague. [...] A classification is made more difficult by the fact that previously used typifications such as paderasty or ephebophilia as the emotional and erotic-sexual fixation of an adult male on male adolescents between the ages of about 12 and 18 have disappeared from the discussion in favor of a generalization. [...] This is all the more alarming because in recent years it has become increasingly clear that the time of sexual maturity is moving ever closer to the age of 12. The impression arises that many participants in the medical and public discourse on paedophilia are dominated more by fear of a self-confidently lived adolescent sexuality than by the desire to overcome the seemingly "innocent children" [being subjected to - Newgon] adult violence. (pp. 17-18). For a long time, the paths of pathologization of homosexuality and paedophilia were very similar. Homosexuals were regarded as youth seducers, the term "paderasty" encompassed all same-sex contacts between males (this was contrasted with the term "fornication" for heterosexual paedophilia). Men who openly desired boys sexually and did not hide their interest [and] were already punished with contempt and ostracism (p. 20).

The chapter discusses an array of early psychoanalysts and psychiatrists, including Wilhelm Stekel who criticized the then popular hysteria around the masturbation of young people (see Agustin Malon on the connection between onanism and CSA), Albert Moll who provided a rationale for homosexual minor-attraction and argued that children and adolescents could develop sexual interest in older people at the their own initiative, and the 1920s scandal around Gustav Wyneken in the wake of the persecution and media condemnation of Dr. Theodor Beer in Vienna for alleged seduction of two male minors in 1905. On Theodor Beer, see the English translated article: Florian Mildenberger. (2005). "...slandered as sexual deviate and pederast..." - The 1905 Proceedings Against the Naturalist Theodor Beer (1866-1919), in (German) Journal of Sex Research Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 332-351.

The debates of Schult's era over the sex lives of youth were established in the previous century, with homosexual reform scientist Magnus Hirschfeld feeling an increasing need to portray homosexuality as exclusively ephebophile and androphile, as opposed to paedophile, to achieve homosexual liberation by undermining the perception that homosexuals were seducers of youth and that homosexuality had its origins in homosexual seduction.

The social ideal of "imitation" came to the fore, and nudity and sexuality developed into a taboo. Children were taught that sexual feelings were a danger to life and limb by means of threats. At the same time, philosophers argued for centuries about whether pioneers of their own discipline (e.g. Socrates) adhered to boyhood love or whether these were only suspicions. The literary exaltation of boyhood love was always present and can be found, for example, in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, while in parallel the practice of paedophilia was condemned. It was nevertheless cultivated: Edgar Allan Poe married his 13-year-old cousin, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg maintained sexual contacts with a 12-year-old admirer, and Novalis slept with the 13-year-old Sophie von Kiihn. The second half of the 19th century saw a professionalization of the debate, parallel to the positioning of psychiatry as an independent science. The French philosopher Michel Foucault describes this process in his book "The Will to Know". In the years between 1852 and 1869, neurologists transformed the nameless offense, which had been given many names ranging from "sodomy" to "pederasty" to "boy rape", into the disease of "psychiatry". (p. 21).

The latter part of the chapter discusses the changes in pederasty/pedophilia discourse from the 1950s to 1990's:

In the 1980s, social pressure increased on paedophiles and indirectly on sexological research. The studies of American psychologists and physicians also contributed to this. Since 1978/79, a series of papers on the role of male adolescents as victims of sexual violence had appeared there. David Finkelhor was also involved in this with his own surveys. These studies by no means revealed a comprehensive danger from "loitering peadophiles," but revealed that rape within the family by father and mother was the most common. These aspects, however, were completely lost in the public discussion. (p. 70)

He mentions by name Edward Brongersma, Theo Sandfort, and the less well-known Dr. Eberhard Schorsch:

Long-term studies on the consequences of paedosexual contacts were published, which [...] showed that the propaganda of abuse, which had been repeatedly put forward by interested conservative circles since 1900, was often without any foundation. [...] Eberhard Schorsch expressed a similar view: "A healthy child in an intact environment processes non-violent sexual experiences without negative long-term consequences." However, one must keep in mind that within their own "subculture," paedophiles primarily had sexual intercourse with adolescents who were prostitutes, had run away from home, or had already had involuntary sexual experiences within their own family. Schorsch went on to say that even an "emotionally homeless" child could receive stability in a relationship with a paedophile. Ultimately, however, he had to concede that changes in criminal law could probably not be achieved, even in light of these findings. (pp. 70-72)

Ch. 2 - Peter Schult's long march to revolution 1928 - 1975

Discusses how Schult became active in left-wing movements through student riots and protests, and some of his non-sexual arrests and convictions. The information been integrated into the main Peter Schult article.

Ch. 3 - The years of decision: 1976 - 1984

1976 was the year in which all future discourses on philosophy and party positions were to be determined for the following decades. The key person was Peter Schult. (p. 119).

The chapter details the "Schult Affair" (1976), as profiled in our page on Schult.