Thomas O'Carroll
Thomas Victor O'Carroll (born c. 1945[1]) is an Irish/British journalist, academic and advocate for MAPs, being an early member and chairperson of the now defunct Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), and a founding member of Ipce.
Born in County Carlow, Ireland, O'Carroll gained notoriety in 1980 when he published Paedophilia: The Radical Case[2], a book that articulated an ethical case for adult-child sexual relationships, and again in 2010, with Michael Jackson's Dangerous Liaisons.[3][4] British mainstream media has dubbed O'Carroll both Ireland[5] and Britain's "most notorious paedophile".[6][7]
Works
- For a full list of writings and analysis thereof, see BoyWiki.
Paedophilia: The Radical Case
In 1980 O'Carroll's book Paedophilia: The Radical Case was published and in the preface he states:
- "I am a paedophile, and in the chapters that follow it will become apparent why I have felt it necessary to crash through the barriers of societal disapproval by speaking out. The fact that I have been able to do so owes much to the work, described in Part Three, of the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), a group with which I have been closely connected, which has been campaigning since its inception in 1974 for the open discussion of paedophilia, and for abolition of the laws against consensual sexual acts between children and adults."
Described as "a well researched and articulate book" by Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger (Guardian, 14 March 1981), this first major work by O'Carroll divided reviewers sharply. In the academic world, it has stood the test of time with over 90 Google Scholar citations by 2012. For many years it was a recommended text for postgraduates at Cambridge University's Institute of Criminology.
Michael Jackson’s Dangerous Liaisons
O’Carroll’s book on singer Michael Jackson was published in 2010 under the pen name “Carl Toms”. Michael Jackson’s Dangerous Liaisons, a 624-page work, essayed a comprehensive review of the late entertainer’s controversially intimate relationships with preadolescent and adolescent boys. Published in the UK by Troubador Publishing Ltd. "At seventeen years in the making and a hefty 624 pages, this has been O'Carroll's most ambitious work, in which, under the pen name Carl Toms, he essays a comprehensive review of the late entertainer’s controversially intimate relationships with young boys. Described in the linked biography by historian William Percy as "a work of genius", Michael Jackson's Dangerous Liaisons received enthusiastic pre-publication endorsements from five eminent professors, including Richard Green, Donald West, James Kincaid, Thomas Hubbard, and Percy himself. After publication another renowned scholar, J. Michael Bailey, professor of psychology at Northwestern University, also gave high praise in a four-page review for the academic journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. Bailey, a family man, wrote, “The idea that pedophilic relationships can be harmless or even beneficial to children is disturbing to many people, including me.” But, he continued, “The lack of scientific evidence supporting my largely visceral reactions against pedophilic relationships has been one of the most surprising discoveries of my hopefully ongoing scientific education...O’Carroll argues against my intuitions and he argues well.”
Television
O'Carroll has made various appearances on television, including the BBC's After Dark and Australia's 60 Minutes - some of which are available online.
An often-"cancelled" personality
O'Carroll is no stranger to being courted by prestigious platforms due to his experience in MAP advocacy, but has often subsequently fallen foul of public backlash. For example, in 2001 Is paedophilia violent?, a paper for the World Congress of Sexology, Paris, was given sustained encouragement over nearly a year by Dr Marc Ganem, the Congress President. However, the paper was eventually rejected without explanation by the Committee. After repeated demands for an explanation went unanswered, O'Carroll was finally able to talk to Ganem. In a phone conversation, Ganem indicated that the President of the Scientific Committee, Dr Willy Pasini, appeared to be concerned not about the scientific quality of the paper but by the controversy to which it might give rise. It seems the committee did not want to upset the major pharmaceutical companies sponsoring the congress, nor the politically sensitive WHO, with which it was associated. In order to combat this censorship, O'Carroll's supporters attended the congress, where they distributed his paper on a CD, along with a flyer titled Censored: The Speech They Didn't Want You To Hear.[8]
In 2023, O'Carroll detailed how his work for academic publishers had generated a rash of attention, following the retraction of his peer-reviewed and published book chapter from the IntechOpen book Ethics in Scientific Research: New Perspectives. Retracted without explanation and likely on the basis of his open MAP identity, O'Carroll identified a group of radical Feminists attached to the Sexnet private forum as the likely cause. His chapter was entitled "Where Angels Fear to Tread: Anxieties over Researching Child Sexuality Must Be Overcome", and can be read elsewhere online.[9]
Run-ins with the law
In 1981, O'Carroll was convicted for the archaic and rarely prosecuted political crime of "conspiracy to corrupt public morals", over the contact ads section of the PIE magazine and was imprisoned. He was once again imprisoned much later in 2002, on charges of evading a prohibition on the importation of indecent photographs of children stemming from nude photographs that O'Carroll had taken of children on the beaches of Qatar. At the time, he was working on a book about the musician and philanthropist Michael Jackson who was later acquitted of charges brought against him regarding indecent behavior towards a child.
Later, O'Carroll was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to distribute indecent photographs of children after supplying an undercover Met police officer (who over a three year period gained O'Carroll's trust) with a cache of child pornography obtained from his co defendant, Michael John De Clare Studdert's collection. He was arraigned 1 June, 2006 on child porn charges.[1][10] In September 2006, he was charged with two counts of distributing indecent images of children.[1]
On December 20 2006, he was jailed for 2½ years at London’s Middlesex Crown Court,[11] but was released in the summer of 2007. This case was described as a “sting operation”.[12]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Pair admit to child porn charges," September 2006, BBC.
- ↑ Paedophilia: The Radical Case, PDF (hosted on IPCE)
- ↑ Amazon: Dangerous Liaisons
- ↑ Libgen: Dangerous Liaisons
- ↑ Cozens, BBC braced for paedophile row (The Guardian, 2003)
- ↑ Wilkinson, LOUSE OF LORDS: Vile paedophile campaigner invited to plush champagne bash at the House of Lords (The Sun, 2019)
- ↑ Denkinson, Outrage as paedophiles rebrand themselves as 'minor-attracted persons' in chilling online propaganda drive (Daily Mail, 2019)
- ↑ Is Paedophilia Violent? A paper prepared for the World Congress of Sexology, Paris 2001
- ↑ From fallen ‘angels’ to bare Bear, re. Where Angels Fear to Tread: Anxieties over Researching Child Sexuality Must Be Overcome (2023 book chapter)
- ↑ "Police charge man over child sex ring", by Olivia Richwald, The Northern Echo, 1 June 2006
- ↑ BBC NEWS | UK | England | Coventry/Warwickshire | Two jailed for child porn library
- ↑ Tom O'Carroll Biography