The Age Taboo

The Age Taboo

The Age Taboo: Gay Male Sexuality, Power and Consent is a collection of writings about intergenerational (and especially man-boy) relationships, edited by Daniel Tsang. It was published by Alyson Publications in 1981.

It is an important text within the wider body of literature on man-boy love, and a full online copy can be found on library genesis at the link above or here.

Contents

• "Introduction," Daniel Tsang.
• "Loving men," Sylvère Lotringer and Mark Moffett.

  Cultural analyst Sylvère Lotringer interviews 15-year-old Mark Moffett about his relationships with men.

• "Loving boys," Tom Reeves.
• "Men and boys: the Boston conference," Daniel Tsang.

  Tsang reports on the 1978 Boston conference.

• "Children and sex," Youth Liberation.
• "Happy families? Pedophilia examined," Gay Left Collective.
• "Childhood sexuality and pedophilia," Jamie Gough. Archived on Ipce.
• "Whose power? Whose consent?," Eric Presland.
• "Sexual revolution and the liberation of children," Mark Blasius and Kate Millett.

  Mark Blasius questions feminist Kate Millett on the sexual freedom of children.

• "I know what I am: gay teenagers and the law," Joint Council for Gay Teenagers.
• "The case for abolishing age of consent laws," North American Man/Boy Love Association.

  An editorial originally published in NAMBLA News.

• "Sexual politics, the New Right and the sexual fringe," Gayle Rubin.
• "Recipe for a witchhunt," John Mitzel.

  Mitzel reviews the history of America's pedophile witchhunt.

• "'Lesbians Rising' editors speak out," Editors of Lesbians Rising.
• "A militant young dyke’s feminist perspective on the age of consent question," anonymous.
• "Man/boy love and the lesbian/gay movement," Pat Califia.

  Califia opines against the age-of-consent in an abridged version of her article for The Advocate.

• "Man/boy love and the Left," Roger Moody.
• "Confronting ageism," Michael Alhonte.

  An 18-year-old who began having relationships with men at 13 criticizes ageism in both the mainstream and the boylove community.

• "Struggling against racism," Daniel Tsang.
• "Resources: an annotated guide to the literature," Daniel Tsang.