Stephen Kershnar
Stephen Kershnar (PhD in 1991, University of Pennsylvania) is an American philosopher and attorney, who has written many books and delivered lectures making "devils advocate" defenses of widely condemned practices, including minor-adult sex. He is a distinguished teaching professor in the philosophy department at the State University of New York at Fredonia. His research interests include Applied Ethics, Philosophy of Law and Political Philosophy and he is the author of over eighty articles and book chapters and of nine books.[1][2]
Controversies
In February 2022, Kershnar, having already explained his position as an ethical argument, contingent upon the material harmlessness of minor-adult sex (which - as a philosopher, he does not, or did not take a position on) attracted wide opprobrium on social media after a campaign of naming and shaming by Libs of TikTok - the same social media outfit that drew attention to Allyn Walker. This followed a number of, until then, not widely circulated video interviews he gave to various internet personalities.[3][4] This controversy led to a surge in woodchipper/boulder/gun type memes on alt-right Twitter and did not appear to draw liberals or the left into the debate. The Kershnar controversy was documented widely throughout the right-wing mainstream and alternative media.[5][6]