Lloyd Martin
Lloyd Hartley Martin (Dec. 19, 1942 - May 27, 2021)[1] was an Arkansas-born California Police Detective who was a highly sought-after authority on Child Sexual Abuse during the American pornography panics of the 1980s. Like other moral entrepreneurs such as Judianne Densen-Gerber he went on to face discredit, following outspoken comments made against public institutions such as the Boy Scouts,[1] and what appeared to be attempts to abuse his office.
He is the source of the often-circulated CSA "absurdism" "once a pedophile gets his grip on your son or daughter, you and I as parents cannot compete". His occasional coauthor was Jill Haddad.[2]
History
Martin joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1965. In 1976, he helped establish the department’s – and nation’s – first Sexual Exploitation Unit of the Juvenile Division.[1]
In the late-70s and 80s, he became a "go-to expert" in the field of sexual exploitation of children, being interviewed by 60 Minutes for his work. Martin's uncompromising pursuit of "sexual predators" brought him prominence but also sparked controversy after he publicly criticized several organizations for what he said were inadequate efforts to screen the adults allowed to work with children. After political pressure from these organizations led to him being reassigned within the LAPD, he negotiated a retirement from the department in 1984.[1]
Martin and the abuse "pipeline" or "slippery slope" myth
Martin was a firm believer in the outdated theory that minors who were (as he put it) "seduced", would go on to commit indecent acts themselves. This is also known as the "abused-abuser" relationship:
Detective Lloyd H. Martin, of the Sexually Exploited Child Unit of the Los Angeles Police Department said "When a child has been coerced or seduced into giving his only true possession - his body - he loses his self respect and his morality. If he doesn't care about himself, how can he care about somebody else? Such a child could be destroyed psychologically and may never be a productive member of our society". Sgt. Martin has also observed that "..the sexually exploited child of today has a good possibility of becoming the hardcore criminal of tomorrow."[3]
According to gay author, John Mitzel, Martin used an unusual device to get his points across at a 1980s "celebratory banquet/wing-ding party" of self-appointed CSA experts at the Boston University School of Nursing. He would, according to Mitzel, repeatedly exclaim "I, Lloyd Martin, am a paedophile and here is how I operate...". Mitzel, taking notes, also described Martin as "semi-literate" and "deeply sick and opportunistic in the manner of a self-made promoter".[4]