Another Professor Comes Out In Favor Of Adults Having Sex With Minors, Also In Favor Of Slavery
In a highly controversial manner, philosophy professor Stephen Kershnar believes that adults that wish to engage in sexual activity with minors shouldn't be downgraded to pedophiles.
Stephen Kershnar, a philosophy professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia, is well known for ruffling feathers, though “ruffling feathers” may be too tame of a term when it comes to Kershnar and his beliefs. He has, after all, gone on record arguing that Americans should NOT be grateful to their Veterans. He has spoken out that discrimination against women in state and private professional schools should be permitted. He has tried to make a case FOR slavery. But of all the reprehensible spewings of Professor Kershnar (who is teaching your young adults by the way), his rejection of the “moral wrongfulness” that permeates our society when looking at adult-child sex is by far the worst.
In a clip that was posted to Twitter, Professor Kershnar says, “Imagine that an adult male wants to have sex with a 12-year-old girl. Imagine that she’s a willing participant. A very standard, very widely held view is there’s something deeply wrong about this. And it’s wrong independent of it being criminalized.” But Professor Kershnar didn’t stop there with his hypothesizing. “It’s not obvious to me that is in fact wrong. I think this is a mistake. And I think that exploring why it’s a mistake will tell us not only things about adult-child sex and statutory rape but also about fundamental principles of morality,” he said.
Here’s Kershnar taking a stand in favor of a horror…
The clips and there are a few, that were posted to Twitter appear to come from a YouTube channel called Brain in a Vat. On this channel was an almost hour-long video of Professor Kershnar titled Sexual Taboos. The Brain in a Vat channel is hosted by Mark Oppenheimer and Dr. Jason Werbeloff and the channel conducts “thought experiments and discussions with philosophers.”
The posted Twitter clips are quite disturbing to watch and listen to, much less an hour-long YouTube video. The additional clips posted see Professor Kershnar saying that “the notion that it’s wrong [to have sexual relations] even with a one-year-old, it’s not quite obvious to me.” Then Kershnar goes into speaking about reports of one culture (though he has no proof of this, just hearsay) in which grandmothers are “fellating their baby boys to calm them down when they’re colicky.”
The overarching point it appears Professor Kershnar was trying to make was “consent.” In the linked video clip, Kershnar likens minors consenting to sex to them consenting to play kickball or Judo lessons. Needless to say, his viewpoints are very troubling.
His comments immediately caught the attention of SUNY Fredonia, and they quickly condemned the video clips as well as Professor Kershnar. “SUNY Fredonia is aware of a video posted online involving one of its professors. The views expressed by the professor are reprehensible and do not represent the values of SUNY Fredonia in any way, shape, or form. They are solely the professor’s views. The matter is being reviewed.” This statement came from SUNY Fredonia President Stephen Kolison.
According to Professor Kershnar’s LinkedIn page, he has been teaching in the State University of New York systems for over 23 years. On his bio page, he claims that he is also an attorney. Kershnar has authored a number of controversial works as well that include Pedophilia and Adult-Child Sex: A Philosophical Analysis, A Liberal Argument for Slavery, and Does the Pro-Life Worldview Make Sense?: Abortion, Hell, and Violence Against Abortion Doctors.
When it comes to the topic of adults having sex with minors, Professor Kershnar is not the only one to dabble on the subject and come out on the wrong end. Recently Dr. Allyn Walker, a professor at Old Dominion University, also recently made the news when he attempted to normalize the phrase “minor-attracted persons.” In an interview, Dr. Walker said that yes, people can be attracted to children and not act on it.
Speaking to the Prostasia Foundation, Walker said, “It’s less stigmatizing than other terms like pedophile. A lot of people when they hear the term pedophile, they automatically assume that it means a sex offender. And that isn’t true. And it leads to a lot of misconceptions about attractions toward minors.”
The interview that Dr. Walker was part of focused on his new book titled A Long Dark Shadow: Minor-Attracted People and Their Pursuit of Dignity. The book is described as “a study of non-offending, minor-attracted persons.” Something must be in the water.
Dr. Walker’s statements got him in a whole lot of trouble. After being put on administrative leave, Walker offered an apology, but it was too little too late. His work created a firestorm.
Although Professor Kershnar is under review, there is no word on if he has been suspended or relieved from his teaching duties. With all the controversy he has created in the past, it appears he has found ways to get through them all. This one, though, might be a whole different story.
