nl_e17

Report part 4
Freedom and rights are OK, but with freedom and rights comes also responsibility - I mean for
both the adult and the child. See the word "both" in the proposed text. If the young person
wants to have secrets, as most teenagers do, this is also his or her right. In heterosexual
relationships between teenagers, the same problem comes up. Openness can be important for
pregnancy prevention. The doctors have the same problem: should they inform the parents, or
accede to the wish for secrecy of the young ones?
For whom is this text written? For people with pedophilic feelings, and for the public. Some do
not want to discuss the issue with the public. Others, Ipce members, Martijn and CLogo,
explicitly want this and choose a text that might be a good point to start the discussion, thus a
text that is acceptable, for example, to parents."
"This discussion," remarks a member, "has two levels. One is: will we make and present such a
text? The other is: what will the content of that text be? Several members agree with making
such a text. We want to offer our actual ideas to others; we need a starting point for the
discussion. Our earlier texts on ethics have been adopted, for example, by some Dutch
psychiatrists. NAMBLA has had long position papers. Martijn and CLogo, inspired by us,
opted for four short statements. That will work better.
It would be important in an introduction, to explain the intention of this text: not as a series of
legalistic rules, but as a set of ideas proposed in a discussion. Maybe it presents more an ideal
than reality. The recommendation is "Take into your consideration ..."
It might be good to present examples: practical and realistic situation and an advise for such
kind of situations. The New York Times Magazine has a column "The Ethicists" that regularly
present moral dilemmas, situations introduced by the readers.
It might also be good to publish this statement in the Ipce Newsletter and to ask all members to
agree or otherwise to react. In doing so, we really are a forum for exchange of thoughts.
Without a vote, the Meeting agreed with the placing of the proposed text, maybe in a next
version, as a statement in the Newsletter and asking for reactions.
http://www.ipce.info/newsletters/e_17/report_4.htm (5 of 5) [6/5/2005 8:28:23 PM]