Pederasty (radio program)
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"Pederasty" is a program broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National network on 14 July 1975. Hosted by Richard Neville and produced by Allan Ashbolt as an episode of Lateline (unrelated to the later ABC TV series), the show was described by the Sydney Morning Herald as featuring a "frank" interview with "three men in their thirties who admitted sex relations with boys, and a teenage boy" - he was actually 20 at the time of recording - "who said he had been involved in such relationships since he was 12".[1][2][3] The ABC's official description of the program was: "Pederasty, as described by the Penguin English Dictionary, is the homosexual relationship of a man with a boy. The subject usually creates feelings of revulsion and disgust within most people. The issues raised by such relationships are discussed by three pederasts".[4]
In the opening segment, host Neville introduces the show by drawing a distinction between "pederasty", a term which he says refers to a "consenting" sexual relationship between an adult and a child, and "pedophilia", which involves "non-consensual" assault. (This distinction does not in fact exist in Australian law, which currently recognises that children under 16 cannot "consent" to sexual behaviour with adults under any circumstances.)
A number of adult men who openly admit to sexual relationships with boys are then interviewed by Neville. They each defend and attempt to justify their behaviour, while describing the boys and their encounters in explicit sexually-charged language. While Neville challenges them throughout as to whether or not their behaviour is exploitative, he also never explicitly condemns it. One man insists that he is "not a homosexual, but a pederast" and another that he is "a pederast, not a dirty old man." When the topic of parents is raised, one man insists that he "helps" young boys who do not have father figures in their lives. Another admits to finding boys at "the homes of other pederasts" as well as in high school playgrounds.
To the program's end, Neville repeatedly challenges the men that society considers "pederasty" exploitative because of the inherent power imbalance, but the interviewees remain unrepentant. One insists that "we become the victims" when boys grow older and compares the societal dislike of "pederasty" to that of communism. Another says that "pederasts" are "victimised in the courts." As the program concludes, one man insists that despite his behaviour he should not be considered a "child molester."
