updated at the bottom

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A French "anthropologist" and "sociologist" of scientific practice, his work was quite influential in the field of "science and technology studies." Latour earned his Ph.D. in "philosophical theology,"

Leiter using scare quotes. Theology is a "wissenschaft", until it isn't.

I have no patience either for Leiter or Latour.  I've been thinking about Latour recently, I'll add to this.

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Bruno Latour and the "collective" that includes animals;  David Chalmers and the "extended mind" that includes other human beings; John Romer and the liberalism of "charter cities" that are ruled as colonies. For all those, start here. 

And from there to "Xenofeminism", "family abolition" and "Critical Childhood Studies"

A 2021 online book launch by Jacob Breslow, a lecturer at the London School of Economics, mentioned the “violence of childhood.” Three Critical Childhood scholars gave speeches at the event, hosted by LSE Gender.

In her contribution, Erica Meiners claimed that the “categorizations-adult, child, youth perform a kind of violence and ontological disqualification.” She added there is “ violence incurred by the ontological register of childhood.”

Besides violence, according to CCS scholars, childhood causes injustice. Speaking at the same event, Mary Zaborskis claimed that childhood enables “racism, transmisogyny, heteronormativity and the violence of the border.” Death was also evoked. In Zaborskis’ words, “childhood itself is ambivalent at best and deadly at worst.”

Zaborskis also argued against child safeguarding. According to her, “making bids for expanded inclusion or representation or care for the child can often be a guise for violence.” The scholar added that “childhood innocence,” is a “pernicious racialized construction.”

The third guest speaker, Jules Gill-Peterson, took it a step further with his stated wish to “abolish childhood.” According to him, “the world would simply be better without the concept of childhood.” But, as this trans-identified male scholar added in disappointment, such a “conclusion is a bit of magical thinking.”

This was not the first time Gill-Peterson, allegedly, dreamed aloud of abolishing childhood. Erica Meiners brought back a memory:

“At a small scholarly convening on Childhood studies in the city of Pittsburgh several years ago, I was at a session and during the session and during the Q&A someone, I'm kind of sure it was you, Jules, but maybe not, energetically identified as a child abolitionist.”

What is a world with no childhood?

If, as Gill-Peterson advocates, society abolished childhood, what would this look like? In a glance back to the 17th century, kids would be considered “little adults.” As such, they would not only lose protections, but gain rights too.

There may be some lines in childhood that are arbitrary — for example, the fact that in the US a teenager can drive at 16, vote at 18, and drink alcohol at 21. An honest examination of the logic and science behind when certain rights are granted to people as they come of age could certainly be warranted.

However, a toddler would hardly be empowered by voting, running for office, owning property, and working for money.

Prior to the child labor laws enacted after the industrial revolution, children from poor families often began to work in factories between the ages of eight to ten. This work was grueling and dangerous. Modern laws that recognize children as needing protection help prevent this sort of abuse. With the abolition of childhood, “tiny adults” would lose safeguards against exploitation. This includes, of course, child protection laws against sexual abuse.

“...the topic of ‘child sex’ regularly pops up in Childhood Studies.”

PinkNews

A lecturer has resigned as trustee of transgender charity Mermaids after it emerged he spoke at a conference organised by a paedophile support group.

Dr Jacob Breslow, an associate professor of gender and sexuality at the London School of Economics, quit Mermaids after The Times revealed that he spoke at an academic conference when he was a PhD student, organised by a group called B4U-ACT, in 2011.

That organisation promotes the use of the term “minor-attracted people” rather than “paedophile” to describe those who say they are sexually attracted to children.

I've said it a thousand times: I'm not a moralist. I had friends male and female who were turning tricks at 16. I had a classmate who wrecked our high school english teacher and laughed about it. I knew a woman who left home at 16 to move in with a 40 year old, breaking up a marriage. But the contemporary joining of libertine amorality, fascist anti-humanism,  philosophical liberalism, and leftist theory is just bizarre. 

It's only possible because everyone involved is indulging in the equivalent of cosplay. They're historically literate enough to know the surface of things but they can't intuit the depth, or they're fully invested in denying it. 

10/13

Christopher Rufo posted a clip of this two days ago. It's from March 2019, and here is from April. 

Remember that puberty blockers are claimed to be reversible.  

[With Puberty blockers and estrogen] Avery’s testes never developed. In fact she does not make any sperm. And her reproductive capability to be a biological parent has been eliminated. Her testes are nonfunctional. In medicine, don't we often recommend the removal of nonfunctional organs?"

Avery was raised as a girl from infancy and in 2019, or the the video was shot, was 12 years old.