David Riegel

David L. Riegel (Dec.12, 1931 - April 12, 2019 ) was an independent writer and researcher on the topic of sexually expressed boy/older male relationships. After already having retired twice from dissimilar fields, in 1999 he was recruited by a McGraw Hill textbook editor to submit an essay on the Rind controversy. This was accepted by the editor but withheld from publication by the management until 2005. In 2000, he published the first of his four paperback books.

In cooperation with several others, and over an eight year period on the now defunct web board SafeHaven, a Philosophy of Responsible Boylove was developed, which is hosted by the SafeHaven Foundation. Another innovation was Peer Support Exchange, and further information was available on his personal website.

July 1, 1998, Riegel created IBLD.net a site which was dedicated to International Boylove Day and was the longest running site devoted to its observance.

Riegel's death was reported by Tom O'Carroll through the Heratic TOC blog on July 7, 2019. News of his death was not made publicly until approximately 3 to 4 months after his passing, per Riegel's own request.

The Philosophy of Responsible Boylove

"Responsible boylove is the premise that in any relationship between a boy and an older male, whether sexually expressed or not, the legitimate interests of the boy must take precedence over the interests of his older friend.

Responsible boylove is a relationship between a boy who has a desire for a close and intimate friendship with an older male, and an older boy or man whose love for that boy encompasses enjoyment of the boy's companionship and a desire to provide a mentoring and nurturing environment. The nature, vitality, and duration of the relationship, as well as the extent of nurturing and mentoring, are determined by mutual consent, with the boy's wishes taking precedence. The relationship also includes a definite pedosexual attraction on the part of the older, and may include a desire for sexual experimentation, exploration, play, and gratification on the part of the younger. It is, however, a fundamental tenet of responsible boylove that any physical expression of sexuality is only acceptable with the age appropriate understanding, encouragement, and consent of the boy involved. However, both parties must also carefully take into consideration that any such physical expressions, no matter how completely consensual, are considered a criminal act under the present legal systems in most of the world."

Books

The publication history of these books, and free electronic downloads, are available at http://www.shfri.net/shfp/shfp.cgi

Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers (2000/2009). Many researchers is the fields of Psychology and Human Sexuality have been taking a fresh look at the "conventional" wisdom which has been the basis for evaluation of intergenerational male/male sexual activities. The long assumed "harm" of such activities has failed to be supported by research, and the socio-cultural "wrongness" based on this "harm" is therefore left without any rational basis. An extremely thorough and exhaustive paper, "A Meta-Analytic Examination of Assumed Properties of Child Sexual Abuse Using College Samples" was published in the July, 1998 Psychological Bulletin, the journal of the American Psychological Association. It brought forth howls of protest from right wing radicals all the way up to and including the United States House of Representatives, but after the furor subsided, the paper, having been subjected to intensive examination at every level, has been judged to be true, accurate and objective science.

Beyond Hysteria - Boy Erotica on the Internet (2004) uses two Internet-based surveys to demonstrate that neither of two common misconceptions are supported by the facts. The first, of 321 self-described "boylovers," shows that the viewing of boy erotica actually diminishes their desire for sexual contacts with boys. The second sample is of 29 men who as boys were photographed nude and/or engaged in sexual activities. All of these men report that they participated willingly, and the great majority perceived their experiences as neutral to positive, with negative reactions almost nonexistent.

We were NOT abused! (2007) Inquisitive and explorative boys have been portrayed as being universally harmed by any sexual contacts with older males, but the truth has been known and documented for decades that the real harm to these boys comes not from their willing sexual experimentations, but from society's "taboos" and inappropriate overreactions of parents, teachers, police, and judges.

Could they ALL have been WRONG? (2005) Thoughts by physicians, philosophers, psychologists, professors, a judge, an attorney, and a hacker about sexually expressed relationships between boys and older males.

Overviews of selected print journal publications

The Role of Androphilia in the Psychosexual Development of Boys (Original article, 2011, International Journal of Sexual Health, 23 (1) 2-13. DOI 10.1080/19317611.2010.509696.) http://www.boyandro.info
Abstract: "It is generally recognized that boys, and especially later prepubertal and young adolescent boys, are openly attracted to older boys and men. They identify with these more mature, most often unrelated males; they want to learn about the masculine world; they want to “be like” these people. This article examines previctimological and more recent literature to consider the extent to which boys’ generalized inclinations to explore, experience, and enjoy their emerging masculinity in the company of older males also may be manifested in their psychosexual developmental interests, desires, and activities. Insights from the literature concerning boys’ perspectives are taken into account, and various extraneous factors that may negatively affect boys’ psychosexual development are considered. The authenticity of this juvenile male androphilic sexuality is found to be supported, as is the repression thereof as a significant dynamic in young male social alienation and maladjustment."

The Participating Victim: Complement to Malón (Letter to the Editor, 2010, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38 1027-1028. DOI 10.1007/s10508-010-9622-3.) http://www.shfri.net/complement/complement.cgi
"After several publications in Spanish (e.g., Malón, 2001, 2003, 2004), Malón (2009a, 2009b, 2009c) has made some very significant contributions in English to the understanding of the sexuality of children. He is to be complimented for his meticulous and incisive examinations of victimology, which Money (1988) described as "science only in the etymology of its name" (p. 9), and of the resultant child sexual abuse hysteria depicted by Jenkins (1998) and others. In his latest essay, entitled "The Participating Victim" (Malón, 2009c), he continues to argue very eloquently–and to provide extensive documentation–for the capacity of children to participate willingly in, and even to initiate, sexual activities not only with their peers, but with older people (e.g., Bender & Blau, 1937). He further points out that these consensual activities are not intrinsically harmful, but rather may be benign or even positive (e.g., Ingram, 1981; Riegel, 2009; Sandfort, 1987; Tindall, 1978)."

Boyhood Sexual Experiences with Older Males: Using the Internet for Behavioral Research (Letter to the Editor, 2009, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 38 5, 626-630.) http://www.shfri.net/sebinfo/sebrom.cgi
"Boyhood sexual experiences with older males currently are viewed by many professionals and the lay public as generally traumatic when they occur and intensely psychologically damaging afterwards, but the relatively recent research that is used to support these views is largely based on clinical and legal samples. In contrast, research based on non-clinical, non-legal populations indicates that reactions and effects are often more benign. However, these findings have been ignored or dismissed under the dominance of the child sexual abuse paradigm. The present study sought to replicate and extend the earlier research based on non-clinical, non-legal samples. Respondents who are normally inaccessible to researchers because of the taboo of openly discussing this type of sexual relationship outside the accepted discourse of trauma and harm were recruited via the Internet where they could respond anonymously. Results, based on a sample of 103 men aged 18 through their 60s from more than half a dozen countries, were consistent with the earlier non-clinical, non-legal research. Respondents varied widely in their perceptions of consent, reactions at the time, and long-term effects; however, the majority reported that they consented (in the “simple,” non-legal sense), enjoyed the sexual experiences at the time, and experienced no ill effects afterwards. The present sample is unrepresentative of the general population, as are clinical and legal samples; its utility lies in critically testing assumptions of universal trauma and harm found in the victimological paradigm, which it contradicts."

'Querying' the Queering of Science: Response to Yuill and Durber (Invited Response, 2009, Sexuality & Culture 13 (2), 115-116.) http://www.shfri.net/yand/yand.cgi
"In a rather "queer" "presentation," Yuill and Durber (2008) make various pejorative accusations and unsupported judgments concerning Boy-Attracted Pedosexual Males (BPM). They pick and choose, and often twist, a small sample of the relevant published research for their own self-serving ends, while carefully avoiding other research which controverts many of their hypotheses. Proper science consists of careful investigations and analyses of discoverable facts coupled with diligent and objective examination and consideration of previous research and writings, and is reported in coherent, succinct, and unpretentious language. Their article comes up short in all of these criteria."

“Abused to Abuser”: An examination of new non-clinical and non-prison data. (Research Report, 2005, Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 16(4) 39-57) http://www.shfri.net/ata/ata.cgi
Abstract "This study examines the “Abused-to-Abuser” (AtA) hypothesis of the etiology of adult male sexual attraction to boys, which proposes that a boy who is sexually “abused” will, when older, be predisposed to become an “abuser” of other boys. An Internet survey of participants in online discussion groups and news groups oriented towards men sexually attracted to boys resulted in a convenience sample of 290 males, of whom about one quarter reported a boyhood sexual experience with an older male. Nearly three quarters of these experiences were not perceived as being negative either at the time they occurred or in retrospect. These results from a non-clinical/non-prison sample do not support the AtA hypothesis, and are consistent with similar findings from clinical/prison samples."

Pedophilia, Pejoration, and Prejudice: Inquiry by Insinuation, Argument by Accusation (Original Article, 2005, Sexuality & Culture, 9 (1) 88-97) http://www.shfri.net/ppp/ppp.cgi
"As I and others before me have learned, holding politically incorrect views on the issues involved in what is commonly referred to as “pedophilia” can attract a lot of unfavorable attention. Beyond that, publicly stating or publishing those views frequently generates scathing public criticism from politicians (Rind et al., 2000), radical right wing groups, the media, and even from the supposedly open minded and truth-seeking ivory towers of academia. These criticisms sometimes involve the substance of the issues, but are most frequently ad hominem attacks on the character of the targeted individual and the “immorality” of his views. For those who agree with me, defending my character and/or the “morality” of my views is unnecessary; in the case of my detractors, it is of minimal concern and would be wasted effort. However, I would like to examine the attacks and their perpetrators, and my positions on the substantive issues which have elicited vitriol from at least three of the four sources noted above"

Effects on Boy-Attracted Pedosexual Males of Viewing Boy Erotica (Invited Letter to the Editor, 2004, Archives of Sexual Behavior, 33(4) 321-323) http://www.shfri.net/effects/effects.cgi
"Does viewing erotic pictures of boys exacerbate the tendency for pedosexually inclined males to seek out boys for sexual purposes? The commonly perceived wisdom would answer “yes,” but there are little or no credible data to support this position. Howitt (1995), in his in-depth case studies of 11 “ paedophiliac sex offenders” noted “... no clear-cut causal link has been demonstrated between ... exposure to pornography and sex crime” (p 17). As noted by Green (2000), many issues like this one regarding boy/older male relationships which may have a sexual component, including the subject of this paper, are clouded with questionable data."

Overviews of Selected Internet Publications

Visceral reactions, feedback loops, and responsibility: Comment and expansion on Bailey (Response, 2011) http://www.shfri.net/visceral/visceral.cgi
Dr. Bailey has provided us with a very candid and perceptive review of O'Carroll's Michael Jackson's Dangerous Liaisons. But he has gone far beyond the content and arguments of the book into the underlying issues, noting "The lack of scientific evidence supporting my largely visceral reactions against pedophilic relationships has been one of the most surprising discoveries of my hopefully ongoing scientific education." If nothing else, it is delightful to see such a well known academic freely commit himself to his own "ongoing scientific education."

Myths of Childhood Sexuality (Original Article, 2010) http://www.shfri.net/myths/myths.cgi
Abstract: "From the anonymous publication of Onania, or the Heinous Sin of Self-Pollution in the 1700s, through Freud's posited "latency" and beyond, there have been various theories regarding the sexuality of children which had little – if any – basis in sound scholarship or proper research. In the middle third of the 20th century a measure of realism began to be introduced into this arena, and some investigators recognized that children, like the rest of humanity, were sexual beings. However, beginning in the 1970s, a new wave of problematic hypotheses about children's sexuality arose from feminist and victimological backgrounds. While children of both genders were affected, the sexual explorations of boys were particularly impacted. This paper examines these hypotheses and their effects through a review of both pre-victimological and more recent literature.

Motivational and Behavioral Characteristics of Boy-attracted Pedosexual Males: Validation of a Typology. . . (Research Report, 2007) http://www.shfri.net/mbcinfo/mbcbpm.cgi
Abstract: "Over the past quarter century or more, research on males who are sexually attracted to boys has focused largely on clinical patients and prisoners. In the present study, men outside these settings were recruited online to participate in a survey designed to examine a proposed typology of such males, which comprises seven classes across which the sexual dimensions of these males' relationships with boys range from purely platonic through sexually passive, active, and aggressive, while the nonsexual dimensions of nurturing and/or mentoring boys vary from substantial to absent. Of the 517 men who submitted valid questionnaires, relatively few gave responses that placed them in the more active or aggressive classes which typify the "child molester" or "predator" image. The vast majority fell into the platonic or passive classes, where their interactions with boys would be less likely to come to the attention of clinicians or legal authorities. Tests of various hypotheses intrinsic to the typology, using data from the survey, generally were supportive."

Plato’s Shadow: The relationship of adult male homosexuality to boylove (Original Article, 2007) http://www.shfri.net/plato/plato.cgi
Abstract: "Unlike reproductive heterosexuality and boy/older male mentoring relationships with a sexual component, adult male homosexuality lacks a genuine history and contributes nothing of obvious value to society. It is therefore justifiable to inquire why adult male homosexuality suddenly became so visible in the last half century. This paper proposes that adult male homosexuality is in reality a longitudinally displaced and substitutionary form of sexually expressed boy/older male relationships, a metamorphosis generated by the extreme societal repression and demonization of boy/older male relationships."

Other Publications

Riegel, D. (2011) Pedohebephilophobia: Response to Commentaries by Janssen, Malón, and O'Carroll . International Journal of Sexual Health 23(3) 165-167. (Solicited response) http://www.shfri.net/pedoheb/pedoheb.cgi

Riegel, D. (2006) Propuesta de una tipología de hombres con atracción sexual hacia los muchachos. Boletín de Información Sexológica, 50 1-3. http://www.aeps.es/?archivo=BIS_50.pdf

Riegel, D. (2005) The Real Evil Among Us. In W. Taverner (Ed.) Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Human Sexuality (Ninth Edition)Issue 13: "Is Pedophilia Always Harmful, pp.205-210. Guilford CT: McGraw Hill/Dushkin (Superseded by newer edition) http://www.shfri.net/dlr/realevil.htm

External links

• http://www.daveriegel.info/
• "David Riegel" (Web archive) (Newgon Wiki Article)
• http://www.mindglowmedia.org/book_catalog.html
• Books here
• Other publications
• http://williamapercy.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Riegel,_David