A leading academic journal has published an article questioning the need for age of consent laws and claiming that discussions of “youth sexuality” are unjustly hindered by “cancel culture.” The author, Marshall Burns, is a physicist and technology entrepreneur who was involved in the development of the early computer industry and operates a website titled “Consenting Juveniles.”
In his article, which was published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior in June and titled “The Elephant in the Room: Youth Sexuality,” Burns argues that “sexual relations between youths and adults” is wrongfully seen as a contentious issue in society.
“The Archives of Sexual Behavior special section on cancel culture is an important reference on a dangerous phenomenon taking place in front of us. Yet the section omits discussion of the primary cancellation issue that arguably helped set the stage for what we face today and that remains the most lightning-rod subject of all,” Burns writes.
“It ignores the elephant in the room: youth sexuality, and in particular, discussions of sexual relations between youths and adults without an a priori assumption of abuse and harm.”
In the article, Burns presents a selection of previous academic publications alongside reactions in order to highlight what he portrays as examples of cancel culture in action. The first incident he provides describes criticism leveled against Dutch-American, Columbia-affiliated academic and LGBT activist Theo Sandfort, who, Burns says, found that sexual relationships between adults and minors are “mostly harmless.”
Hellbound and Down 