You may have already heard about The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure. The self-published e-book came out of left field and existed on Amazon’s Kindle Store in complete obscurity for two weeks. Then, propelled by the viral nature of the Internet—a beast that gets especially testy when inspired by hatred and disgust—The Pedophile’s Guide stole international media attention.
It also pissed a few people off, including my colleague, Ryan O’Hanlon.
Despite the public outrage, the book, written by Phillip R. Greaves II, hit number 65 in Amazon’s top 100 best-selling paid e-books, a 101,000 percent increase in sales. Then—one day Amazon after defended its right to sell the controversial material—the company pulled a 180 and removed it from the Kindle Store. The book’s URL now reads 404 Document Not Found.
Before I go any further, I need to repeat a caveat I made on PC World:
I refuse to take a moral stance on this subject but defend the right to do so. I will say that pedophilia is illegal and is defined by the DSM-IV as a psychiatric disturbance. I’ll also say that I feel it’s the inclination of the cautious to vehemently object to controversial subjects such as these lest they appear sympathetic.
Onward and upward. Here are the five reasons why I have the right to buy The Pedophile’s Guide on Amazon.com.
Reason #1 – Amazon is Not Condoning Pedophilia
Ryan’s headline—Amazon Can Teach You How to Be a Pedophile—is misleading. Amazon is a for-profit company that is selling a book. It is not teaching anyone how to become a pedophile, just as it is not instructing children who purchase Harry Potter how to practice witchcraft. Rather, the online retailer is making materials available that may or may not edify certain actions, legal or otherwise.
In the now-redacted statement defending its right to sell The Pedophile’s Guide, Amazon stated:
Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions.
Whether said purchasing decisions motivate people who have never before engaged in sexual acts with minors to do so is not Amazon’s call, nor could the retailer take any modicum of responsibility should such behavior occur.
Reason #2 – It’s Not Necessarily a “Guide”
Ryan makes another misleading statement when reading the book’s summary. “Based on [the book’s] summary, [Greaves] aims to teach the reader how to engage in pedophilia,” he wrote.
Not so. The summary, written by Greaves himself, reads:
This is my attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certian [sic] rules for these adults to follow. I hope to achieve this by appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will result in less hatred and perhaps liter [sic] sentences should they ever be caught.
Nowhere in that summary is it stated or implied that the book is instructional. Inflammatory title aside, The Pedophile’s Guide does not necessarily give step-by-step directions on how to physically molest children.
In fact, if you review the summary with a fine-toothed comb, The Pedophile’s Guide may actually, in a way, be misunderstood.
It sounds to me that The Pedophile’s Guide is—if it teaches anything at all—a lesson in safety, precaution, and understanding, should one find themselves in such a situation. Pedophilia and child molestation, of course, are illegal, but so is injecting heroin. That hasn’t stopped government-sponsored needle exchange programs, which are built on the understanding that people are breaking the law and will continue to do so, but that there are still chances to promote safety and provide (voluntarily received) opportunities.
That analogy might be a stretch, but since The Pedophile’s Guide is no longer available, we can only take the media on its word about the book’s contents. And, especially in this instance, and especially in the blogosphere, I wouldn’t trust a slice of their pie: most “reporting” I’ve read relies heavily, almost desperately, on a judgmental tone.
Reason #3 – Amazon’s Policies on Controversial Materials is Inconsistent
Amazon became embroiled in a similar case about the sale and promotion of a book regarding adult-child sex in 2002. At the time, Amazon evoked the First Amendment in defending its rights to market Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers, by David L. Riegel.
After being accused by the United States Justice Foundation of “contributing to the potential rape and molestation of children,” Amazon removed the link to the book. However, as of this writing, Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers is available for purchase.
There is even an official Amazon review of the contentious book that reads: “Defensive in tone and amateurishly produced, this monograph uses both pseudo-scholarship and anecdotes in its attempt to justify its target audience’s actions and feelings.”
Still, Ryan posited that The Pedophile’s Guide was somehow different. In another section of Amazon’s printed justification for publishing controversial materials, the company wrote:
Amazon.com believes it is censorship not to sell certain titles because we believe their message is objectionable. Therefore, we’ll continue to make controversial works available in the United States and everywhere else, except where they’re prohibited by law.
Then Ryan asked Amazon to “make an exception” in regards to The Pedophile’s Guide, as though it were somehow different than Understanding Loved Boys and Boylovers, or, for that matter, any other “objectionable” title.
No exception can be made. If every challenging book sparked similar public fury, the idea of making exceptions—and inadvertently segregating one “type” of book from another without clear and consistent regulations—the practice will become the norm.
That means anyone with a bone to pick—and possibly an underlying political agenda, radical or otherwise—can lobby to remove a book from Amazon’s listings and their arguments will be historically justified based on the successful elimination of The Pedophile’s Guide. If that becomes the standard, say goodbye to And Tango Makes Three, the children’s title that met with fervent religious admonition due to its “glorification” of homosexuality.
If Amazon wants to eradicate controversial materials from its website, it needs to clarify its content removal policies. They are currently inconsistent, even hypocritical, for if one book on pedophilia can be sold, others in a similar vein should also have that freedom.
It’s also inconsistent behavior that Amazon would swing the First Amendment around for one book about pedophilia but not another (even though the First Amendment only applies to the government and not companies).
Reason #4 – Other Incendiary Books are Still Available for Purchase
Not only are other books regarding the practice of pedophilia available for sale on Amazon.com, there are dozens—if not hundreds—of titles that also spit in the face of Amazon’s current-standing guidelines. And these titles have the potential to be even more dangerous.
The Pedophile’s Guide does, admittedly, violate two of Amazon’s own e-book content guidelines, which prohibit the publication of “offensive material,” as well as content that “may lead to the production of an illegal item or illegal activity.” But Amazon’s hypocrisy persists, as I previously wrote:
The Anarchist Cookbook, a how-to guide to making homemade bombs, among other dangerous and illegal material, is still for sale on Amazon.com. You can also purchase The Turner Diaries, a thinly-veiled novel written by a former member of the National Alliance that advocated a violent upheaval of the United States government. What exactly is the difference between The Pedophile’s Guide and these books that blatantly and proudly ‘may lead to the production of an illegal item or illegal activity’?
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To decide what is deemed “objectionable,” our government would have to engage in another hard-fought debate over semantics, just like the one currently ping-ponging in the Supreme Court about defining what is considered “deviant violence” in video games. For if we’re prepared to call The Pedophile’s Guide objectionable, we’ll have to revisit other books that have been branded that way, such as Lolita (child sex), Ulysses (bowel movements), The Catcher in the Rye (obscenity, Lennon assassination), Mein Kampf (duh), and many, many others.
Reason #5 – Banning One Book Won’t Stop Pedophilia
If (and that’s a pretty big “if”) the purpose of barring sales of The Pedophile’s Guide on Amazon is to eradicate pedophilia from our culture, or, even worse and more impossible, to sublimate it to the point where its existence is disbelieved, one book isn’t going to do squat. Hundreds won’t either. This is a cause that some people vehemently believe, legal or not, is natural and righteous.
Don’t forget the other subcultures and organizations fueled by hatred and supposed perversion. There’s the North American Man/Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), which was supported by Alan Ginsberg. Though NAMBLA has predominantly faded into obscurity, that doesn’t mean it’s going away. Nor will the Ku Klux Klan, or the National Alliance, or the Earth Liberation Front, or Al Qaeda, or, for that matter, GLAD—which is classified as perverted by millions.
Subcultures such as these aren’t easy to stomp out, just as they’re difficult to moralistically, characteristically, or behaviorally define. One man’s pride parade is another man’s jihad.
Their scriptures, too, will persist. It is well within Amazon’s rights to stop selling the book, whether it be censorship or not, but The Pedophile’s Guide has, in its own way, already made its point.
And if it isn’t already, it will be widely available for download, free of charge. It’ll be printed on loose-leaf and distributed, wherever, and whether people are like-minded or not. It’ll be a topic of conversation until it’s temporarily forgotten, yet will be referenced the next time something like this arises—and it will.
So, while I wholeheartedly support the freedom of expression in the blogosphere’s collective disgust, and respect the oppositional public’s demands for justice—whatever that means—and, of course, love Ryan O’Hanlon, there are too many logical errors, complications, uncertainties, and flat-out hypocrisies for me to agree with anyone who believes that I should not have the right to buy The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure from Amazon, downloaded via Whispernet, readable on my Kindle.
Disagree? Check out Ryan O’Hanlon’s take.
Because you’re a mistake of birth?
this artical isn’t about the book itself for all the people flaming here… Its about cencoreship… With the way things are going in this country, free speech will soon be dead.
Just off the top of my head, I’m sure that Amazon carries _Lolita_ in book and movie form. It also sells the critically acclaimed _History Boys_, which makes light of a teacher sexually assaulting minor students. Perhaps “pederasty” is a little more acceptable than “pedophilia”?
Greaves’ ‘book’ is hardly a book and doesn’t give anyone insight into much of anything. Sure you have the right to buy it, and yes, I agree that Amazon should have some consistent policies. That it contains lies, myths, delusions, and just completely made-up nonsense doesn’t distinguish it from a lot of other books on Amazon. (It probably does have more typos than most ‘books,’ however.) No person attracted to minors is going to guide his/her behavior by the book, feel empowered to have sex with a minor. I’ve only seen part of the text — http://ohletitbe.xanga.com/735619148/quotes-from-a-pedophiles-quide-to-love-and-pleasure-a-child-lovers-code-of-conduct-graphic-co/ — but it’s… Read more »
Your argument stands to reason that of the author of this book THAT YOU HAVE NO READ, AND SHOULDN’T BE POSTING AN ARTICLE ON, ANYWAY. YOU (who haven’t even read the book) have NO opinion on it, because you DO NOT know its context. The man describes in detail what to use as a condom for boys that are TOO SMALL for regular condoms (even small ones). He says something to the effect of “However, do not make this publicly known, for they will be put behind the counter (for sale).” That tells you that he knows it’s wrong. Event… Read more »
Calm, Alana. Books get “banned” for all sorts of reasons, but the book isn’t illegal. Actually, I’ve read as much of the book as you have. The ‘condom’ excerpt is everywhere. It’s the only excerpt which provides “advice”, while most everything else is his loopy opinion and admonitions. Actually, Greaves says he wants to make sex safer for children (which is pretty stupid. If he did, he would simply tell them to stay away from adults who wanted to have sex with them.) If you stop acting like an hysteric and answering in all caps, you’ll see that I didn’t… Read more »
I don’t appreciate you using my blog link without my consent. Please take it off.
The way I interpret Brennon, what he’s basically saying is that the banning of one book has some dodgy implications. One is that if Amazon are to remove one offensive book, then they must have rules to remove *all* offensive books. And how do they possibly do that? The other is that there’s something inherently scary about the public and/or governments demanding “book burnings” (or, in this case, book banning). I’m sure we all agree that paedophilia is a horrible crime, but the issue here is whether books should be banned if people/governments disagree with what’s written in them. In… Read more »
I don’t go along with the whole ‘freedom to trade’ line of reasoning. At all, But, even assuming that, for those of you who do, I think it’s relevant to point out that such a book would be bought only by someone interested in molesting a child. Likely, someone who already was doing it and needed some pointers. This means that Amazon would be selling the book knowing that that it’s profit would be coming from the child-molester because the child-molester wanted to continue raping children and wanted the book from Amazon to help with that. The book pretends that… Read more »
This has nothing to do with rights. This has to do with the sick people out there. Give the freaks more ideals.
One other thing I’m thinking – I mean, don’t the rights of children to not have their molestation encouraged via literature sort of trump your right to consumerism? Does my right to own slaves trump that of a person’s right to be free from slavery? Dude…….I think you’re pretty lost on this one, because there’s a point where consumerism (*gasp*) does make moral assumptions, and yours, in this article, come across as pretty immoral.
Cogent argument/explanation advocating for consumer’s rights, yes, but it makes me sad. When rights as a consumer trump basic human decency – man, I just don’t know. There are some debates that need to be had for their very relevance to our ways of living, but this one, really? I just don’t see how or why this needs to become a topic for debate. I would much, much rather forfeit my “right to purchase” for the sake of a company to take a stand against something that is so aggregious – because we’re not just talking about Harry Potter and… Read more »
“When rights as a consumer trump basic human decency – man, I just don’t know.”
Until reading this, I hadn’t thought of it in such a way. Very VERY well said.
Relatedly, Amazon is now having troubles with nude images of children on its website. However, these images are associated with naturalism. Should they, too, be removed?
http://www.pcworld.com/article/210510/amazons_pedophile_problems_continue_nude_pics_of_children_appear_on_site.html?tk=hp_new
Mr. Umpley,
While I defend your right to have and express an opinion, it’s patently unfair to label me a child molester based on an article I wrote advocating my right to purchase a book on Amazon.com.
Re-read the article. Nowhere within its text do I condone pedophilia. My argument is sans morality. Yours is not.
Cheers,
Brennon
Perhaps I reading this wrong, but I think you may have made a large typo. “My argument is sans morality. Yours is not.” Are you really saying that your argument is without morality while Mr. Umpley’s is NOT without morality?
Yes, that is what he’s saying. Brennon believes himself to be taking some sort of high ground by treating the problem at hand as a purely intellectual construct and discounting annoyances such as morals or conscience or individual human situations. I’m not saying he’s wrong — it’s a fascinating view from the ivory tower as long as you never have to come down from it into the real world. I disagree with his arguments as much as most commentors here, and I also believe censoring this book is a mistake, for the reason I stated above. But to get one’s… Read more »
You can’t simply analyze this situation “sans morality” it’s a moral issue in itself!
I believe, Brennon, that you probably have an attraction to young men, teens, or boys. Please stick with those over 18.
It’s people like you that make straight people think gays are a bunch of child molesters. Congratulations. Maybe you are. If you are, you probably are like a guy I know named Matthew. He was molested as a child, and is now interested in very young men. Matthew isn’t a bad person. Just a very sick, twisted person who needs his penis surgically removed before he ruins anyone else’s life.
No one (at least not me) is trying to take away this idiot’s right to author this book. He has that right and he exercised it. The outrage is directed at Amazon, and with good reason. If this book gave us a look into the mind of a pedophile, fine. If it was a tale of redemption from a former pedophile, OK. If it was written by a survivor of child molestation, I can see the value. But from what I’ve seen and from the author’s own description, this book’s sole purpose is to make child molestation — an illegal… Read more »
Thank God for that analysis. Everything you just said are my thoughts more eloquently put.
Thank s for posting some rational thoughts about this whole situation. I tried posting similar thoughts on the message board for the book and man, those people do not want to have anything to do with rationality. It’s PEDOPHILES=BAD, BOYCOTT AMAZON and if you don’t agree, you must be a pedophile.
a thousand times: yes.
what you said.
Wow, this list overlooks the most compelling reason of all: If the book really is a guide for pedophiles, concerned parents should have the right to learn what it contains in order to be better equipped to protect their own children from the tactics of perverts.
As the kindly old judge once said, no better disinfectant than sunlight.
They should pull Plato’s Symposium and Lolita while they’re at it.
Don’t forget, “Don’t Take No for an Answer: A Rapists Guide to Getting What You Want” comes out in paper back on Tuesday.
where can i buy this book?
Shame on you.
sorry, but this doesn’t make any sense. you DO have the right to buy the book. and amazon has the right to sell it. you just don’t have the right to buy it FROM amazon. it has no obligation to sell you the book nor does it have an obligation to be consistent. get a clue dude.
Pedophilia is a crime, the same way that internet policemen fight against pedophiles who distribute disturbing material over the web, this kind of enofrcement should be done with this kind of material…why would it be different here? should the existance of other undetected crimes, allow this to happen?
Shouldn’t Amazon be legally punished by this?
There’s no explicit content in this book (no pictures of underage children nude, etc). so absolutely not. Amazon should be legally punished? You’ve got to be kidding me.
I agree with your opinions, but after stomaching some of the pedo book that people have posted online, it seems a lot more like a guide book than words about understanding a pedophile. There is explicit instruction about what to use in leu of a condom for boys thirteen and under, as Greaves explains how a regular condom won’t fit. Also lists various laws, and that certain actions of fondling or kissing may not be illegal. I’m torn on the thought of pulling books, but this is some seriously deranged stuff.
God has a Big Foot.
Thanks for writing this bit. You’re totally right.