I don't raise the issue to besmirch Molyneux's character or reputation, but to address my own perception of his behavior. Though the subject is inflammatory, I hope I can keep from simply adding fuel to the fire while I explain my reasoning.

After listening to his first couple hundred podcasts, I figured Molyneux was just a slightly-smarter-than-average guy who, despite his protestations to the contrary, still has serious unresolved issues with his parents. Then I got to the podcast on Marylin Monroe, #229, and something clicked. And after a brief bit of research, my suspicions became far stronger.

To explain my reasoning, I'll be going down the list of pedophilia cautionary flags here:
http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/psychology/pedophiles/7.html
It's short enough it'd be a waste of time to summarize, but too long to copy and paste.

My references to Molyneux's behavior come from my memories of his assertions from his podcasts, which is hardly credible, I know.

Here goes.

Molyneux certainly would describe his relationship with his wife as "special," as he's said she's the only woman he's dated who didn't want to change him.

He has stated several times that he has paid overt interest in children at gatherings with other adults, even when none of the other adults were paying attention to them. For example, his stories about handing grass/paperclips back and forth.

His claims about the innocence and purity of reason in children are legendary and a major source of his philosophical ideas about the family.

Philosophy and writing seem to be the only hobby he admits to. And I don't know much about home decor, though he did mention living like a slob before he was married. Or rather that he submitted to his wife insisting he buy new casual clothing to replace the sloppy stuff he owned. I don't know if that counts as a decorating style, but young boys' rooms are stereotypically messy and mine certainly fit the stereotype when I was a kid.

He's, what, 40 now and admits he has few friends, though he plausibly claims that's due to his alienation of them through his politics. I admit I'm only a couple hundred podcasts in and his forum claims over 2000 participants. Some may indeed be his friends.

He does seem to talk openly about his past, but I get the impression he covers salient details with an avalanche of philosophy. How, for example, he was gold panning up in the north, and had plenty of alone time to read the bible cover to cover, "it was very boring, now how about some philosophy."

He's mentioned several times he worked in a daycare when he was younger, and he spent a fair bit of time living with his brother and helping to raise his kids, so he's also had consistent and somewhat unusual access to children in the past.

That's the end of the parallels I've drawn between Molyneux and the bulleted list at the above website. Overall, there seem to be more hits than misses, though perhaps that's by construction.

I don't know if any of the above is correct, and perhaps even the suspicion of "pedophilia" is off, because Molyneux's focus, at least from cursory analysis of the followers he has acquired, tends to be precocious but emotionally immature guys in their teens and early twenties, while the DSM IV definition of pedophilia requires interest in pre-teens:
http://www.medem.com/MedLB/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZUZRUZGLC&sub_cat=355

I think the reason the Marilyn Monroe podcast triggered this suspicion was Molyneux's facility with ascribing Monroe's attractiveness as a hot, bubbly airhead to general male pedophilia, when the usual explanation is her coyness and her sexual cues attract male protective/possessive interest and make her seem easy. I find it tough to support accusations of pedophilia when the object of attraction is a sexually mature woman, regardless of her alleged "innocence."

I post this here because after reading some of the threads on FDR I suspect the topic would be taken harshly there and I might simply be accused of "projecting" to bypass discussion.

Anyway, if I have my head up my ass on any of what I have written above, please let me know.

Welcome Tuesday...

I don't believe Stefan is a pedophile .. He may be arrogant and a social misfit like many who hold views outside the norm... It is not unusual for single males to live simply...or leave their jockstrap on the floor.

Children are the easiest to be oneself with and like Stefan I at times prefer to hang with them and entertain them over adult company. I like my self better when I am bringing out the best in them.

I think Stefan has issues, attraction to a non challenging female may be a source of self gratification for him... and the adulation of (non challenging) children and young men may give him the validation and ego boost he requires to get through the day. I do find he can be quite playful and perhaps he didn't have that freedom when he was young.

NO...I don't think he is a pedophile...

No. It's quite a stretch, I think. He has his creepy moments, but he doesn't really give off a pedophile vibe... Not that I really know what such a vibe would be... I swear!

He's obsessed with some idea of children. He mythologizes them. He ascribes to them a purity of intellect and behavior that is complete fantasy, because I don't think he really has much experience with them. For all his many faults, I don't think Stefan wants to, um, have sex with little kids.

If you're going to accuse someone of being a pedophile, you better either have some pictures or have some victims. This is totally ridiculous. You're "evidence" suggests that he likes children, not that he LIKE likes children. There's a huge difference between wanting to pass a paper clip back and forth with a child and wanting to pass his penis back and forth with a child.

He is guilty of emotional and intellectual, but NOT sexual, idealization of children.

[x] Completely absurd
[x] Totally misses the ideas from the mentioned podcasts
[x] False self defense
[x] Projection?
[x] Troll?
[x] Why would you possibly listen to hundreds of podcasts if you actually believe this
[x] I don't believe you
[x] Go away?

Tuesday I am curious if reading those articles made you think of Stefan or if you just got a creepy vibe overall and looked into it further. After reading all the replies here ..do you still have "your head in your ass"? or....

I'd agree with Mole that the article seems to make some pretty big jumps from liking children to wanting to have sex with them.

ExyPhylo, it's more I got a creepy vibe and tried to look into it a bit further. I don't (and didn't) think Molyneux is a pedophile, just that some of his behavior could have kind of made sense in that context.

I was hoping I could bring up the topic and air my concerns without making it sound like I'm outright accusing him of pedophilia. Seems I failed in the last part.

And thank you kindly for the welcome


Mole and Laird, the first link (at least the bullet points) summarizes a variety of items in K.V. Lanning's Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis 1992 (among others, see bibliography), a copy of which is available here:
http://www.sexcriminals.com/library/doc-1075-1.pdf

At about 70 pages including appendices it's pretty long to go without summary. It was a text -- in several editions -- used in the late 80s early 90s to educate various government thugs on identifying and dealing with pedophilia suspects.

I figured it'd be easier finding a suitable summary of the text rather than summarizing it myself, but that was just sloppy of me. As was working from a summary rather than the original document.

The descriptions on p6-7 of situational pedophiles, particularly the "morally indiscriminate" and "inadequate" types, have a familiar ring to them in relation to how Molyneux presents himself. Chapter 4 in particular deals a lot with specific behaviors around children (though of preferential rather than situational pedophiles) and a variety of other things Molyneux seems to hint at in his podcasts, but he doesn't talk about any of it in enough detail for me to come to any definite conclusions that he is a pedophile.

I'm perfectly willing to accept Molyneux is not a pedophile though I've boxed a number of his behaviors into possible pedophile categories (woot! confirmation bias and cherry picking). Even if I did stumble on a correct view of his personality -- i.e. if he does tick the boxes I suspect he does -- just because pedophiles often have those characteristics doesn't mean everyone with those characteristics is a pedophile. A implies B doesn't necessarily mean B implies A, after all. I should have taken the time to make that more clear in my earlier post. Child Molesters certainly makes it clear, "it must be stated and emphasized that the indicators alone mean little. Their significance and weight comes as they are accumulated and come to form a pattern of behavior." (p15) (emphasis theirs)

Your welcome Tuesday....
I don't think you failed in fact i thought you were very clear in stating your intent...however...our intentions don't always transcend the screen...
welcome again....!!!

I can see how one would raise the question r/e Stef and children because of several things (as mentioned). And I think its fine to actually present the question as to pedophilia. It has become such a hot button issue that it would be unusual if it were not raised at some point.

Given that Stef does 'deviate from the norm' regarding the humanity and importance of children and their needs, its probably important that listeners devote some time to parsing this out for themselves so that the issues are on the table. I would assume that most of LiMi have done so, but it never hurts to talk about it with others, especially if you seriously have a question on this front.

As a some-time professional educator, and having read some of the sources behind Stef's particular focus on child development and the family (here namely Branden and Miller), I do think that Stef's intense focus on the critical role of child development is not at all unusual. I find his insights in line with current thinking in psychology, and though at times stated a bit harshly, not even particularly radical in content.

JMHO. -S.

P.S., I think that trying to draw some conclusion about S. Molyneux's sexual behavior from his podcasts is quite jumping the gun. It might seem like we know him because of the personal nature of the 'casts, but objectively there is very little data, so the entire question of pedophilia seems, well, premature.

I don't concern myself with such matters. There are worse tragedies in the world to get upset over. Besides, the only way you're going to eliminate molestation is to either outlaw parenting and force people to surrender their kids to the state or set up some kind of kibbutz-like society. And even then, it's uncertain.