TEDx Addresses Concerns Over Controversial Talk To Normalize Pedophilia As A ‘Natural Sexual Attraction’

TEDx talks address a wide range of topics that can include motivational speaking, life-hacks, lectures on the future of space flight, and sometimes even human sexuality. A pair of TEDx talks have, however, gone too far for TEDx in one instance, and for most people in attendance on both, when they called for the normalization of pedophilia as a sexual attraction, not unlike that of heterosexuality. The talks were deemed offensive enough that even prior to TEDx removing one of them from their page, YouTube had already done so. Petitions have circulated with the hopes of barring future TEDx talks from offering lectures normalizing what is in almost all of the civilized world, a criminal offense.

The news of this last talk promoting this viewpoint has been slow to spread, as it took place in Wurzberg, Germany, and was delivered by a relatively unknown medical student named Mirjam Heine. Her talk citing obscure scientific research to back up her claims was titled “Pedophilia is a natural sexual orientation,” and she used some anecdotal evidence as well to try to illustrate her position for making such a claim. While there was significant outcry over this particular TEDx talk in Europe, a fair portion of it wasn’t attacking the idea but rather the research.

Heine was called on the carpet by her peers and seniors in the scientific community. Her TEDx talk cites research by Dr. Klaus Beier and Kein Täter Werden, but nothing specific enough to know if she is accurately presenting information or interpreting information in her own way, according to The Daily Dot. In the world of science, this is a cardinal sin. However, aside from academics taking exception, quite a number of people outside of the academic and scientific disciplines have taken exception to the lecture as can be seen on any number of petitions, such as one on Change.org.

Heine appeared to be in over her depth giving the TEDx talk, as cited by the Daily Wire. She couldn’t seem to keep her stance straight by identifying pedophilia as a sexual orientation at one point, an urge born of opportunity at another, and finally an inborn need. She then contradicted herself by saying social factors drive the urge. All in all, her talk was cited as making little or no sense from a clinical standpoint.

A disgusting TEDx Talk trying to normalize pedophilia by declaring that "pedophilia is a natural sexual orientation, just like heterosexuality".
They deleted this video from their official channel after it got too much negative feedback.

— jane-eyre? (@tris123war) June 20, 2018

For most people that viewed Heine’s TEDx talk, however, the final straw was one in which Heine painted a scenario in which it is society’s fault for pedophiles that molest children because society isn’t accepting enough of them and their needs and feelings.

“They can never be completely frank with someone else. We shouldn’t increase the sufferings of pedophiles by excluding them, by blaming and mocking them. By doing that, WE increase their isolation and WE increase the chance of child sexual abuse. Just like pedophiles, we are not responsible for our feelings. We do not choose them… but it is our responsibility to… overcome our negative feelings about pedophiles and to treat them with the same respect we treat other people with.”

This posit by Heine doesn’t take into account the sexualization of minors or use of pornography fantasizing about minors when she draws her conclusion, and as the Daily Wire pointed out, that it would discourage pedophiles from seeking treatment to help mitigate the chances that they ever act upon their urges. YouTube removed the video from their platform due to a request being conveyed to them by Heine through TEDx, due to no longer being able to deal with the immense backlash her talk created.

“After reviewing the talk, we believe it cites research in ways that are open to serious misinterpretation. This led some viewers to interpret the talk as an argument in favor of an illegal and harmful practice. Furthermore, after contacting the organizer to understand why it had been taken down, we learned that the speaker herself requested it be removed from the internet because she had serious concerns about her own safety in its wake.”

The video is, however, still available on several channels on YouTube despite the request. While some are taken down fairly quickly, others linger longer or are replaced on mirror accounts or other places online. As cited by The Daily Dot, TEDx stated that they have no say in who appears at local events, nor what subject matter they will discuss. Despite removing Heine’s video, only at her request, TEDx still hosts a video from April by psychologist Madeleine van der Bruggen called “Let’s be mature about pedophilia,” which discusses the same viewpoint as Heine’s TEDx talk did.

While TEDx has been a venue for the open exchange of ideas on almost any subject of merit, aside from pseudoscience, they have been questioned as to not only how they allowed a talk they themselves cite as being scientifically flawed to be hosted on their platform, but if they would have ever removed it at all had Heine not requested such. Since they host a similar talk on the same subject matter still, it has been raised as a valid question. TEDx has not commented any further regarding why the van der Bruggen talk is still hosted on their platform.