Why are Johns Hopkins and Fred Berlin trying to save face?

Thursday, November 17, 2011

On August the 17th, B4U-Act staged a symposium on the topic: "Pedophilia, Minor-Attracted Persons, and the DSM: Issues and Controversies", with the "featured speaker" being Fred Berlin of Johns Hopkins’ Sexual Behavior Consultation Unit.

The symposium yielded widespread condemnation from around the world. The criticism was so intense that Johns Hopkins' went into damage control, publishing the following statement on their website; in an attempt to distance themselves from Berlins involvement and to glue back together what's left of his waning reputation:

"Statement regarding Johns Hopkins faculty member’s participation in Aug. 17 B4U-ACT conference

There has been significant misinformation circulating about Fred Berlin, M.D., Ph.D., director of Johns Hopkins’ Sexual Behavior Consultation Unit, and his recent participation at a conference in Baltimore.

As an international expert in sexual disorders, Dr. Berlin speaks routinely at conferences in his role as an individual and as an expert in these matters. In this role, Dr. Berlin speaks for himself, and not as a representative of Johns Hopkins. Dr. Berlin is unequivocally opposed to any sexual actions between adults and children. In no way does he advocate pedophilia, but rather he believes in getting appropriate help for people attracted to minors in order to prevent them from acting on their impulses. He argues that a distinction should and must be made between individuals with pedophilia who act on their attractions and those who are attracted to minors but refrain from acting on their predilections.

Dr. Berlin believes much of the information reported about the conference has been significantly distorted. Statements made by others in attendance should not be construed as representing the views of Dr. Berlin or Johns Hopkins. He was very clear in his remarks to all who were in attendance how important it is to make every possible effort to prevent the sexual abuse of children."
"B4U-Act:" the name suggests the organizations intention is to prevent pedophiles from sexually molesting children. However Michael Melsheimer, one of the groups founders, had this to say on BoyChat about B4U-Act's actual intentions:

"Be assured you will find no current reference to prevention of offending. You can take that to the bank."
Among the company of fellow pedophiles, B4U-Acts goals are nakedly stated by Melsheimer:

"I think that you are right. We do have to go slow and not take on a radical agenda. We could all learn well by what happened to NAMBLA.

As it relates to building bridges, you are right again. There is nothing more important for our community to do. It is the only way we are ever going to be able to get any possible acceptance in the larger community for who we are as human being and what we feel is right for children"

"We have to be very careful at first as to what we say and do, so we can say do and say more down the road. We need to build bridges and coalitions. This means that we might have to cool it for the moment. Please note that I said for the moment."


More can be read about B4U-Act and their public agenda versus their private agenda, here. Some people might be surprised to discover that Melsheimer also happens to be friends with Fred Berlin:

"I have known Fred Berlin for more than 20 years. Do you know that he spoke against the reporting law in the state legislature of Maryland when it was first proposed in the late 80's? This was not a popular thing to do. I was with him when he did this.

Berlin says a lot of things publicly, so do people like ourselves. We never say everything."


Before we go any further, I would like to go back a step and look at John Money, a junk scientist and a man that Fred Berlin regarded as one of his most important mentors. In 1991, Money conducted an interview with the Dutch pro-pedophilia magazine "Paidika," below are some of the views he expressed during that interview:

"Imagine if you were a young boy with a paedophile lover. You would have to keep it secret for sure. It would be extremely difficult to integrate it into your total life without its being out in the open, especially with your family."


"I would say though that if I were to see the case of a boy aged ten or eleven who's intensely erotically attracted toward a man in his twenties or thirties, if the relationship is totally mutual, and the bonding is genuinely totally mutual, then I would not call it pathological in any way."


"I prefer not to use the words abuse and molestation, certainly not to use them loosely to mean anything having to do with sex, which is the way they are used nowadays."


"I also decided regarding paedophilia that I would never report anybody, so I simply would not even try to treat a paedophile, because the very fact that they come and ask for treatment makes them reportable."


..bizarre, but if this someone who Berlin regards so highly, it perhaps explains his current disposition. And as Berlin continues his campaign for the pedophiles, clouds of suspicion and doubt begin to form over just how much truth there is to statements like this: "Dr. Berlin is unequivocally opposed to any sexual actions between adults and children."

B4U-Act is funded by the Maryland Board of Social Work Examiners. If you'd like to express your concerns to them, they can be contacted here.