Pattern of Sexual Politics

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The Pattern of Sexual Politics: Feminism, Homosexuality, and Pedophilia is a controversial paper written by professor Harris Mirkin and published in the Journal of Homosexuality (vol. 37, no. 2, p. 1-24) in 1999. It became the subject of wide-spread condemnation in 2002 when feminist author Judith Levine wrote Harmful to Minors, a book published by the University of Minnesota on child/adolescent sexuality that was accused of supporting pedophilia.

The Pattern of Sexual Politics was an observation of a "trend in sexual politics", namely an observation of historical attitudes towards feminism and homosexuality which according to Mirkin, have been recycled and continued in regard to the political states of children and pedophiles. The paper was accused of legitimizing child sexual abuse and being unprofessionally subversive.

The paper also outlined political phases that 'sexual pariah groups' go through, namely one phase where the pariah group is marginalized, jailed, ridiculed, and the second phase being one of political debate, activism, and acceptance.