I firmly believe that all sexual taboos are just things latent in human sexuality.

Given that, I think that attraction to minors is natural and normal.

I suspect that (many but certainly not all) prehistoric societies would have expressed this in a more holistic way. Maybe rituals that allowed some autonomy for children and brought them up to speed as their brains and bodies were ready for more sexual knowledge and understanding

Or maybe there would have been societies where kids were default participants in /witnesses to sexual activity. I’m thinking of, say, an Iriquois longhouse. You would have absolutely hear your neighbors fucking next door. Or even as recently as Viking-era Northern Europe, where all people in a family would have slept under a single roof.

Would people be hiding sex? Probably not. It’d just be a normal part of life and kids would know about it.

As a part of our modern obsession with “protecting” children (ie, keeping them stupid for longer), we have created big taboos about even sexual knowledge. So we can’t even discuss it with our own children without feeling shy/awkward/shameful/frightened. Let alone giving them real experience or something to witness.

The result is a mix of unhealthy solutions and complex expressions of the desire to include children/youthfulness into our sexual activities and education. Think of a father giving his sons porn to avoid actually talking or teaching anything; or the way that we fetishize childish imagery like school uniforms. Lovers may call each other Mommy or Daddy; many gravitate toward incestuous roleplays that involve “safe” ages.

At least these are fun for everyone involved! But the worst expression of this is a deep-seated desire (especially among among libertarian types, OMG!) to control their children’s sexuality, up to and including forcing the children into sex at home. More commonly it’s just Daddy scaring away boyfriends or otherwise cock-blocking his Little Girl who is desperately seeking some sexual independence.

I’m not saying that all families are supposed to fuck, but that there must be some middle ground where attracted/curious individuals can engage each other safely and respectfully, whether for sex or sex education. Indeed, the concept of a nuclear family is itself extremely recent in human history and more an aberration than the norm.

Libertarian types cling desperately to this “Little House on the Prairie with forced sexual control of my kids”, and I think it’s completely wrong and immoral (even if it actually comes from a well-meaning motivation), so I want to distance myself from that.

I’m not sure if all of this makes sense or is a clearly connected set of ideas. It’s a little bit stream-of-consciousness.

I wish there was more discussion and literature about pre-industrial and pre-agricultural sexual norms. Maybe I don’t know where to find it?