http://svt.se/2.76858/1.1583807/the_genius_and_the_boys

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ktrc0

This film is a little difficult to track down, but if you are able to, I highly encourage you to watch it.

The film is a documentary about a brilliant yet more than a little eccentric Nobel prize laureate who is also a BL. He adopted 54 children through the years, one of whom eventually accused him of molestation. The "genius" insists that although he has had sexual contact with some 200 boys, it has all been consensual, initiated by the child, and in keeping with the moral values of the society from which the child comes (these children were primarily adopted from New Guinea tribes).

The first thing about this film that I really liked was how easy it was to relate to the subject of this movie. Viewing this movie through the eyes of a bl, it was easy to see a reflection of myself in so many of this individual's actions. It was very comforting to hear about this guy who, just like me, struggled with how to deal with the inevitability of breaking his mothers heart with the decision never to marry. I could understand why he chose the things he did. In the beginning, I get the impression he's not much different from myself.

As we begin to meet his adopted children and hear them speak of the BL, one is left with their heart touched. These men, now successful people themselves, have no qualms about heaping the greatest praise upon the man who made it all possible, their mentor, or as one of them put it "the central figure of my life". I couldn't help but say a silent prayer that one day at least one of my YFs would think of me in that way. What a powerful force for good we can be if people are left with that impression of our lives.

Then we meet the lone voice of dissent, the one person willing to go on camera and describe the negative effects of the "sexual abuse" perpetrated on him by this bl that all of the others had been praising. At first I was left confused; what this individual was describing seemed to be an entirely different person from the one all the others were praising. As more of the story of what his "abuse" entailed is revealed, I understood how he could be talking about the same person. He was treated in exactly the same loving way all the others were, the big differences being that this person was not one of the BL's sons and he was not from a culture where such actions would have been normal. It may have seemed like a loving act, but it was a terrible mistake with profound negative consequences.

Next, we get a rare treat; leading intellectuals defending a BL by, among other things, insinuating that the sexual contact he had with boys was not a big deal.

Towards the end of the film, the BL is allowed to express his views on child sexuality. The kinship I had with him through the earlier portions of the film goes away at this point. We may have had a similar life story, we may share a lot in common, and I might be able to understand many of his feelings, but this BL has obviously lost touch with reality.

When the movie ends, we find out that 7 of his adopted sons had admitted to the filmmakers under the condition of anonymity, that they had sexual relations with the BL. Of those 7 who admitted it, 3 of them considered the sexual experiences negative. As a scientifically minded individual who loves to get numbers like this, I was a bit disappointed with this last minute revelation. It's good information in that it makes us aware that chances are at least some of the individuals who spoke so eloquently about their hero had been sexually active with him and still felt that way. But on the other hand, I'm left wanting to make sense of the numbers. What is the significance of those 3 who felt it was a negative experience? Should we just go with what we have and assume that about 43% of the individuals he had sex with felt it was a bad experience? But wait a minute, who is most likely to admit they were sexually abused, people who feel they were, or people who feel it was a healthy experience? Is the number skewed towards the ones who feel they were molested? Does that mean that out of 54 only 3 of them felt it was a negative experience? That would put the percentage of those who were harmed by the contact closer to 6%. But then what about the ones he never had sex with? Alas, they dangled some numbers for me to get excited about, but ultimately they are quite useless.

This is a tough film to track down, but if you get the chance, go watch it.