What sort of man in his mid-20s goes for a 14-year-old? A man who is emotionally unable to be challenged by someone his own age? A man who is attracted to vulnerability? A man who is sick? It’s some combination of all these, isn’t it?
Milo Yiannopoulos, a journalist who slipped rightwards to become a professional troll, supposed men’s rights activist and self-styled provocateur campaigning in support of Trump’s bid for the presidency, doesn’t seem to think so.
In recently uncovered webchat footage of Milo - who was banned from Twitter for his racist, sexist attacks on Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones - he defends a man who he calls Father Michael. He claims of his old singing teacher: ‘If it weren’t for Father Michael, I would give far less good head’
Even when the presenter says ‘that’s paedophilia, buddy’, Milo tries to flip things by suggesting the (straight) presenter might be attracted to younger women, before defending Father Michael: ‘he was fantastic, I was a very mature 14-year-old…it wasn’t molestation…when I was 14, trust me, I was the predator…I was chasing everybody, I was aggressively seeking out the sexual company of adults because I knew it would horrify people, because I wanted, sort of power over them, it was my way of rebelling.’
Following these comments, Milo’s been dropped from his book deal with Simon & Schuster, and reports claim that his employers, far-right fake news site Breitbart, will dump him after their employees said it’s either him or them. He’s saying, as he always does, that this was just a joke.
I’m not here to defend or comfort Milo, oh no. This is a man whose slogan was #FeminismIsCancer, who said birth control makes women ‘ugly and crazy’, criticised women who’ve claimed to be raped, campaigned against gay marriage, encouraged gamers to gang up on minorities online, laughed off rape and death threats sent to said women and minorities, started a ‘Privilege Grant’ to help white men through university and then never delivered on it, mocked up homophobic tweets sent by Leslie Jones to defame her, while calling her ‘barely literate’ and a ‘black dude’, says Muslim men are hardwired to rape, and used the Orlando shooting to say Trump’s Muslim ban would help LGBT people. Milo dresses his thuggery up in pearls, provincial hair salon lo-lights and shiny suits, and claims to speak only 'the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth'. He hides behind his gayness, his apparent Judaism (at Breitbart, he worked under white nationalist, Stephen Bannon, who now works for Trump) to show that the far-right would make exceptions for special people like him.
Despite saying he was an advocate of ‘free speech’, the personal and cruel way in which he took apart women and minorities and any of their supporters (he called them ‘cucks’), effectively silenced them.
But none of it silenced him. Simon & Schuster knew all the above, but still gave him a book deal. TV bookers knew it too, but still invited him on, to discuss how sad he was that university students - who pay more fees than ever, so reasonably act like customers - would protest against his scheduled appearances on his ‘Dangerous Faggot’ speaking tour. So why was the line drawn at the Father Michael revelations?
This is the first time Milo has threatened straight white men, or implied that he’s ok with them becoming victims. By previously insisting he only ever goes for black guys, and that he’s the ‘bottom’ in sex, he neutered any threat to his potential fans - aggrieved and paranoid white guys who think social progress will castrate them. But now, he’s upset their sensibilities enough to ruin his career - not only are his fans straight white men, but so too are the owners of TV stations and the heads of book publishers.
Sure, far-right vloggers such as Roosh V (who wants to make it legal to rape women on private property) and Mike Cernovich (who films vlogs complaining about female empowerment in his wife’s parents’ place, whilst making money via his ex’s alimony payments), are still supporting Milo. But now his funding has dried up, this looks to be the end of his schtick. While it’s exciting to see the Candyman on his way out, it’s worth noting the line that’s been crossed. The lesson learned is, you can do whatever you say or want (remember the rape allegations a 13-year-old made against Trump? Remember the way he spoke about a young Paris Hilton, or his own daughter?) just stay away from little white boys. It’s also worth noting that Milo was not defending his own pederasty but that of the man who groomed him.
Funnily enough, it reminds me of Rita Ora. In her autobiography, she described her relationship with an older man when she was just 14. She wrote: 'It's like child abuse isn’t it?' and, just like Milo, spoke of how empowered she felt, at the time: 'I was almost obsessed with having a man feel like he wanted me. I can’t begin to tell you how confident I felt when a man was interested in me. Now I know he listens to me because he obviously wanted to have sex.'
At the time, the NSPCC condemned her comments, saying 'those in the public eye should think about the effect the words can have on those who look up to them”.' Of course, Rita was then a judge on family-friendly show The X Factor, and her career’s subsequent stagnation is hardly the fault of the NSPCC. But, it’s worrying to see that when even charities specifically designed to help child abuse victims will blame a victim for caring about their oppressor. With empathy for sexual assault survivors so lacking, it’s clear that Milo’s fans haven’t only turned on him because he’s defending a paedophile, but because in doing so he’s done what women and minorities are known to do - loving their oppressors, because, well, what’s the other option?
A man who seeks out a 14-year-old for sex is a criminal and should be punished, whether gay or straight. But still, when you’ve been on the receiving end of his desires, it may feel different, because you might not know any different.
Milo is a self-loathing attention-seeking retrograde tosspot, and he could do with learning a lot from the anti-sexual violence campaigners he’s worked so hard to upset. Call it Stockholm Syndrome, call it brainwashing, call it trying to frame a horrible story in a way that helps a survivor to make sense of something traumatic they went through, but don’t call this the one and only line that stands between giving far-right trolls a mainstream platform or not. And for god's sake, can sex and relationships education be put on the curriculum already? If not for the benefit of the students, then at least for their bloody teachers.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.