Supplement III: Historic Timeline of Abuse in Science Fiction
Tuesday , 29, December 2015 Uncategorized 12 CommentsFull Series
- Part I – Pedophilia in Science Fiction – Introduction
- Part II – The Vocal Enablers
- Part III – Leaders in Silence
- Part IV -The Samuel R. Delany Problem
- Part V – The Victims
A Half-Century of Abuse in Science Fiction
1940s -Marion Zimmer Bradley writes first draft of The Catch Trap, featuring adult sexual relationships with adolescent boys.
1954 – Walter Breen convicted for child molestation.
1959 – Walter Breen arrives in Berkeley, California, joins West Coast SF fandom.
1962 -“SeaCon” scandal, involving Breen.
1963 – Publication of the “Breendoggle” – Child molester Walter Breen is known to assaulted a number of children, discussed intensely by SF community.
1964 – Breen publishes Greek Love, an academic defense of “Man-Boy Love.” Edited by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
“Breenagain” reports in fandom involving Victim X, age 10.
Walter Breen and Marion Zimmer Bradley marry. Bradley later admits she is fully aware of Breen’s pedophilia, and defends it.
1971 – The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is published – an allegory to the pedophilia problem in SF.
The Sensuous Dirty Old Man by Isaac Asimov is published.
1977 – Piers Anthony publishes Spell for Chameleon – the first of 37 Xanth novels, a youth-oriented fantasy series which has enough reputation for appealing to pedophiles sufficiently for the author to provide this defense: “But about membership in an anti-pedophelia [sic] organization—I do oppose pedophilia, but don’t belong to any such outfit. In fact I correspond with some pedophiles in prison.”
1980s – Two senior Dr. Who staffers use their position to sexually exploit young male fans of the children’s television show.
Mid-eighties -Longtime Bay Area fan (and friend of SF fandom notables Walter Breen and registered child sex offender Jefferson Poland) Sandy Cutrell confesses to molesting little girls by bribing them with gifts.
1985 – WesterCon – Breen offers to “babysit” Ken Smith (9 or 10 years old), the son of Mary Mason while she served her duties on the WesterCon 38 committee.
Breen later invites Ken to visit in October. Concerned, Mary Mason asks Elisabeth Waters, Tracy Blackstone, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Diana Paxson and Don Studebaker about the safety of a visit. All five confirm that it is okay.
In November, young Ken attends another convention and is molested by Breen for the 1st time.
The abuse continues, primarily centered around other conventions, and Breen finds another victim, apparently using Ken as confirmation that Breen was “safe.”
1985 – Director Victor Salva (of Jeepers Creepers fame) produces his first SF feature film, a horror movie called Clownhouse, about three boys terrorized by an insane clown circus. The anxiety-ridden and sensitive main character is portrayed by twelve-year-old X, who was raped by Salva on several occasions. Salva used the film equipment used for the movie to record his attacks. He was later convicted and sent to prison for 15 months.
1989 – Moira (now) Greyland tells her psychiatrist that Ken Smith is being molested, and when Ken is asked, he confirms the abuse.
With the new revelation, Mary Mason resigns as chair of a Worldcon bid committee over concerns for her son Ken.
Walter Breen is arrested and pleads guilty to molesting Ken. Receives probation.
Mary Mason files suit on Ken’s behalf against Breen in November. In December of that year, Breen begins molesting his next victim (Johnny Doe 5)
1990 – Breen arrested for victimizing Johnny Doe 5. Sentenced to prison.
1993 – Breen dies in prison.
1997 – Ken turns 21, hires new attorney for his case. Mother is dropped from case, as Ken is now of legal age. Marion Zimmer Bradley and Elisabeth Waters added as defendants for negligence.
Ed Kramer, co-founder of Dragon*Con accused of molestation. Victim recants.
1998 – Salva’s Powder, a film that idealizes a pedophile’s self-image, is protested by one of his victims, but is nonetheless released by Disney.
1998 -Arthur C. Clarke advocates for pedophilia
David Asimov, son of Isaac Asimov, is convicted of child pornography – possessing more than 3,000 videos and running a production and duplication center that was funded by Asimov money.
1999 – August – Settlement in Breen/Bradley/Waters case reached in Ken Smith’s favor. Countersuits by Bradley dropped.
September – Bradley dies.
2000 – Ed Kramer arrested for molesting three boys. Violates house arrest after enticing a visit from an underaged boy. Injures spine in custody and allowed back into house arrest after spending one week in jail.
“Kramer’s Kids” are acknowledged by convention staff.
2001 – Kramer’s charges of molestation are fought in public by Anne McCaffery, Harlan Ellison, and many other prominent SF “names.”
2005 – The Toronto Police Sex Crimes Unit publicly identifies a secondary unifying interest among criminal pedophiles: hard core Star Trek fandom.
2008 – House arrest for Kramer suspended.
2011 – Kramer found in hotel room with 14-year old boy.
Notable: Penn State child molestation scandal breaks. SFWA President John Scalzi accuses the leadership involved of cowardice for not doing enough to address the issue.
2012 – John Scalzi claims to be a rapist in an open letter to politicians, enlists the aid of the CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi to explain his motives for doing so. Ghomeshi would later be arrested on sexual assault charges.
2013 – Kramer pleads guilty to one charge for each victim. Sentenced to 34 months of house arrest.
SFWA President John Scalzi declares “Safe Spaces” a necessary component of any convention he attends: such policy fails to address child enticement and molestation and in fact – from a Walter Breen perspective – encourages it.
New SFWA President Stephen Gould selects and awards Samuel R. Delany the 2013 Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master, with Scalzi’s blessing and endorsement.
2014 – The Marion Zimmer Bradley – Walter Breen abuse facts, well-known within SF fandom circles for decades, are more fully exposed by Bradley’s daughter, Moira Greyland at Deirdre Saoirse Moen’s website.
Shortly thereafter, SF Fandom and Authors react explosively toward John W. Campbell nominee Benjanun Sriduangkaew for being, according to the detailed pseudo-empirical Mixon Report, “VERY BAD NEWS.” Sriduangkaew’s crimes against SF and fandom include writing mean critiques of books and insulting people personally, and she (Sriduangkaew) is publicly scrutinized and excoriated in ways that Bradley, Breen, Kramer, Clarke and Delany and other known pro-pedophilia suspects never were.
Taken along with Anonymous Conservative’s work, this puts a new spin on the recent revelation that nerds tend to narcissism.
2001 entry needs a slight tweak to indicate that McCaffrey, Ellison, etc. were responding to the charges against Kramer, not their own person.
Fixed, thank you.
What do producers on Doctor Who have to do with Breen? What does Victor Salva have to do with Breen? Why have you included John Scalzis request for safe spaces at cons in this list?
>>>running a production and duplication center that was funded by Asimov money
This is VERY inaccurate. David Asimov couldn’t hold a job, so he was supported by a $3000 monthly stipend he received from his father’s trust. That in no way means whatever David Asimov was doing was “funded” by Isaac Asimov’s money. Also, he was only sentenced for possesing child pornography, not for producing it as your text implies. Furthermore, will we blame every science fiction author for their offpring’s crimes?
It is 2019 and I have just come across the (old) news re MZB and Breen were pedophiles. I first read Mists of Avalon in 1991 at age of 19. It was revelatory and I felt empowered by the feminist element of the novel. It also opened me up to SF for the first time. Over the years I must have recommended it to at least 50 other women looking for something like it.
That being said, I will never read MZB or recommend her novels again. I stand with her daughter Moira Greyland and I believe her.
I did some digging, though. Grey land apparently turned Christian as an adult and wrote The Last Closet as a memoir. While I believe her allegations of abuse at the hands of her parents, I do not believe one of the other tenets of her book, which is that being raised in an “LGBT household” (MZB was also a self-indenifying lesbian who had a live-in female lover) inevitably leads to child sexual abuse.
Pedophilia and homosexuality are distinct from one another. Do some homosexuals abuse children? Absolutely. The same way some heterosexual people do as well. But homosexuals are primarily attracted to consenting adults or peers of the same age group (ie teens in love with teens). Same thing as heterosexuals are primarily attracted to consenting adults or peers of their same age group. Pedophiles are primarily attracted to children, although many are in relationships or married.
I do believe Greyland’s allegations of abuse and they are horrific. I do not believe that being raised in an LGBT household by gay parents means a hotbed of child abuse, drugs and orgies as Greyland states. I believe being raised in a pedophilic household, with not one but two pedophiles as parents, for sure will guarantee that abuse, as was Greyland’s experience.
As for the SF fandom and pedophilia, there seems to me to be a real problem. Also sexual harassment of women within the community. I also notice one of the things that has always turned me off about SF is the graphic depiction of women in general. I’ll use the imagery of Priness Leia enslaved by Jabba the Hutt. Remember that imagery? The bikini, the iron necklace and chain attached to her throat? Big turn off for SW nerds. Big turnoff for this feminist. Really gross depictions like this in SF are the norm for women. It’s pretty sick!
Edit to my last comment.
Should have read “big turn ON for SW nerds.”
Thanks
I know many of the people involved in Berkeley. They blame the victims. There is an overlap with the Neopaganism child sexual abuse scandals. For instance, Isaac Bonewits was disowned by the order of Druids he founded after Moira’s allegations that he assaulted her at Greyhaven, the home of Diana Paxson, Paul Zimmer, and sometimes Don Studebaker aka Jon de Cles.
There are pedophiles that identify as straight and pedophiles that identify as gay. They are lying. They are pedophiles period. It really doesn’t matter what erudite sounding excuses pedophiles make. I remember NAMBLA trying to join the gay liberation movement. It didn’t work.
[…] Ed Kramer (DragonCon Cofounder) used to walk around with a harem of little boys that the called “Kramer’s Kids”. None of this was secret to members who had been around for a while, just as President Scalzi […]