Children and sex: a child counsellor's view

The beneficial effects between adults who love children and the children themselves can be seen to arise from the fact that they have love for each other; love which they might not have had otherwise from any other source. This love need not be sexual. If it is sexual, the sexuality is quite incidental as far as the child is concerned. What he is concerned with is a loving relationship with a nice man - a man who is not a monster, and many studies have shown that relationships between children and these men can be very beneficial. [...] I don't think that the sexual act if it occurs, has any bearing upon this.

source: 'Children and sex: a child counsellor's view' by Michael Ingram; From the book 'The Betrayal of Youth - Radical Perspectives on Childhood Sexuality, Intergenerational Sex, and the Social Oppression of Children and Young People'; Edited by Warren Middleton; CL Publications, London; 1986