until, years, pedophilia, doctor, books, subjects, sexuology, sexuality, sexual, publications, legal, homosexual, conviction

Edward Brongersma (August 31, 1911 – April 22, 1998) was a doctor of law and for a number of years a member of the Dutch Eerste Kamer ("First Chamber" or Senate), and chairman of the Eerste Kamer's Judiciary Committee (1969–1977).

Life

Edward Brongersma was born in Haarlem, the Netherlands, in 1911 as the son of a medical doctor. He studied law at the University of Amsterdam (1931-1935) and for the next five years worked on his Doctor's thesis on Constitutional Law (in Portugal) and wrote articles for a number of legal and general interest publications. In 1940 he received the degree of Doctor of Law at the Catholic University of Nijmegen (cum laude).

During the war until 1950 he was a barrister in Amsterdam and in 1946 he became a Labour Party member of the First Chamber of the States General (the Dutch Upper House of Parliamant, or Senate).

Both careers were suddenly interrupted in 1950, when he was arrested, tried and convicted for having sexual contacts with a young friend of about 16 or 17 years old (born 1932 or 1933).
In those days the age of consent for homosexual contacts was 21, in 1971 this was lowered to 16.

After 11 months in prison he made a living as a journalist and, from 1956 to 1959, he was the director of the Federation for Social Assistance to Problem Families in Haarlem. Disbarred as a result of his conviction, he was reinstated at the bar in 1959 and thereafter carried on a legal practice in Haarlem until his retirement in 1980.

From 1960 until 1968 he was an Assistant Professor at the Criminological Institute of the Utrecht State University. He was asked by the Labour Party in 1963 to become again a member of the Dutch Senate for a second period, which lasted from 1963 until his resignation in 1977. From 1968 until 1977 he served as chairman of the Permanent Committee for Justice. In 1975 the Queen made him Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion for his distinguished services as a Member of Parlement.

He founded the Dr Edward Brongersma Foundation in 1979 to receive and preserve his collections of literature and private documents on sexuality and make it available on a confidential basis for responsible research.

In April 1998 his life was ended with the help of his doctor, Philip Sutorius, via euthanasia. Although he was neither terminally ill nor in any physical pain, he had "lived his life" and believed his life was no longer worth living. Dutch law permits euthanasia only in cases where a person has a terminal illness, which was not the case for Brongersma. In 2001, an appeal court found Sutorius guilty, but refrained from punishing him, on the grounds that he had acted out of compassion. This case elicited considerable political and media discussions on the limits of legalised euthanasia in the Netherlands.

Work

Dr. Brongersma has authored some 1200 books, articles and professional papers on law, politics, religion, philosophy, literary subjects, social conditions and sexuology. Able to read ten West-European languages, he has written books on the Civil War in Spain, Portugal and the Portuguese, penal law and social problems. Beginning with his years at the Criminological Institute, he has written extensively in the area of sexuology, especially on pornography, ephebophilia, pedophilia and the age of consent. His books on this subjects include: Das Verfehmte Geschlecht (on boy-love, 1970), Sex en Straf ("Sex and Punishment", 1972), Over pedofielen en kinderlokkers ("On Pedophiles and Child Molesters", 1975), and his last work (his magnum opus) is entitled Loving Boys (two volumes, 1988-1990).

One aspect that is remarkable about Brongersma's works is that he regarded pedophilia as exclusively a same-sex issue. By this conviction (publicly shared by the national Dutch homosexual organisation COC at least in 1980 , other scientists holding this opinion due to meta-analyzes of international data and studies available from Europe and North America while distinguishing between pedophilia and situational offenders include Howells 1981; McConaghy 1993), basing it on an alleged difference other than sex preference between pedophiles and their acts on the one hand and child molesters on the other, Brongersma opposed the other prominent figure of 1970s pedophile emancipation movement in the Netherlands, psychologist Dr. Frits Bernard.

After his retirement in 1980, he devoted his time to his publications, the Brongersma Foundation collection of material on minor sexuality and to public enlightenment on sexual matters.

Life

Work

References

External links