Is it true that in Spain the minister offered to legitimize pedophilia?

The Russian media, referring to the video of the Spanish Minister for Equality, Irene Montero in the lower house of parliament, said that she called for legalized pedophilia. We checked whether Minister Montero really said this.

The statement made by Minister Irene Montero caused a flurry of indignation in the Russian press And social networks. "Fifth channel"Montero summed up the words:" The foreign official, speaking at a meeting of the congress of deputies, criticized the ban on pedophilia, and also stated that children have the right to sex with adult perverts. " "Ren-TV" It wrote: "In Spain, the minister called for legalized pedophilia." “Tsargrad” published an article under the heading “Spanish shame: Europe is accustomed to the most dirty perversion”, in which he wrote: “If conversations about the“ legality and normality of pedophilia ”to this moment were conducted at the level of individual scientific“ experts on gender issues ”, now they are now talking on this topic from the government and parliamentary tribune.” Some Russian officials also commented on Montero's words. For example, speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova said: “The catastrophies of this statement are not even in the legalization of pedophilia. And the fact that she is promoted under the slogan of the struggle for the rights of children: if the child has not yet been deprived of innocence, then this is a rough violation of minors to self -knowledge. ”

On September 21, the Spanish Minister Irene Montero held a meeting of the Commission on Equality, where she spoke about the work of her ministry. During this meeting, she uttered a phrase on the rights of the children that Maria Zakharova Passed So (spelling and punctuation are preserved): “... All boys, girls, children of the vague sex in this country have the right to know their body, and know that no adult can touch their body, know that if they do not want it, this is a form of violence. They have the right to know that they can love or enter into sexual relations with whom they want to be consent. ” Further, Zakharova proposed her interpretation of the said: “If you translate into a normal language, the Spanish minister said that the ban on pedophilia is a form of violence of society over a child.” 

It is not known where Maria Zakharova took the transcript and translation of Montero's speech into Russian-before her telegram post of this translation on the Internet is not found. But if you turn to the original video of the minister’s performance at the meeting, you can make sure that the translation of the quote given by Zakharova is far from the original.

In addition, Montero's words were torn from context. Her statement was only part of the long answer representative of the party VOX Lourdes MendesIn which Montero spoke about the reproductive rights of women, in particular the right to abortion. If you look answer The whole, it becomes clear that Montero did not mean children of all ages, but “young people aged 16 and 17”, whom she mentioned several times in her long response before and after the sensational fragment.

In Spain, as in Russia, age of sexual consent Arrives at 16. In accordance with the national legislation and the Criminal Code, it is forbidden to perform sexual actions with persons under 16 years of age, regardless of their consent or disagreement. And adulthood in Spain Arrives At 18. That is, 16- and 17-year-olds are still considered children, but have legal right to give informed consent to sexual relations with another person (or, according to Montero, “with whom they want”). It is about these children that the minister said, which you can make sure, listening to her answer entirely. And her subsequent statements about voluntary abortion also concerned only girls of 16 and 17 years.

It is also worth considering that pedophiliaWhich, according to the Russian media, decided to legalize in Spain, from the point of view of medicine, is defined as a person’s sexual interest over 16 years old in children of prepubertial age or attempts to enter into sexual intercourse with children of prepubert age. Moreover, a person should be at least five years older than the attraction. There is no general definition of prepubert age, but many authoritative Sources The age of 12-13 years is indicated as its upper border. In the philistine representation, pedophiles are also called those who are attracted to puberty of 13-16 years old, although scientists determine people as geibophiles and epibofils. In other words, relations with 16- and 17-year-old boys and girls that Montero spoke about do not fall under the scientific definition of pedophilia or gebephilia, and only in certain cases can be considered manifestations of epibophilia.

Thus, the Russian media and officials distorted the essence of the statements of the Spanish Minister Irene Montero: first, tearing it out of the context, and then incorrectly translating into Russian. Montero did not urge the pedophilia to legitimize and generally spoke only about adolescents who have reached the age of sexual consent - 16 years.

Image on the cover: Minister for Equality Irene Montero (Source: YouTube)

Not true

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