Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys

Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys (also known as simply ChickenHawk) is
Chicken Hawk: Men Who
a 1994 American documentary film produced, written and directed by Adi
Love Boys
Sideman, who founded YouNow in 2011. The film profiles members of the
pedophile/pederasty organization North American Man/Boy Love Association Directed by Adi Sideman
(NAMBLA) who discuss sexual relationships between men and boys below the Produced by Adi Sideman
age of consent. Written by Adi Sideman
Nadav Harel
The film is an exposé on the group's controversial beliefs and their clandestine
lifestyle. Sideman's evenhanded approach provides the audience with an insight Narrated by Barbara Adler
into the group members' psyches. It has drawn attention for its unique approach: Mimi Turner
letting its subjects, the NAMBLA members, incriminate themselves in a public Cinematography Nadav Harel
forum. Since its release, the film has been screened for the FBI, university Edited by Nadav Harel
criminology departments and other law enforcement agencies.
Distributed by Stranger Than
The term "chickenhawk" is used in gay slang to refer to an older man who Fiction
chases after younger men.[1] Release date July 8, 1994
Running time 55 minutes
Country United States
Contents Language English
Synopsis
Release and reception
See also
References
External links

Synopsis
The film describes the organization and its history and features outspoken NAMBLA members Leyland Stevenson, Renato
Corazza, Peter Melzer, and Chuck Dodson. In a series of interviews, the NAMBLA members describe their feelings towards boys
and justifications for such feelings. Scenes in the movie include a group of NAMBLA members participating in the 1993 March
on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation. NAMBLA members argue for NAMBLA's inclusion in the
gay rights movement, to the disapproval of other attendees. Photographs of shirtless, or otherwise sexually positioned, boys are
shown from the NAMBLA bulletin, as well as several drawings of nude boyish characters with wings. Leyland Stevenson
describes a sexual encounter with a boy, in which Stevenson received oral sex from the boy, as a "religious experience." An
interaction of Stevenson with another boy is shown, in which the boy makes a prank phone call. Stevenson, observing the boy
and engaging him in conversation, suggests that the boy was flirting with him. The interview of a school teacher fired for his
membership in NAMBLA is given. Several threatening messages are left on another member's answering machine.

Poet and free speech advocate Allen Ginsberg, NAMBLA's most famous member and defender, appears in the documentary and
reads a "graphic ode to youth".[2]
Release and reception
The film was released to critical acclaim.[3] The premiere at the New York Underground Film Festival was met with fanfare and
was covered by national news organizations as well as shock jocks like Howard Stern.

The film was well received by the anti-NAMBLA groups "Straight Kids USA" and "National Traditionalist Caucus," both of
which were represented in the film. Tom McDonough, from Straight Kids USA stated, "We feel everybody should see this movie
because it exposes NAMBLA for all the evil they are",[3] and Don Rosenberg of the National Traditionalist Caucus said, "We
thought the movie was very fair. I think Adi did a very good job of letting Leyland Stevenson (the film's central character) and his
cohorts hang themselves."[3]

According to New York Newsday's reviewer, " It would have been too easy to become strident, had he [Sideman] set out to make
an agitprop piece about the evils of pedophilia. So he lets NAMBLA bury itself. And the organization obliges."[4]

Since its release, the film has gone on to screen for psychology, sociology, and criminology departments throughout the USA and
has also been screened for the FBI.[5]

The film's distributor, Stranger than Fiction, was run by Todd Phillips, who founded the New York Underground Film Festival
and later went on to produce The Hangover films and Due Date.[6]

See also
Age of consent reform

References
1. Donald F. Reuter (2006). Gay-2-Zee: A Dictionary of Sex, Subtext, and the Sublime (https://books.google.com/bo
oks?id=7FpPbfVRm3MC&pg=PA36&ots=7bxTAjwjF_&dq=chicken.hawk+older+gay&sig=uSmqrksm0NvHghUh1
K2oRhz9TcE#PPA36,M1). St. Martin's Press.
2. Jacobs, Andrea (2002-06-21). "Allen Ginsberg's advocacy of pedophilia debated in community". Intermountain
Jewish News.
3. Anderson, John (August 14, 1994). " 'Chicken Hawk': The Controversy" (http://articles.latimes.com/1994-08-14/en
tertainment/ca-27046_1_chicken-hawk). The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
4. "PHI 340 Some Reviews of "Chicken Hawk" " (https://web.archive.org/web/20141009013953/http://www4.ncsu.ed
u/~n51ls801/PHI340mirror/chk.html). Ncsu.edu. Archived from the original (http://www4.ncsu.edu/~n51ls801/PHI
340mirror/chk.html) on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 2 March 2014.
5. Bresler, Eric (August 20, 2012). "Cinedelphia.com and Film Threat present CHICKENHAWK – MEN WHO LOVE
BOYS" (http://www.philamoca.org/2012/08/cinedelphia-com-and-film-threat-present-chickenhawk-men-who-love-
boys/). Retrieved 26 March 2013.
6. Adams, Sam (2010-11-05). "The Hangover and Due Date director Todd Phillips · Interview · The A.V. Club" (htt
p://www.avclub.com/articles/the-hangover-and-due-date-director-todd-phillips,47264/). Avclub.com. Retrieved
2014-03-02.

External links
Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109410/) on IMDb
Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chicken-hawk-men-who-love-boys) at
Rotten Tomatoes
New York Press (http://nypress.com/the-filmmaker-who-looked-at-pederasty-without-flinching/)
Chickenhawk (https://archive.org/details/Chickenhawk_942), Review published in The New Republic
 Nytimes.com (https://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/08/movies/film-review-men-who-love-boys-explain-themselves.h
tml)

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