We all love innocent, waiflike little girls like Hans Christian Anderson's "The Little Match Girl" — especially those of us who have never had to deal with the little monsters in our own lives. But it's a little creepy when you think they'll soon not only be adorable but desirable.

My most embarrassing moment? When an adorable kitten crawled into my lap and I got a hardon. That's when I realized that finding unexpected sexual feelings bubbling up from your biology is okay as long as you look but don't touch. Coveting thy neighbor's wife is not as bad as destroying a valuable relationship — a sin strangely absent from Moses' Top Ten List. I also distrust the pederasty hysteria raging in this country, and the whole "false memory" craze that has made some therapists rich.

I've seen kiddie porn. None of us early adopters who scoured the net could avoid it. And for those who smoke but don't inhale, I can report that very little of it is sexy, because the kid is only going through the motions. But when the child is having fun with an older sibling, even though I disapprove of sexualizing children too soon, it seems more of a cultural deviation than an open and shut federal case, no matter what I think of the people who actually market this stuff. Going to witch doctors isn't a crime either, it's just not terribly effective. (But honestly, girls, stay away from the vampires.)

It's much better for kids to find sexual experience on their own steam. It's okay to talk to them about sex, but most of them will have nothing to say but, "Ew! Why would I want that?" My first girlfriend had an alcoholic and abusive father, but at least he was enlightened enough to let her sleep with her boyfriends in the comfort and safety of her own bedroom.

It takes time and perseverence to turn little girls into prostitutes, just as it does to turn little boys into terrorists. But some cultures are experts at this, which is only one of the dark sides of human nature's pliability.