You were my tin god and even now you are

In a case study about Norman Douglas, a man who openly lived is hebephile sexuality in the 1930s, there is a positive account of one the boys who had a relationship with him.

Source: Cleves, Rachel Hope (2020): The Problem of Modern Pederasty in Queer History. A Case Study of Norman Douglas.


The article reports memories of adults who as boys had sex with Norman Douglas. Here is the report from Wolton:

A decade after they first met, Wolton, who was then in his early twenties, wrote to Douglas reminiscing about their former times together: ‘Doug, I have wanted Italy and you as bad as anything last week. All the old times flash back in my memory.’ Wolton refused to disavow his childhood sexual relationship with Douglas, writing: ‘They were happy times too Doug were’nt [sic] they, I have no evil thoughts about them although I am different today than I was then. You were my tin god and even now you are. I do really love you as a great friend and even now I know that if I live to be a million never shall I harbour the same feeling that I have for you. … I am afraid I have expressed myself very badly but I want you to understand Doug that you are more to me than ever you were. The difference is now that I am old enough to realise it.’ As an adult, Wolton pursued sexual encounters with women. He was ‘different’ than he had been as a boy, but he felt positively about his youthful sexual encounters with Douglas nonetheless.