Edward Brongersma

He worked as an attorney in Amsterdam from 1940 to 1950, and between 1946 and 1950 he was active within the editorial board of the Dutch journal for the legal profession, Nederlands Juristenblad.

In the same period (1946–1950), he was a member for the Dutch Labour Party of the Provincial States of North Holland and served on the town council of Heemstede.

From 1960 to 1967, he was a senior lecturer at the Criminological Institute of Utrecht University, where he worked very closely with Professor of Law W. Pompe.

In 1979 he donated them to a foundation bearing his name, the object of which as stated in its articles of association was "promoting scientific study and publications in the field of sexual relations between adults and young people."

He wrote 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 wrote extensively in the area of sexology, especially on pornography, ephebophilia, pedophilia and the age of consent.

Brongersma opposed the other prominent figure in the 1970s pro-pedophile movement in the Netherlands, psychologist Frits Bernard, who considered pedophilia not pathological irrespective of the gender of the participants.

Following his death, discussion flared up in the Netherlands as to whether people who were weary of life should be allowed to end their lives with the aid of a physician.

After his death, his entire social-sexological collection as well as his private archives were placed in the International Institute for Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam (www.iisg.nl), this without the visual material which had been seized by the authorities.

The executive board of the foundation continued its activities; in 1998, the "Fund for Scientific Research of Sexuality" was set up, with the stated aims of: obtaining more insight into sexual development processes in relation to social, emotional, cognitive and physical development; contributing to sexual health and to helping develop the capacity for relationships, and a sense of responsibility; supporting parents, guardians, educators, teachers, public relations officers and care and welfare workers by effectively channelling the knowledge gained from research; and promoting debate in circles of lawyers, sociologists, government officials and politicians on various social and legal frameworks.