Re:I'm a pedophile, but not a monster
by pluma on Thursday December 31, 2015 @09:15AM
(#10817607)
Pedophilia is primarily a sexual disposition, just like any other sexual orientation or fetish. It only becomes a problem if someone acts on it.
All the statistics I've seen indicate that child abuse is less or more orthogonal to pedophilia (just as rape is less or more orthogonal to sexual orientation -- male rapists of men don't necessarily identify as homo- or bisexual).
The only problem with pedophilia is that there is no way to legally satisfy a pedophile's urges. Having sex with children is obviously out of the question (though some people try to argue that children could conceivably somehow consent to it and that would make it okay -- the fallaciousness of which I hopefully don't have to point out) and pornography has its own share of problems.
I think it's a good idea for pedophiles to seek therapy as this kind of sexual frustration (which is different from regular voluntary abstinence in that there's literally no viable alternative) could result in mental health problems, which ultimately could be harmful.
But it would help a great deal if we stopped calling child abusers "pedophiles". Pedophilia isn't defined by child abuse, pedophilia is defined by sexual attraction to children. As icky as the idea might be to "normal people", pedophilia would barely even qualify as a thought crime in itself.
In Germany there's an organisation[0] helping pedophiles not to endanger others (by providing therapy and counselling) that regularly runs ads on TV. I think this is far more productive than just trying to ignore them and label them all as child molesters even if they don't pose any harm.
All the statistics I've seen indicate that child abuse is less or more orthogonal to pedophilia (just as rape is less or more orthogonal to sexual orientation -- male rapists of men don't necessarily identify as homo- or bisexual).
The only problem with pedophilia is that there is no way to legally satisfy a pedophile's urges. Having sex with children is obviously out of the question (though some people try to argue that children could conceivably somehow consent to it and that would make it okay -- the fallaciousness of which I hopefully don't have to point out) and pornography has its own share of problems.
I think it's a good idea for pedophiles to seek therapy as this kind of sexual frustration (which is different from regular voluntary abstinence in that there's literally no viable alternative) could result in mental health problems, which ultimately could be harmful.
But it would help a great deal if we stopped calling child abusers "pedophiles". Pedophilia isn't defined by child abuse, pedophilia is defined by sexual attraction to children. As icky as the idea might be to "normal people", pedophilia would barely even qualify as a thought crime in itself.
In Germany there's an organisation[0] helping pedophiles not to endanger others (by providing therapy and counselling) that regularly runs ads on TV. I think this is far more productive than just trying to ignore them and label them all as child molesters even if they don't pose any harm.
[0]: https://www.kein-taeter-werden.de/