Pedophiles and child molesters can be found in every walk of life, but are they really one and the same?
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Like most people, I was shocked to learn that Subway’s former spokesperson, Jerod Fogle, plead guilty to child molestation charges last week. He looks so “normal.” So I started to wonder how big of a problem child molestation is. How many other “normal” people are attracted to children and what do we know about pedophilia?
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First of all, I was surprised to learn that there is a difference between pedophiles and child molesters. Not all pedophiles are child molesters and not all child molesters are pedophiles. However, we do know that most sexual abusers of children are someone the child knows.
Not every pedophile acts on his impulses.
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Not every pedophile acts on his impulses. (By the way, I’ll be using the male pronoun because female pedophiles are quite rare.) According to Dr. Hubert Van Gijseghem, from the University of Montreal, many of the people who sexually abuse children are not exclusively or primarily attracted to them. “In fact,” he says, “‘true’ pedophiles are estimated by some experts to account for only 20 percent of sexual abusers.” Harvard Medical School adds, “Researchers also do not agree about what proportion of child sex abusers are pedophiles.”
Some pedophiles are also attracted to adults. Those relationships, however, do not alleviate the attraction they have toward children. Also of interest is that pedophiles can have a sexual attraction toward boys, girls, or both. “Homosexual adults,” the Harvard study points out, “are no more likely than heterosexuals to abuse children.”
“The majority of pedophiles, however socially inappropriate, seem to be gentle and rational.”
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Jon Henley quotes Psychologist Glenn Wilson, co-author of The Child-Lovers: a Study of Pedophiles in Society, as saying that, “The majority of pedophiles, however socially inappropriate, seem to be gentle and rational.”
In 2014, Luke Malone decided to tackle the issue of pedophilia as a thesis for his degree at the Columbia School of Journalism. It was around the time of the Jerry Sandusky trial and he started wondering how someone became a pedophile. In his research he discovered that an attraction towards children generally starts around the teen years. In a provocative interview with NPR’s Ira Glass, he told about the teens and young adults he met who created their own support group to keep them from acting on their feelings.
Adam, the group’s leader, started watching child porn when he was 14-years-old. However, he soon realized that though he was aging, his attraction for children remained the same. “[I]t wasn’t some phase I was going through, but the children I was interested in weren’t getting older, you know, to follow along with me, but they were actually getting younger,” he told Malone.
But why?
Dr. James Cantor, one of the few researchers on the issue, has been studying the brains of pedophiles and believes there are marked differences. According to his website:
“Dr. Cantor’s team has identified multiple markers demonstrating biological contributions to the development of pedophilia, including poorer scores on certain neuropsychological tests, more frequent childhood head injuries, less physical height, elevated rates of school-grade failures, and triple normal rates of non-right-handedness.”
Additionally, he found “significantly lower white matter density in the wide-spread regions of the brain in men with pedophilia (than in men who committed nonsexual offenses).”
The alternate theory, and most widely held belief, is that pedophiles are victims of molestation themselves. A 2001 study in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that only a minority percentage fit the victim-to-victimiser cycle.
So basically, we have a behavior, child molestation, and we have a sexual attraction, Pedophilia. The two are not mutually exclusive, though one can exist without the other. Its origins are fuzzy, and what to do about it is a completely different and complicated problem.
Harvard Health Publications stated that pedophilia is indeed a sexual orientation and it is “unlikely to change.”
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In Pessimism about pedophilia, Harvard Health Publications stated that pedophilia is indeed a sexual orientation and it is “unlikely to change.” This makes a lot of people nervous. Some are convinced that pedophiles are the next social justice movement, which has been ushered in by the gay rights movement. But the difference in the two, says Chris Wilson, who works with offenders in the UK, is that, “The roots of that desire for sex with a child lie in dysfunctional psychological issues to do with power, control, anger, emotional loneliness, [and] isolation.”
So what should we do with a pedophile? If, as most research suggests, they cannot change their attraction toward children, should they be locked up forever? What if they never act on their impulses? Sarah Goode reported that a 2006 survey of 531 undergraduate men discovered that 7 percent admitted sexual attraction to “little children,” while 18 percent had sexual fantasies about children. These are the “normal” people who live among us.
…a United Nations Survey discovered there are over 4 million websites that show “images of children being exploited.”
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In more disturbing news, a United Nations investigation, according to NBC News, discovered there are over 4 million websites that show “images of children being exploited.” I’ll spare you the specific breakdown of their ages. Quite honestly, it turned my stomach to see the numbers. I couldn’t bear to write them down. However, this industry has a net worth of up to $20 billion. That’s a big business to keep going with just a few “normal” people.
Most of us agree there should be strong and swift consequences for people who abuse children. Jerod Fogle’s offense is particularly repugnant, in my opinion, because he used his position of authority, power, and celebrity to get what he wanted. But what about those who don’t act out? What about those who want help to keep from acting out?
In an interview with The Atlantic, Dr. Cantor noted that in many jurisdictions there are “mandatory reporting regulations for psychologists and other health care providers.” So when someone comes in for counseling the psychologist is legally required to report the person to authorities if he suspects the person will act on his impulses, or if he feels a particular child is in danger. “That, of course, can lead to loss of the person’s job, family, and everything else,” Dr. Cantor said. The alternative is to not go in for any help at all, which is what most people choose to do.
As a society, we have tagged pedophilia as reprehensible and presumed it to be synonymous with child molestation. Unfortunately, we have also made it into such a taboo subject that is difficult to talk about and nearly impossible to research. There are no easy answers to this subject, but until we’re able to talk about it openly, there will be many more victims.
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Photo – Flickr/Michael Taggart Photography
If somebody realizes they are a pedophile they should commit suicide. As a victim of a violent homosexual pedophile I am angered by the suggestion that we should respect the rights of homosexual pedophiles.They have no rights. Yes they need to be studied but only so we can determine how to test for homo pedophiles so late stage abortions can be performed on the future homosexual pedophile. If you are having sexual impulses about children, whether it’s just looking at pictures of very real kids being abused you should kill yourself. Right now. Anybody else notice that the more we… Read more »
Tim Rymel
You are dissapointed with us,that comments on your article.
I have no right to invalidate your feelings, but let me end with a interview with on man that gives therapy to peodophiles,also those that have not broken the law but fear they will unless they get help.
https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=no&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tv2.no%2Fa%2F6970249&edit-text=
I look forward to read more of your articles in the future 🙂
I continue: This eucation must include facts about how it effects children to be near pedophiles that never acts out, never acts on their impulses. What exactly do you mean Tim? One of my old friends grew up with a father that never acted out but always had an erection around her and all her childhood memories was of a father aroused by her.( He was a medican doctor ). What does recent reseach say about the effect this has on a child? They pick up the sexual feelings in their parents and care takers and find it very difficult.… Read more »
http://www.womanthouartgod.com/breastfeedinglovemaking.php
It seems to be a stupid idea from me to bring breasfeeding orgasms into this debate.
Hi Tim Ryel You ask “what shall we do with pedophiles?” “What about those that don’t act out?” “Not every pedophile acts on his impulses”. Where I live we have no Megans law. And we do not act the same way you do in the U.S. Still we have terrible terrible cases of sexual abuse of children again and again. Some times by a pedophile sometimes by persons not diagnosed as a pedophile. I read about those cases in the newspaper and know little else. But it seems to be that everbody should learn about these things in school from… Read more »
It is not a matter of puberty, and certainly not a matter of opportunistic carnival performers like James Cantor. It is matter of real love between human beings of any age. Humans of all ages can desire physical and genital contact with other human beings. Many societies are still primitive in the failure to understand human desires especially those under verbal age. Children, i.e., human beings, are screaming out for relationships with adults. They children are taking the initiative. You must have eyes to see. Those who don’t and who now own the store, repress us giving us instead their… Read more »
Hi Selena
Psychology tells us we are sexual beeing already in our mothes woumb, but I am not so sure children have desire for sexual genital contact as you tell us they have.
Are you sure about this ?
I now talk about children that has NEVER been sexually abused earlier.
What makes you think they want genital contact?
I tried to commit suicide twice before I was 8. He would have to yell at me to stop crying. He had to threaten me with a gun. No 6 year old boy wants to be sodomized.
silke
I was referring to the larger issue of whether people are born to be, irretrievably, one orientation or another. It’s an important issue in some circles. The question of whether early molestation may change a born-in orientation obviously includes the possibility that it may be changed back. But many gays insist it is fixed, thus invalidating attempts to change orientation.
There is no “evidence” that someone is born gay or straight, or bisexual. However, there is significant research leading toward a neurobiological, fixed influence on sexual orientation and gender. Here are a few links, as I’ve written about this extensively.
Brain Sex: Gender, Sexuality and Cultural Roles: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/brain-sex-gender-sexuality-and-cultural-roles-try/
5 Facts About Conversion Therapy We Know For Sure: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/5-facts-about-conversion-therapy-we-know-for-sure-twr/
Why are We Still Trying to “Fix” Gays? https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/why-are-we-still-trying-to-fix-gays-dg/
What Does “Ex-Gay” Really Mean?: https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-does-ex-gay-really-mean-twr/
silke
This brings up a problem: Being gay is not a choice. say some, and no one is supposed to suggest changing. If some can change then reparative therapy might be legitimate.
If it’s a matter of changing the behavior without changing the underlying orientation, then we have a different issue.
Did you read the article I posted a link to?
Langfeldt does not write about all persons with pedosexual behavior only a certain group and since they change then at least some persons with pedosexual behavior can change and prefer adults.
If we call it a sexual orientation and some are born with inability to desire and love adults sexually,then that must be hard. I would prefer a life an asexual person .
But to me it sounds strange that anyone can be born a pedophile.
pedophiles can never change. Ask the church how many homosexuals they have turned into heterosexuals. none. pedophiles are doomed.
Hi Tim
Thank you for bringing up a difficult issue.
I know nothing about pedophilia and pedosexual behavior but it surprises me if this is a sexual orientation ,like something we are born with and something that can not be changed.
Some men do change :
http://www.sexual-offender-treatment.org/2-2010_04.html
A few comments to that study: “With some variation, however, most studies seem to indicate that nearly half of the offences against childrenn are made against boys (Finkelhor, 1986; Marshall, 1990).” Most of sources I’ve seen put the number rather on one third, including police statistics or anonymous self-report surveys. It should be noted that this doesn’t give us information about how many of sex offenders against children offend against same sex children. James Cantor in his article “Male Homosexuality, Science, and Pedophilia” writes “Overall, the offenders against male children appear to comprise 20–30% of all offenders against children.” Next,… Read more »
This article makes no distinction between attraction to pubescent teenagers and attraction to prepubescent children. It would seem in the former case that it might be possible to redirect the person’s desire towards legal outlets, i.e. Consensual relationships with young adults, “barely legal” porn, and so forth. Or perhaps with therapy, one could come to see one’s attraction to teenagers as part of an arrested emotional development process, and steps could be taken to grow out of it, leading to greater interest in adults. Whereas, in the case of attraction to the prepubescent, we are really taking about something else… Read more »
David A girl can start having her periods as early as the age nine or ten. She is not a teenager when she enters puberty. I guess boys also can enter puberty at an early age? Actually I am not surprised if men feel a sexual attraction to girl that can become pregnant. But she is still a child and in our Western culture and will be a child for some time . (It is not like the days of the old Testament ). But what did nature intend with our sexualty when the facts are that boys befor puberty… Read more »
‘But the difference in the two, says Chris Wilson, who works with offenders in the UK, is that, “The roots of that desire for sex with a child lie in dysfunctional psychological issues to do with power, control, anger, emotional loneliness, [and] isolation.” ’ This is a nonsense I keep hearing all the time. It fails in so many ways. It fails to explain why there are people attracted towards children (which involves the desire for sex with children) who are attracted towards children specifically. (Why they aren’t attracted for example to mentally or physically disabled people over which they could… Read more »
Simgiran
Maybe you should give us the links to recent reseach to back up your statement people that are sexually attracted to children have no issues emotionally?
To clarify this: I don’t claim that in general pedophiles have no issues emotionally at all or no more often than general population. I claim it’s far from being an universal sign. My basis for that is largely anecdotal, however, even such source is sufficient to show that it can’t be true in general that desire for sex with children comes in dysfunctional psychological issues. I’ve heard stories of several pedophiles who said they attempted relationships with adults, sometimes even found people they liked personally, but they simply find they are not attracted to them erotically. Some had sex with… Read more »
Hi Simgjiran
Thank you!
I will read it
I can add my anecdote, at least. I’ve had sex less about a dozen times in my life, all with prostitutes. And a number of those times I felt like I was raping myself. Yeah, think about that. Having somebody suck your dick, and feeling as if it was a person of the some gender – and you were in no way homosexual. How would you feel, if you were strictly heterosexual, but you had some guy sucking you off, because you thought that you had to, to be “normal”? I’d rather have a little girl sit in my lap… Read more »
Lyta
Yes having sex with someone you are not attracted to and do not really want to have sex with feels like rape.
The last sentence needs some empirical backup. It implies that somebody or something is keeping us from talking about these issues. Who is it, and how are they doing it? What will talking about it openly do to improve the situation? If the neurological difference is dispositive, and not found in non-pedophiles, we have, as the author mentions, a problem. Until they offend, what may we do about them? The author mentions a study which finds that homosexuals are no more likely to offend than are straight men. There are two issues here. One depends, as so many things do,… Read more »
Richard – You’ve made A LOT of assumptions. I’d like to address a few of them. You said: “Epebephelia and pederasty is the province of homosexuals exclusively and involves boys just entering puberty and later.” This is not true. If we are considering this age group in molestation (which we do in Western society) there are quite a few notorious cases of female molesters. (For brevity’s sake, I’ll just post a single link and let you research more, if interested. http://abcnews.go.com/US/kathryn-murray-notorious-teacher-sex-scandals/story?id=21623202). Additionally, once we get to this age group, the lines get a bit fuzzy, which even researchers acknowledge. As… Read more »
how many homosexual pedophiles are homosexuals?
All of them.