Is Pedophilia A Sexual Orientation?

[R. U. Sirius]

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2013/12/22/is_pedophilia_a_sexual_orientation.html

Inspired by the discussion in the "affluenza" thread. The content of this article mainly deals with scientific research, but I place it here due to the overwhelming political implications.

So, what do you all think? Personally, I think mandatory reporting laws for anything short of a confession to have actually committed a crime are bullshit. I know people who struggled with urges like this, but didn't seek help because they were afraid of being turned in, until eventually they lost the struggle and ended up with actual crimes, ranging from possession of child porn to actual molestation.

Another thing that needs to be considered is the fact that age-of-consent laws vary widely across the world, and even from state to state in the U.S. Now, I'm not advocating for us to lower the age of consent, especially to the levels it has been in the past (as low as 7 in some states), but too often, even reasonable people forget that there's nothing magic about the number 18. From what I've read, the most common age of consent worldwide is 16, including in many areas of the U.S. Some of those laws come with "Romeo and Juliet" provisos, only making it legal if the older partner is less than X number of years older, but not all. So in some states, it's perfectly legal for a 16-year-old to consent to having sex, but considered child pornography if they or their partner tape it.

Additionally, I think the public registry needs to go. I have no problem with there being a sex offender registry available to law enforcement, but the public registry provides too much of a barrier to reintegration to make it worth it. No other category of crime carries a public-shaming stigma or higher barriers to successful reintegration, even though sex offenders are at the second-lowest risk for reoffense, right behind murder. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recidivism#Recidivism_rates Many people are on there for things like public urination, or even, in one reported case, trying to chastise a girl for carelessly walking in front of his car. http://www.wnd.com/2005/07/31134/ I'll leave it to Cracked to go into deeper detail about how our current system of sex offender laws doesn't work, as well as how the media and politicians fan the flames for ratings and votes.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18600_6-laws-that-were-great-paper-and-insane-everywhere-else.html
http://www.cracked.com/article_17216_the-5-most-popular-safety-laws-that-dont-work_p2.html

So what do you all think?

Edit: Clarified one of my sentences and fix a link.

[Ironchew]

Is Pedophilia A Sexual Orientation

Yes, it's specifically the sexual attraction to prepubescent kids, and there aren't many pedophiles out there as a percentage of the population. Child molestation is the act of sexually assaulting a child and too many people confuse the two terms when they get emotionally agitated (not all pedophiles molest children, and most child molesters are not pedophiles; there are too many cases of child molestation and not enough pedophiles to even come close to asserting anything else.)

I think society, at least here in the U.S., gets too easily agitated by the specter of deviant sexual orientations. Paint child molestation as a problem with deranged deviants and people get their baseball bats out (not very different from the pervasive "homosexuals molesting your little boys" scare that only ended a couple decades ago.) It's a great excuse to create a huge umbrella term like "sex offender" and enact more and more draconian punishments because society will never stop being scared of a boogeyman.

Perhaps even more hypocritically, though, the mass media and public don't care that much about child abuse when it's couched in non-sexual terms. Domestic violence is abhorrent, but way too many people do it and it does not agitate society the same way sexual deviancy does.

So yeah, pedophiles get lumped in the same ever-harsher-punishments bin as hackers and terrorists. Expect emotions to run high when talking with random people about it.

[Cerim Treascair]

Speaking as someone that was once on the registry... yeah, it needs to go.  Try not being hired for FOUR YEARS for a job because that came up.  Did I mention that I was under 18 at the time as well?

[The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist]

not all pedophiles molest children

While I agree that the assumption that all pedophiles are child molesters is false and counterproductive, I'm going to need to a citation for the following:

and most child molesters are not pedophiles; there are too many cases of child molestation and not enough pedophiles to even come close to asserting anything else.

That's a rather bold claim, given that it's next to impossible to determine just how many pedophiles are out there thanks to the aforementioned stigma making honest research incredibly difficult, not to mention most convicted child molesters not being particularly forthcoming about what drove them to abuse children. I can buy that a decent portion of the individuals producing child porn* are merely psychopaths and not actual pedophiles, but I'm not quite seeing how you arrived at the conclusion that most child molesters in general aren't pedophiles.

* To clarify (lest we have a repeat of past debates), "child porn" here means adults producing sexual media of young children, not random teenagers taking naked selfies.

[Ironchew]

I'm not quite seeing how you arrived at the conclusion that most child molesters in general aren't pedophiles.

Same reason most rapists in prisons aren't actually homosexual: Rape is almost always about domination, not sexual attraction.

[Art Vandelay]

I would say it's more of a fetish than an entire sexual orientation (since "paedophile" is not mutually exclusive to stuff like "heterosexual", "bisexual" and what have you). But I do agree with your overall point. People get far too emotional when it comes to this sort of topic. I suppose it's understandable, but it still ends about as well as you'd expect whenever logic and reason are thrown out the window.

[The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist]

I'm not quite seeing how you arrived at the conclusion that most child molesters in general aren't pedophiles.

Same reason most rapists in prisons aren't actually homosexual: Rape is almost always about domination, not sexual attraction.

True, but again, the psychology of child molestation and pedophilia is too poorly understood to really draw any concrete conclusions. Of course, we could remedy that if we managed to get past the stigma associated with pedophiles so they'd actually be willing to come forward and consent to studies, thus allowing a comparison between their psychology versus the average child molester, but I doubt we'll see that happen any time soon.

[Sylvana]

I would say it's more of a fetish than an entire sexual orientation (since "paedophile" is not mutually exclusive to stuff like "heterosexual", "bisexual" and what have you).

Psychologically, it is mutually exclusive. Pedophiles do not have an adult sexuality. They do not fit into the bracket for heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual. Of the Pedophiles that do molest children, the majority of victims are young boys, not because the pedophile is attracted to boys specifically, but because they are easier, less protected targets.

Further, unlike a fetish, there is no normal adult attraction. While someone with a fetish may prefer some kink sexually, they are still aroused and attracted to a degree to other adults in what we would consider a normal fashion. Pedophiles dont have that at all. The attraction towards pre-pubecent children is complete.

That's a rather bold claim, given that it's next to impossible to determine just how many pedophiles are out there thanks to the aforementioned stigma making honest research incredibly difficult, not to mention most convicted child molesters not being particularly forthcoming about what drove them to abuse children.

Given we only have the psychological interviews with prisoners to go on, we have seen time and again that very few of the child molestation prisoners are actually attracted to their targets. For them the molestation is more of a power thing often times stemming from abuse as a child themselves. It fits the common psychological profile of abuse cycles. The pedophiles are more likely to actually be consumers of child pornography because they are actually attracted to the child as apposed to the child being a target to vent repressed emotions. They will generally not have a noticeable history of abuse.

[Art Vandelay]

Psychologically, it is mutually exclusive. Pedophiles do not have an adult sexuality. They do not fit into the bracket for heterosexual, bisexual or homosexual.

My understanding is that pedophilia is simply any attraction to children. I've never heard of a definition that excludes other sexual attractions. If this is the case, what would be the word for someone who's attracted to kids as well as adults? What about paedos who're only attracted to girls, boys or both, if heterosexual, homosexual and bisexual do not apply?

Of the Pedophiles that do molest children, the majority of victims are young boys, not because the pedophile is attracted to boys specifically, but because they are easier, less protected targets.

I think you covered that in your response to Mlle Antechrist.

[mellenORL]

Reading the linked article to the end, it was interesting to note that the study group of identified pedophiles (by orientation versus dominance rapists), the high statistical commonality of likely genetic trait symptoms; brain structure differences in re less white matter, somewhat lower average IQ's versus the general population (10 points), some commonality as to height and build, statistical evidence of lack of physical coordination and above average number of head injuries from that (allegedly) in their childhoods. That these brain traits also point to a miss-wiring of the parental protective response instead to the sexual arousal  response explains a lot.

I'm one of those people who get easily freaked out and angry about child sexual abuse, having had a couple of close calls in my own childhood.  Another reason is that until now, I had no "explanation", other than human depravity, for the existence of child molesters. Concurrently, I also intensely dislike the way the sexual offender data base is misused. It should only be in effect for convicted rapists, where clear non consent of the victim is present, not a perpetuation of statutory "rape" laws, where minors are the inviolable possessions of their parents as to their virginity or chastity, with no say in whom they willingly hook up with.

[booley]

I would say it's more of a fetish than an entire sexual orientation (since "paedophile" is not mutually exclusive to stuff like "heterosexual", "bisexual" and what have you).

Paedophiles (actual ones, not just someone who has sex someone under the age of consent) find the lack of secondary sexual characteristics sexually attractive.

Also, those that do molest children seem to choose their targets based on opportunity.

So gender is not so important.

Yes I think it's an orientation. Too bad though when this is brought up it's been used by bigots to then attack other "orientations" (i.e. -gay and bi) as if people lack the ability to make an kind of moral discernment.

I will even agree we as a society over react and that actually makes the problem worse.

As bad as peadophilia is, I don't think it's more harmful then drug addiction (want to really see someone who it otherwise a good person do some evil stuff because of uncontrollable urges, live with a  drug addict).. and yet we understand that drug addicts NEED to be part of society if we want them to stop being a problem.