They are too dangerous to be let loose in our society.

Put them somewhere, that has NO access to children.

if they are a danger to society they can be locked away, not in prison but in an asylum. Maybe Pedophilia is a mental disorder but they are dangerous to society and its people. Serial killers can show signs of evil as children, maybe they are born that way and can't help it but we still lock them away. The only reason it would matter is that if they are born that way perhaps there is a way to cure them or at least help them to ignore the voices in their heads.

It very well could be.

It's still wrong.

Not sure what the point is.

It keeps them off the street for a while but they are likely to go back to it again. Or live a miserable life without sex.

The point is we should allow these people to identify themselves so they can learn to repress/change/sublimate their desires while keeping an eye on them.

Pedophilia isn't about "love". It is about having power over a child, and abusing that child. Consenting adults do just that - they consent to a relationship and consent to sex because they want to do it.

Children aren't capable of consent, therefore it's rape. I don't care why they desire children, and I don't care how miserable they are because they can't just go around molesting children at will. Children cannot consent, and all they are doing is victimizing someone, not having a "relationship" of any sort. They are obsessed with an unhealthy idea.

If we have to lock them up somewhere, certainly we should be humane about it, but all the feelings of sympathy for their plight goes out of the window when they put their hands on a child and ruin that child's life.

is just holding a vial of nitro on a bumpy road.
now one could perhaps, remove that part of the brain that has become hardwired.
Or just lock them away.
If that is truly a mutant genetic trait or a random defect from birth, we need to remove it from society,
until that time until we might have the technology to fix it, which is not at this time.

That is exactly what a pedophile needs to do.
And if he can't do it by self control then jail or castration is fine with me. Sound harsh? It doesn't sound harsh if you know anyone who has had their life ruined by a pedophile.

Think about it. A person knows they are built wrong - feels it in their bones. And they know they will hurt children permanently if they act on it. Their options because they suffer from something beyond their control?

If ours were a humane society we would offer them treatment or make a place for them away from society that is not jail where they will be murdered.

We punish acts not thoughts.

But I think everyone agrees once they act then prison.

Never allowed access to children. I am pretty open about sex but this is the line in the sand thats also mined with covering fire.

There should be a different way to treat pedophiliacs if it is hard wired at birth.

But we may have to if we want to make progress in dealing w/ child sexual predators.

Right now - we're flailing.

Because of the riches and fame that comes with it?

Because they are evil?

Something is wrong with them. And we have to figure out what and what to do with them.

such as purity, cleanliness. For example, raping a child makes you cleaner, children are pure so you will be pure if you have sex with a child, sex with virgins cure your diseases, etc. I assume these are deep seated notions that are taught or are learned, often on a cultural basis.

I am no expert, but I am very doubtful that anyone is "born a pedophile".

Are people "born a rapist"? Because sexual contact and manipulation of children is rape. It's not a sexual orientation, it's obsessive, violent, unhealthy behavior.

traumatic events in early years. oh, say.... someone fuckin raping them when they are children.

The conclusion is that pedophiles are just born that way. Welcome to Crazy World, where all the science regarding child development, adaptation and survival is tossed aside to continue to protect the guilty.

interpretation.

ya....

Fucking wishful thinking. Secrecy should be the red flag here.

Shit like this should be an automatic pizza.

These people exist and we need to figure out what to do with them. Nothing justifies pedophilia nor crimes against children.

This is the message the sick fucks have been trying to put out to justify their actions and trying to pass off this crap here deserves a pizza.

Yes, it is utterly stupid, but some people may not be aware of the problem. Hard to believe, I know.

If one is born a sociopath, does that justify their actions. No. It gives a reason for their actions. They are still responsible for them.

No way around it, it makes not one bit of difference how many times they say it is wrong, they opened with justification.

Not only does it start with the pedophiles own justification but it then launches into masturbation material for them. It is seriously fucked up that people here are supporting this shit.

Supporting knowledge and a better understanding is commonplace.

I agree with you about the masturbatory part. Completely unnecessary.

Not one thing. Explanation is not justification and any historian worth a pinch of salt can tell you that. Does a considered explanation, based on documentable facts, of Hitler's actions and motivations serve to justify Hitler? Of course it doesn't. But it may make an understanding of the "whys" of a Hitler more clear and make it easier to spot another potential Hitler and prevent his rise to power.

We really know very little about the human brain and the genetic and environmental externalities that can make it go haywire. Best to inquire and learn. Psychologists study serial killers in order to learn more about their commonalities and to understand what makes them tick. Knowledge is always the way to understanding why people do what they do, even when their actions are monstrous.

The very title is the pedophiles own justification that has been used for years... Going to masturbation material for them next is also not needed for an explanation. They can say it is bad as many times as they like but leading with that shit makes it justification and not explanation.

What the hell? Justifying pedophilia?

Oh hell no. This is just wrong.

Or perhaps be offered lifetime commitment as an alternative to a prison where they may be assaulted or murdered. Despite their "orientation", adults are still responsible for their actions and must avoid sexual contact with minors. Those who cannot refrain from abusing children need to be locked up for life.

I do support the concept of walk-in treatment centers for those with this "orientation" who have not yet harmed anyone and wish to avoid harming anyone.

it.

Pedophilia isn't about love or relationships. Pedophilia is about control and abuse, just like rape is. A man with a burning desire to rape women isn't an "orientation."

Seriously, I bet you ask 100 real pedophiles if they could have an operation that will fix their sexual preference and make them only desire age appropriate partners, almost all would choose it. I don't mean snip their nads but changing something in their brain so they only desire men or women of their own age.

I read the article and no where in it does it say that sexual abuse of children is acceptable. I know there are some people and organizations who say this, but that's not what the article is about.

Instead, it argues that for a minority of people, sexual attraction to children is a part of who they are. The article argues that it's there from birth, but in my opinion, it doesn't matter if it's there from birth or develops through environment and experiences. However attractions - or, really, orientations - get there, once they're there, they're pretty much set.

I think a distinction has to be made between those who have the urges but choose not to act on them, and those who have the urges and do act on them. Being sexually attracted to children is abhorrent and absolutely wrong to most people, and with good reason. But the attraction itself is not a crime. The crime occurs when it is acted on.

So what do we do about people who have this attraction but don't act on it? How do we deal with those who do act on it, if rewiring that attraction is impossible? They are uncomfortable questions but important ones.

I think it should also be said that not all sexual abusers of children are pedophiles in the sense that for many (and perhaps most), sexual attraction to children isn't their driving motivation. Like any other rape, it is essentially a crime of power and dominance. I think in many (most?) cases of child sexual abuse, the perpetrator is looking for the easy victim, someone who can be easily controlled and intimidated so they won't tell. It's a crime of opportunity very often. People like that aren't the subject of the article.

we will then have to say that bestiality is like that, too. But honestly, anyone that wants a victim that they control and abuse, a victim that cannot consent, it's not a sexual orientation, it's an unhealthy, obsessive mindset.

Sorry, sexual orientation is where both parties get to consent. A one sided partnership where one side cannot consent is abuse, and abuse is unacceptable. Sure some people might get obsessed with going out and killing people, that doesn't mean that we as a society have to put up with them doing so, or even pity them. Your rights end when they trample on someone else's rights.

Again, I think you are mixing up orientation with action. Orientations don't hurt anyone. Actions can. In the case of sex with a child, they most certainly will.

I happen to know someone like this. He is sexually attracted to children. Actually, what he most wants is to actually be a child and have sex with another child, even though he knows it is impossible. He knows it is wrong to have any kind of sexual activity with a child. He does not want to act on it, because someone did it to him and he knows the damage it does. So he actively avoids being around children. He doesn't go to family gatherings if kids will be there. His primary sexual outlet is to go online in a virtual world and pretend to be a boy. It might creep you out, it might be disgusting to most people, but no one is being harmed.

What would you do with somone like that?

That this person that you know receives support and help to prevent him from escalating to action. And going online in a virtual world, pretending to be a boy ... uh, how do you know that he isn't talking to other children and fantasizing that he is having sex with them and making sexually explicit statements to those children?

I'm not saying that he does, but it is obsessive behavior, and without support and psychological help he could very easily move on to action, particularly if something traumatic happens in his life (death of a loved one, losing a job, etc.).

I'll be honest, I'm leery of this idea that it's "safe" in a virtual online world, and think he could easily get himself into trouble.

But I'm not sure what, realistically, he should do. Vows of celibacy don't exactly have a great track record. I think there's a tendency, when you try to suppress something, to have it become even more of a desire. He is in counseling, btw.

I would hope that whoever he is getting counseling from is very careful to make sure he doesn't escalate into action, but it is very difficult to monitor someone 24 hours a day.

I would definitely make sure that when he's "pretending to be a boy" that he's "pretending to be a boy" with other adults and not with children, because again, I think it could be very easy for him to stray into troubled territory.

I hope it works out for him, though. Hopefully, with counseling and maybe even medication he could live as close to a normal life as possible without bringing harm to a child.

I agree wholeheartedly that children cannot consent to sex, and that any attempt to initiate any sort of sexual act with a child is not sex - it's abuse and assault, and it's a crime. I don't think anyone here is disputing that. But that's not what the article is about.

And they should also have support from others with the same problem. My problem, however, is that a lot of these folks end up getting themselves in trouble one way or another. I'm sure it's an uphill struggle, but as human beings, many of us have uphill struggles that don't have such horrific consequences as the rape of a child.

Look at the child pornography industry. It's not a victimless crime if someone who is obsessed with molesting children looks at child porn, because if it weren't for demand, these poor children wouldn't have it happen to them.

I feel bad for them if it's true but kids should be able to grow up free from this kind of thing.

just as serial killers are.

however, I'm not going to read the article,

I don't believe that. With enough blows to the head from a tire tool or similar blunt object, I think we could treat most cases like this--one way or another. Personally, I don't have a problem with that.

. . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . .

Well, too bad for all of them, because they were all born into societies that, nominally at least, find such things reprehensible and are outlawed. No one has the right to hurt an unconsenting person.

Rape is not a relationship - it is abuse, and it is a violation.

Children cannot consent to sex. Therefore, all sex with children is not consensual. Laws against sex without consent do not discriminate in any way, except to protect children, who simply cannot consent to sex.

It's a completely different issue from sex between adults. Adults can consent, so we have nothing to object to.

And BIG glaring difference.

And they cannot be changed?

So? They are still causing harm and must be stopped and imprisoned.

Your rights end where another person's body begins.

that many pedophiles are able to exercise self control and never act on their sexual urges.

However, those who cannot or will not exercise that level of self control cannot be allowed to satisfy their desires with a child and must be isolated from having contact with children. I'm just not sure how you could do that legally and successfully.

Is very vigilant parents. As kids, my sister and I were not allowed to go anywhere that my parents hadn't met the other parents, and if there was a man alone around the house all of the time, we were not allowed to go there.

I know it's kind of harsh, but were I a parent, I wouldn't let my kids be around a male that "likes children a lot" without being supervised, and closely evaluating the situation to make sure nothing goes on. Churches seem to be a place where a lot of these guys tend to be, because many parents think that religious, pious folk don't do these sorts of things.

A friend and I had a like conversation some years ago. If these disorders (not just pedophiles, but serial killers, arsonists, etc) are indeed an actual illness due to one or another synapse short-circuiting, then our current responses to them may be viewed by an observer some three-hundred years in the future with much the same absurdity as we currently view the burning of witches at the stake three hundred years ago.

Not that I have any idea of whether it is in fact, an illness or merely just a convenient rationalization people make to excuse bad choices... or even if it is an illness, what should be done-- treatment and rehabilitation, prison, both? All questions far beyond my limited scope.

If they are born this way I am sorry for them, but they cause harm to others, terrible harm. If we are to have a conscious as a society we must protect people from harm at the hands of others.

Gay people do not cause harm simply by being gay so I can't see the parallel. Something which drives a person to harm others may be something they are born with, but it is a disorder because it is destructive to society and other human beings.

...due to the particular resonance of the one you used.

That does not make them any less guilty.

IMO after they serve their time they should be isolated in mental institutions for the rest of their lives.

Thanks Angry Amish.

I think it is important on a topic so subject to visceral reaction that we also think from a scientific/medical viewpoint. It does require the ability to set emotion aside but the reward is greater understanding that can lead to humane solutions for what is seems to be a defect in brain development.

Your article asked me to be a bit more Spock like in my analysis and thinking. Thank you.

I don't give a rip HOW you are hardwired--ACTING on it is a choice. I suppose it's possible to be hardwired to want to have sex with (insert anything you find revolting here) but allowing yourself to act on that desire is what elevates it to an issue. My sympathy for adults that choose to victimize children can be found someplace between shit and syphilis in the dictionary.



Laura

They just need to not have sex with children and if they do they should be prosecuted.

perpetrates sexual acts against other living creatures without their informed consent.

This is one reason for how and why pedophilia and bestiality differ from simply being by nature heterosexual or gay, and why the argument that ignorant idiots make comparing the morality/legality of bestiality/pedophilia to sexual activity between consenting adults is totally unreasonable, illogical, and moronic.

Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between persons of opposite sex or gender.

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender.

There are three main categories of sexual orientation, bisexuality, homosexuality, and heterosexuality, and some consider asexuality another main category. Scientific and medical understanding is that sexual orientation is not a choice, but rather a complex interplay of biological and environmental factors.

It's true that pedophiles may possibly be born that way. However....

If pedophilia is hardwired into the brains of pedophiles, it may also then possibly indicate relevance to male physiology, since it is estimated that the incidence of pedophilia is only 0.4% to 4% among females.

Personally, I strongly believe that repressive, puritanical religions, and the effects these religions have on societies, families, and parents, are the primary direct or indirect cause of most coercive paraphilias, but physiological factors surely cannot be ruled out.