If pedophilia is not a choice,why can't they recognise how wrong it is?

They see society's disgust with this,they are not stupid,so they know it is wrong. Seek help.

they are hoping they will not get caught

right?

It think it is a sick compulsion, but how can you "choose" what attracts you?

n/t

The recidivism (repeat offending) for child molesters is incredibly high. It would stand to reason that, though not completely determined, there is some sort of undercutting of autonomy. If it is indeed the case that pedophiles (although this is probably a misnomer, as everyone who is a pedophile is not also a child molester) are not completely free to choose what turns them on, then it seems we are treating them a bit unfairly.

However, we can't exactly let molesters roam free and harm our children - it's a difficult proposition. A similar case is that of anti-social personality disorder. It's not as though such individuals chose to have a personality disorder, but yet their lack of concern for others and societal rules almost invariably means they will end up behind bars. Moreover, it is (like all other personality disorders) incredibly difficult to treat successfully. However, it's not as though we can allow such individuals to murder, rape and steal at will.

The actions of such individuals are despicable. Unfortunately, the notion of "justice" becomes incredibly hard to pin down effectively in cases like these.

Pedophilia is a disease. The homosexual community gets dragged into this.

are actually aware of their crime, and are indeed aware of the immorality of such acts. There are those who rationalize their acts (e.g. there are those who contend that children are sexual beings and any subsequent sexual expression or acts are natural), but I think the act of rationalization is an acknowledgment of the immorality of their actions - whether or not the individual openly admits the wrongness of his or her actions.

It's the same thing in cases of rape. The rapist often subscribes to rape myths (such as 'She was dressed promiscuously' or 'I bought her dinner, therefore I should get something in return'). These are patently false. The important point here, is that if no such rationalization were made, there would be no other option other than to admit and internalize that the act was immoral.

Had your basic fundie pointing out that is homosexuality is natural and occurs in XX% of the population, why shouldn't pedophiles be treated the same way. They are a percentage of the population and that their urges were as natural as the homosexuals. Quoted a bunch of NAMBLA stuff. His point was that legitimatizing homosexuality legitimatizes all things.

I left rather than risk jail for killing him.

It's called consenting adults. Children cannot give consent. Adult Homosexuals give their consent. If he cannot understand the difference, then he's lost.

It's a personality disorder... they are sociopaths, not mentally ill. They never will admit what they are doing is wrong, because they think what they are doing is right.

DOC sex offenders have the lowest rates of re-offending then any other crime. The latest statistics Show sex offenders stay out of prison by a rate of 89%. Those that do return to prison are either parole violations or other crimes. I suggest you look into state DOC to find out the truth instead of going to hype and fear sites. Your child is 98% more likely to be molested by a family member or a trusted family friend then they are by a sex offender released from prison. BTW, many states now have zero tolerance laws for re-offenders. If a person molests another child after being released from prison its an automatic 20 years and if its serious, like rape, then its life without parole.

I assume some people who find themselves attracted to children do seek help. Some give into their urges and commit criminal acts. A few apparently try to rationalize it as something that isn't bad (NAMBLA).

Some people don't care if something is wrong or criminal as long as they don't get caught.

Evidently the OP suspects there is a sampling of pedophiles here? :shrug:

And what is "OP?"

:hi:

They'd be afraid of getting in trouble if they have already acted on it. (The crime must be reported)
If they haven't acted on it yet they don't want to sound sick, don't want people to know, don't want to be accused of it.
Some don't want help, they want children.

The repuke offender list? Catholic priests? The movie Hard Candy? Why the declarative statement at the end? "Seek help." Who?

Impulses are often dark, and not a choice. Acting on them is a choice. I think people who aren't introspective, and refuse to deal with issues often shift blame (victim) or give in to temptation knowing what they're doing it wrong. I think many people rely on "god" to fix them, and don't seek the help they need. Then because they are a "godly" person they are trusted around children/temptation. Which is why you see so many pastors/priests/repuke politicians caught in these scandals.

Kind of a double whammy here, don't you think? Be abused as a child, and as soon as you are able to express sexuality as it was taught to you, than you become a pariah to society.

We live in a country that is way too hung up over sex. If we were a little more open, than people with sexual dysfunction might be less stigmatized about finding the roots of their own sexuality and finding ways to be express it in a way that society accepts.

Of course if the GOP has their way, society will accept one man - one woman married sex. Unless you are a gop congressman, in which case multiple partners is okay.

adults then stigmatized by having to register. How can these people get help when everywhere they turn doors are closed in their faces. If a person tries to get help before he acts out then he gets reported by the people he seeks help from to the police and they start a watch on him. Oh yeah thats right they don't deserve help they need to be imprisoned for life.

Pedophiles, child molesters, sex offenders.

Statistics for one group don't necessarily apply to the others.

Some child molesters are NOT sociopaths, and can be rehabbed through therapy.

For those of you with anthropological backgrounds you can easily verify that only of late have humans had average life spans greater than 34 years. Life thousands of years ago was extremely tough. Some illnesses were fatal that are inconveniences now. When your lifespan is 34 years, it is imperative that you have your children early in your life, just to fit in your alloted time on earth. I have seen skeletons of young ladies, (estimated age of 14), who have died at childbirth. ie: both skeletons in situ.

This leads to the unquestionable fact that it is a natural thing for our species to mate at an early age. It is imperative for succesful propogation.

Since the dawn of agriculture and a steadier, more reliable food supply, average lifespans have grown, and humans have evolved rules for coexistence. With the average lifespan rising it became possible to push back the earliest age of birthing. This change has been incorporated into our culture, because, it actually makes sense. More mature mothers stand a better chance of succesful reproduction. A byproduct of this lifespan growth is a partial list of taboo,s about sex with younger people. I say partial list because they are not accepted by everyone worldwide.

I only have 2 points.

1. Sex with young people is 100% wrong.
2. But, it ( IS ) part of our survival instincts.

It will take a long time to breed this instinct out of our species.

And then there's Jerry Lee Lewis' marriage to that 13-year-old. Legal in Louisiana at the time, but everyone else hated the very idea.

I think Alanis Morrisette wrote a song called Hands Clean about her own experience with sex as a 15-year-old with a much older man. Her take, more or less, was that she doesn't exactly regret the affair, but the man simply should have known better - sex between 15-year-olds has a much different dynamic than sex between a 15-year-old, who is still relatively new to the whole thing, and someone who is at least twice that teen's age.

eye about it until he went over to england and the English press picked up on it. It ruined his career over seas and in the north states, but he was still popular in the south.

both in third and first world nations....

They prefer prepubescent children of either gender, so there's no reproductive advantage in that whatsoever.

It's like admitting you are a cannibal, or that you have other "disgusting" propensities. You'd probably get more of these sorts of people looking for help, if a greater effort was made to make doing so confidential and unthreatening. As it is, one becomes immediately an object of disrespect, loses many of ones rights, and ones personal control of ones life is threatened. So it is little surprising that such people tend to stay in the closet, if they can.

we may actually be able to kill it at the root.

I suspect there's some impulse control issues (dopamine) along with some other PTSD=related factors. All we need is some good clinical research (like that'll ever get publicly funded).

doing is RIGHT. Just like a rapist, just like serial murderers.

They are compelled.

Lots of people get turned on by freaky things. Not everyone acts upon them. This applies to a lot of things, not just pedophilia.

It is recognized that most pedophiles were sexually abused as kids. Most kids who were sexually abused do not grow up to be pedophiles.
So, there is the question of why the ones who do grow up to become pedophiles do, and it is certainly worth looking into from a research and prevention perspective-maybe the kids who end up in trouble have other things affecting them, too.

Regardless of the cause, everyone is responsible for his or her behavior. There are some circumstances where killing or assualting someone is justifiable, but there is no justification for sexually assualting anyone.