Question:
How is pedophilia a mental disease that can be cured through therapy?
2015-11-21 01:41:27 UTC
If homosexuality is not a disease, how can pedophilia be? I give the example of homosexuality because it is completely normal. I think pedophiles are born pedophiles, as homosexuals are. I don't see the difference. I don't know much about it, but just looking at it that seems like a lot of government propaganda. "A breaking of the moral core.." Morality is human-made, so I don't see how pedophilia is a disease. Can someone explain this to me?
Six answers:
?
2015-11-21 11:45:00 UTC
As a pedophile myself, I can confirm that yes, we're born with the attraction same as anybody else. Unfortunately, our history is a bit more tarnished compared to gay rights in general. See, in the old days, two gay men just found each other and broke the rules, simple enough. End of story.



But for pedophiles, it's not that simple. For one thing, it's rare that some willing youth just randomly finds us and a relationship is allowed to develop naturally. For another, society instills (or used to, not so much these days but still) the idea that all children should obey all adults at all times, creating a power imbalance that's very unhealthy for a romantic relationship. A pedophile who really buys into that idea can be dangerous, because they see a child as subservient and therefore someone who should just indulge their sexual desires "because they say so". (Obviously, I'm not a supporter of that idea.)



A sexual drive is like a craving for food - the longer you go without eating, the hungrier you get. So with no outlet and a dominant mindset, a pedophile can literally become the equivalent of a guy trapped on a desert island for two weeks with no food and water. Teleport that guy into the center of a mall food court and he's going to grab the nearest hamburger, regardless of whether it belongs to someone else or if it's right to do so. By the same token, some pedophiles "snap" when a circumstance comes along that gives them access to a child, and the result is disastrous.



Good therapy is all about preventing those snaps, making sure the pedophile finds a healthy (and legal) outlet for his or her sexuality. They don't try to "cure" it - they know just as well as anyone that it can't be "cured", only suppressed.



So, y'know, with all the people who've been scarred and damaged over the years by pedophiles who either snapped or felt entitled, it's not a surprise that no one's leaping to legalize it. It also doesn't help that those who had positive sexual experiences with adults when they were children can never legally talk about it, because even 20 or 30 years later, their adult lover can be prosecuted for that relationship even over the objections of the child (or former child). That's the best first step, IMHO - change the law so that only the children themselves can press charges. You'd have a few children being unduly persuaded the "wrong" way out of fear on both sides (kids who don't press charges because of fear of the adult sleeping with them, and kids who do press charges because of fear of their parents or cops), but we'd start to hear the positive stories come out and I bet there are a TON of them. We'd also be able to have a much more open dialogue on the subject in general.
NO NAME MAN
2015-11-21 02:14:14 UTC
The big difference between Pedophilia and Homosexuality is that:



All sexual acts carried out in a Pedophillic manner involve un-consenting children who don't know the true nature of sex and are being violated in a horrific way. Most Sexual Acts (not including rape) carried out in a Homosexual manner are between two consenting adults who are both at the right ages and right mental state to be able to legally and morally say yes to sex.



But yes both Paedophilia and Homosexuality and Heterosexuality are all orientations that people are born and also shaped into through environmental consequences. I also heard that paedophilia may be treated through aversion therapy, which is an individual being exposed to images of children and also subjected to painful sensation, so hopefully after repeated sessions they become disgusted by children because they associate children with pain. While it is not a certain conclusion it can work with some individuals.
xxx000au
2015-11-21 02:57:33 UTC
You cant cure pedophilia. Ask any cop who deals with such people.



All you can do is seek a way to scare them so bad they dont re-offend.



I would agree with you in suggesting that pedophiles are born as they are. What you are ignoring is that the second person in my bed is legally of an age where they can make an informed decision to join me in bed, a decision that me buying them say a video game or a hamburger, those gifts wont sway them into doing what is not natural for them.



Where as a man who is into children, he seeks to invite children into his bed yet as you and I know, a child of say age 8 is simply not able to make an informed decision on this. Its this that is the problem for the law makers.
2015-11-21 06:23:10 UTC
Pretty simple.



Homosexuality is a sexual orientation, just like being heterosexual, bisexual or asexual.



Pedophilia is a mental illness. This individual preys on innocent children and must be stopped.

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?
2015-11-21 05:39:40 UTC
The difference is that gay adults are not harming anyone. The participate in consual sex with other adults. Pedophiles are harming everyone underage that they victimize and rape. The difference is consent and harm. That shold be quite obvious.
2015-11-21 01:54:09 UTC
If you're going to embrace one perversion, you might as well embrace them all.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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