Your friend tells you they're a paedophile

[account_inactive]

Yeah, seriously.  Discussing something doesn't mean you endorse it.  Who thinks that?

We'd be discussing why and whether we should prohibit kids from engaging in sexual activities whether between themselves or with adults. I do think this subject is taboo here, if I'm not mistaken, is it not? Or am I thinking about TTA?

Pornography / Pedophilia / Nudity

Pornographic content, pedophilic content, and nudity is not allowed. We consider pornographic content to be an explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity. We consider nudity to be the display of uncovered sexual organs, buttocks, and female breasts. This includes images, videos, and any other medium, as well as hyperlinks which link users to external content. Discussion of pornography / nudity is allowed, provided it is not explicitly sexual in nature (e.g. sex stories). The staff will make the final decision on whether content is pornographic or not, and will take into consideration whether the content is more artistic than pornographic (e.g. depictions of Venus de Milo or Michelangelo's David are not in violation of this rule).

We consider pedophilic content to be any content which contains sexual undertones relating to children. This includes images of naked or semi-naked children, images of child models in "provocative" poses, underaged themed sexual jokes or memes (e.g. pedobear), stories which describe pedophilia as a fantasy, or other content which is deemed by the staff to be pedophilic in nature. Discussion of pedophilia is allowed provided it does not include any of the aforementioned.

[Excited Penguin]

We'd be discussing why and whether we should prohibit kids from engaging in sexual activities whether between themselves or with adults. I do think this subject is taboo here, if I'm not mistaken, is it not? Or am I thinking about TTA?

Pornography / Pedophilia / Nudity

Pornographic content, pedophilic content, and nudity is not allowed. We consider pornographic content to be an explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity. We consider nudity to be the display of uncovered sexual organs, buttocks, and female breasts. This includes images, videos, and any other medium, as well as hyperlinks which link users to external content. Discussion of pornography / nudity is allowed, provided it is not explicitly sexual in nature (e.g. sex stories). The staff will make the final decision on whether content is pornographic or not, and will take into consideration whether the content is more artistic than pornographic (e.g. depictions of Venus de Milo or Michelangelo's David are not in violation of this rule).

We consider pedophilic content to be any content which contains sexual undertones relating to children. This includes images of naked or semi-naked children, images of child models in "provocative" poses, underaged themed sexual jokes or memes (e.g. pedobear), stories which describe pedophilia as a fantasy, or other content which is deemed by the staff to be pedophilic in nature. Discussion of pedophilia is allowed provided it does not include any of the aforementioned.

Thanks, but no thanks. 

Atheist Forums (hereafter also referred to as "the website", "the site", "the forums", "atheistforums.org") reserves the right to enforce the following rules on its membership according to staff interpretation. This disclaimer is put in place to allow the spirit of the rules to trump any literal interpretation of the rules. The wording of these rules is chosen to decrease the number of misinterpretations, however they do arise and the final determination on how to interpret these rules is left to the staff. Nonetheless, discussion of potential changes to these rules is always welcomed and encouraged. 

Let others lead by example on this. I'm fine not discussing the subject until I die, anyway, lol. I'm not a kid anymore, what do I care.

[FatAndFaithless]

K, whatever. You seem to be ignoring that last sentence of the rule you linked, but hey, if you don't want to have the discussion nobody can force you to.

[brewer]

OP, unless they are exceptional at concealment I doubt I would have ever considered them a friend, maybe an acquaintance. I don't think I'd extend any loyalty to an acquaintance. If they were adept at concealment, then they were not worthy of my considering them friend to begin with.

[mlmooney89]

This is a very disturbing situation that I hope I never have to deal with. Being attracted to kids isn't like being gay.
Oh but you can't help who you are attracted to whether it be children or the same gender.

BULL SHIT. One is attracted to another adult that is also mature enough for relationships regardless of gender.
Another sexualizes innocent children who don't even know what sex is. That person is severely fucked up in the head. They have their mental wires crossed and I really don't think they can be helped even by a therapist. I don't care if the person is otherwise a good person. This isn't like staying in the closet and finally coming out to a friend is a relief this is really more of you shut your damn mouth, stay away from children, and work on avoiding anything that provokes your urges.

[Kingpin]

Let's pretend you have a friend, and you're a parent. You've known this friend a long time. You trust them, and you believe they are a good person.

One day they confide in you that they are a paedophile. They have sexual urges towards young children. They say they haven't ever acted on them, nor do they intend to, and you believe they are sincere. They just want your understanding and support, and they ask that you keep this confidential.

How do you react? For example:

1) Do you keep it confidential?

a) No, tell as many people as possible
b) No, tell a select few
c) No, tell a select few but ask them to be sympathetic
d) Yes

2) Will you still be their friend?

a) No, cut all contact
b) Yes, but distance yourself
c) Yes

3) If yes to the above, will it change the contact you allow with your children?

a) Yes, cut all contact
b) Yes, only supervised contact
c) No

4) Will you support them?

a) No, don't want to hear anything about it
b) Yes, as long as they keep it vague
c) Yes, let them say whatever they need to

My responses in bold.

[account_inactive]

Thanks, but no thanks. 

---

Atheist Forums (hereafter also referred to as "the website", "the site", "the forums", "atheistforums.org") reserves the right to enforce the following rules on its membership according to staff interpretation. This disclaimer is put in place to allow the spirit of the rules to trump any literal interpretation of the rules. The wording of these rules is chosen to decrease the number of misinterpretations, however they do arise and the final determination on how to interpret these rules is left to the staff. Nonetheless, discussion of potential changes to these rules is always welcomed and encouraged. 

---

Let others lead by example on this. I'm fine not discussing the subject until I die, anyway, lol. I'm not a kid anymore, what do I care.

Thank you EP but I understand the rules perfectly fine. Staff haven't said that there is anything wrong with the thread so we're allowed to discuss it. If you don't want to that's okay. Nobody is forcing you to participate.

[Napoléon]

This is messed up, Rob...
Where does this idea come from?

...

I got the idea from the other thread about this subject. I'm trying to explore people's feelings about this, to get them thinking about paedophiles as people.

*Edited out bits I'm not referring to

This is one of the major problems I find when people talk about paedophilia IMO. It's like a knee jerk reaction is to deem all discussion about it 'messed up'. It's so uncomfortable for people to think about.

We're not talking about molesting our own kids here. I think it's a very valid question and the answers say a lot on how society views and deals with this problem. 

I strongly believe that paedophiles don't choose to be paedophiles, controversial as that may be. I don't think that simply being a paedophile == being a child molesting rapist either.

Paedophiles are people. Same as gay/straight people are people. Same as BDSM lovers are people. Same as Donald Trump supporters are people. Murderers and rapists are people too, and how we deal with people is always dependent on context and their behaviour. 

Treating paedophiles as sub-human purely because of the fact they are a paedophile, is literally thought policing and does fuck all to solve the problem of kids getting raped. 

I don't know what kind of forums there are or if paedophiles can even get help, but if a friend came to me and admitted something like this, I wouldn't consider myself a very good friend if I immediately demonized a person who I had otherwise considered good enough to be my friend in the first place. 

Obviously, if they turned around and said "oh hey I've fucked 12 kids", then I'd be straight onto the police. But I don't think that's the scenario the OP intends to discuss, correct me if I'm wrong.

[Losty]

Yeah, seriously.  Discussing something doesn't mean you endorse it.  Who thinks that?

We'd be discussing why and whether we should prohibit kids from engaging in sexual activities whether between themselves or with adults. I do think this subject is taboo here, if I'm not mistaken, is it not? Or am I thinking about TTA?

You're thinking about TTA. It's against the rules to discuss pedophilia there

[Losty]

This is messed up, Rob...
Where does this idea come from?

As for the challenge itself... I don't know how I'd react... most likely, I'd distance myself from that person and encourage anyone I know who may have contact with him/her to follow my lead.
At the time of that friend's confiding, I'd probably advise seeking professional help to tame such desires, as they are one big ticket to jail. And then... bye bye!

And this is the reason that people don't seek help