Your friend tells you they're a paedophile

[ReptilianPeon]

Actually, after re-examining the story from Germany where they had a campaign called "Do you love children more than you would like?" I have a bit more sympathy. The scientists involved in the story say many patients are shocked when they are told they "cannot be cured". The therapy can only teach them to control themselves.

From the article in Spiegel Online:

Three words imprinted themselves on his mind: "No possible cure."

"Many of the participants are shocked when we tell them this," Ahlers point out. Most of his patients react bitterly when he provides them with the relevant background information on how human sexuality develops, telling them that a person's sexual inclination is fixed for good after puberty, without any possibility of future change, and that no one has the option of choosing their sexual desires -- by deciding, for example, whether they want to be heterosexual or homosexual. He tells them there's no choice.

...

"It's a nightmare for all of them," says Christoph Joseph Ahlers, the psychologist who is coordinating the project in addition to running two of the therapy groups. The sexologist is a tall, reserved and yet friendly man. He knows from countless conversations that pedophile men want nothing more than to hide their urge from the world and from themselves. But he also knows that if those men don't acknowledge who they are, no progress can be made: "If I accept something as a part of me, I can control it in a reliable way," Ahlers says.

Now that I've quoted that, I would like to apologize for any harsh sounding words I typed previously. I have my own struggles and I'd hate to be locked up for those. The Nazis locked up people for all sorts of reasons, including benign disabilities if I remember rightly.

There are worse things that pedophilia I think. Such as necrophilia. It wasn't that long ago that we treated homosexual as criminals. The case of Alan Turning comes to mind. He shortened World War Two by up to a couple of years at least I think, with his amazing computer, yet he was deemed a criminal.

I don't think anybody is saying we should live in a society where having sex with children is acceptable, even the majority of pedophiles themselves by the sounds of the article. If they want that they can fly on over to Afghanistan or the Yemen. Bacha bazi one of Afghanistan's strange practices, along with Buzkashi.


With that said, the questions:

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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 (because given the parameters in the premise they are not technically a criminal)

2) Will you still be their friend?

a) No, cut all contact
b) Yes, but distance yourself
c) Yes (given the parameters laid out in the premise of being a good friend, sincere and not acting upon their desires)

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 (I don't understand what "keep it vague" means)
c) Yes, let them say whatever they need to

Number four is tough question. I need to go away and think about it but tentatively put C. The moment I find out they act upon the desires I would probably cut contact. Thankfully most people never get to that stage.

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