Pedophilia

[Rev. Rye]

I'm not sure if this is what Not Important is saying, but here's what I think: pedophilia, the way I see it, is a mental illness. Engaging in sexual activities with children is an unambiguously bad thing. However, some pedophiles do not offend. What proportion of the population of pedophiles actually act on those urges? I have no fucking idea, because there's actually been shockingly little research into these non-offending pedophiles. Why? Because, well, there's a stigma on pedophilia (one that, I must keep stressing, makes perfect sense) that even spills over with those who have those feelings and are struggling with the blatant immorality of their desires. Here's a researcher into the subject talking about the misconceptions behind pedophilia, and why it actually makes the struggle to fix it a hell of a lot more difficult than it needs to be.

And Act 2 of this episode of "This American Life" has the testimony of one of those people and he sounds like a kid himself.

Make no mistake, seeing stories like this remind me of this scene from Zootopia



I've said before that when I see this scene, and I see a depressingly long section of my life reflected in it. And, among many, MANY, others, from minority children in shitty situations to women who've been caught doing shit their society doesn't think women should do, I also see Adam. And the prospect of people like him being told there's no point in trying to fix his warped desires utterly disgusts me.

Acceptance of pedophiles must not be confused with acceptance of child molestation. Indeed, said acceptance must hinge on the pedophiles in question desiring to fix their illness. If we can't be bothered to help them keep those desires in check without harming an innocent person, the only thing that's going to happen is more kids getting victimised. Maybe it might all end up with nothing, but if there's still a potential chance that things can be made right, we have to try, at least as long as we care.

It's good to seek help, but, well, the desire is so stigmatised that it can be astonishingly difficult to get up the courage to get help, and it looks like our understanding of how to help with it is still in its infancy.