I have many biological urges, but I don’t act on them in polite society. I may want a million dollars, too, but I don’t steal to get it.
So what do you think leads pedophiles to go after children?
Flowers are a bit too obvious . . . Maybe you could drop by and ask to borrow a cup of sugar or something.
I don’t know. I don’t think there is a widely held scientific cause either. My point is, in the absence of scientific evidence, it is highly speculative to simply attribute it to “biological urges”.
I don’t have any dog in this fight, and I am by no means a psychologist or whoever the heck would be the authority on this subject, but it was my understanding that a lot of pedophiles and sexual abusers do so for power and/or the sexual gratification. Choosing young victims, particularly young family members as is often the case, would give one easy access to a victim and someone who may or may not even realize that what’s going on is wrong. No cites or anything, but I thought I would share.
Aren’t all urges biological? All the advertising and hype surrounding a new movie falls as if on a rock until biology turns it into a feeling of desire to see the movie.
Well, here’s what you can do about it: Make sure that this individual is never around your children unsupervised, and around children as little as possible. Talk to your children about him, and remind them that they need to tell you if any adult does anything that makes them feel uncomfortable. Let them know who he is, to the extent they can handle the information, and tell them that if he approaches them, they should tell an adult they trust, immediately.
I’m not sure how a neighbor that you don’t know would get an opportunity to be alone with your children, but he should not be allowed to be in any situation where that might happen. No scouting, or little league coaching, or youth ministry work for him. If your kids generally tramp through other people’s lawns, or hang around on the sidewalk, they should know that his house is off limits for that.
All decisions ultimately involve a biochemical process, I suppose. (Is that what you mean?) But a biological urge is a little more, well, urgent. Wanting to see a movie, or rob a bank, doesn’t rise to the level of a biological urge like hunger or thirst or the sex drive.
Maybe. I’m not convinced all those kinds of emotions are as separate as that. I suspect we too often overestimate our rationality. That part is a relative newcomer to our brains.