I’m not even sure that peadophilia is a mental illness, if this definition is valid:
They seem to be managing just fine, albeit with the occasional “outing” that comes to us usually through a police bust or a murder case.
However, it could very well be some kind of obsessional behaviour or fixation upon childhood, although i’ll have to read up on it 
It sounds to me like a case of breaking up with your past life, cutting the ties. Sort of like how some people need to move out of the cities they live in if something traumatic happens to them while they live there.
I find the whole “molestation can turn someone gay” argument repulsive on its face. Those who argue it usually seem to have very little ability to empathize with another, and to be seeking reasons to explain away phenomena rather than accepting them as real and existent, to be dealt with.
However, there was one thoughtful post I read on this topic, on another board, which does seem to have some validity behind it.
In point of fact, the proportion of gay men who have been molested to the whole population of gay men seems disproportionately large compared to the population of all men who have been molested as measured against all men. I.e., and pulling these figures from the thin air simply to serve as examples, because I don’t have accurate figures at hand, say that 28% of gay men were molested as children, compared to 6% of all men. Clearly there is a statistically significant point here, though precisely what it is, remains to be explored.
Now, take another set of pulled-from-the-air figures. We know that a fair proportion of those who self-identify as straight have the potential to respond sexually to another man, regardless of whether they act on it. Let’s say that 60% of men are completely uninterested in gay sex, and 10% identify as gay. This leaves 30% who are straight and happy being so, but who could under certain specific circumstances respond sexually to another man. (A small proportion of this group have accepted themselves as bisexual; most are straight by self-identification and keep their odd reaction to themselves, or in a few cases refuse to admit it.)
What this poster suggested is that most molestation is difficult for the molested person to deal with for two completely disparate reasons: first, he (rightly) sees the molestation as an invasion of his personal privacy and dignity, an intolerable assault on his inner self. But second, virtually any non-forced sexual contact results in a feeling of pleasure and sexual gratification. And trying to juxtapose the two in one’s mind is difficult.
The conclusion he drew is that, for those people who would have suppressed any same-sex impulses and gone on to consider themselves straight, the admittedly traumatic effect of the molestation on the boy was to open his eyes to the fact that he could respond sexually to another male, receive pleasure and gratification from such a relationship – and therefore make him more open to the idea of doing so on a plane of a mutually desired adult consensual relationship.
In short, then, the reason for the higher proportion of persons who were molested as children among gay and bi males is not because it “turned them gay” but because, traumatic as it was, it opened their eyes to the fact of their own ability to respond sexually in a same-sex situation.
Of course, I do not have numbers to back this up. But the logic underlying it does make some sense to me – and it does not insult anyone by attributing a bizarre cause to their sexuality. It simply says that something worthwhile, in self-awareness and self-acceptance, can come out of even something as horrendous as child molestation.
Homosexuality As A Mental Illness
Nobody in this thread has said that. But, that’s generally the reasoning behind these arguments. IIRC Harvest USA claims that lack of a father cause homosexuality. They also claim that having discovered the cause they have a cure. I don’t think MacabreSoul is claiming homosexuality is a mental illness. I do think his friend was.
Pedophilia
Even if the pedophiles desires don’t cause them distress, they do cause distress for their victims.
Polycarp, i have to say that the idea presented there from another board sounds a bit like some hard core pro gay justification, or possibly even a line from the NAMBLA;
Its not that being molested makes you gay, its just that once these young men saw that it was good, they kept on with it.*"
Once bitten, forever smitten?
I have to say that i’m less convinced by that, than by the suggestion favoured by psychotherapy, although it is an ingenious one.
*i am aware of the rather simplistic representation 
Not to mention, it’s hard to connect molests or rapes with love. They are not love acts, they are violence sprung from either an urge to dominate, or an urge to release repressions.
Homosexuality isn’t all about sex, mind.
The theory that rape is violence and has nothing to do with sex seems to be falling out of favor, I think.
Rape is sexual abuse/violence. I find it hard to see it in any other way, feel free to enlighten me.
My vague point though, was that I dislike when people make a direct connection between anal sex and homosexuality. Of course, that people think that the abuse leading to homosexuality would be anal sex is only implied, but it was just a point I wanted to make.
Isn’t it “temporary genetic urge to reproduce” these days
Reproducing with another man? It seems I have some interesting biological discoveries to catch up with.
I’ll let Polycarp speak for himself, but I’m pretty sure that’s not what he is saying. Since I said something similar I’ll couch it in my terms: Many men are polymorphously sexual but are enculturated to be straight. It doesn’t mean that they are closet homosexuals, it means that they were sexually malleable, like a 3 or 4 on the Kinsey scale, and have “developed” along the straight path. You could probably have raised some of these children to be exclusively gay though more likely they would be bisexual. Poly isn’t saying that once you’ve got a taste of dick you never want to go back, he’s merely saying that many people never have the chance to taste dick for themselves and are merely told it tastes bad, while those who have been molested at least get to taste it for themselves. Yea, sick, I know.
:eek:
Be careful how you define “sexual assault”. In many states, an 18-year-old boy who has sexual intercourse with his 16-year-old girlfriend has “sexually assaulted” her. A 10-year-old boy who plays with the genitals of another 10-year-old boy has “sexually assaulted” him.
It’s a lot easier for two boys to engage in sexual activity together, given that boys spend a lot more time with other boys than with the opposite sex when they are young without raising anyone’s suspicions.
I didn’t say rape wasn’t sex abuse or violent. I was saying the theory that rape is violence and domination by the rapist and has nothing to do with sex may not hold water.