# Percentage of gay pedophiles vs. hetro pedophiles **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 15, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259 "2010-04-15T21:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/21 "2010-04-17T00:53:23Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Can I get a cite? I’d really like to rub this in the face of people who don’t want gay teachers on the grounds that their boys will get diddled. Yes, I’ve learned in this thread that men who diddle boys are rarely attracted to adult men and so wouldn’t identify as gay to begin with, but this seems like much more powerful evidence. Here is a cite for you… [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dancingboys/?utm\_campaign=DancingBoys&utm\_medium=GoogleAds&utm\_source=News](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dancingboys/?utm_campaign=DancingBoys&utm_medium=GoogleAds&utm_source=News) ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/22 "2010-04-17T01:08:17Z")
> [@Perciful](#): > > Here is a cite for you… > > [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dancingboys/?utm\_campaign=DancingBoys&utm\_medium=GoogleAds&utm\_source=News](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dancingboys/?utm_campaign=DancingBoys&utm_medium=GoogleAds&utm_source=News) I’m not sure you linked the correct cite. It contains no statistics. This cite [Sexual Abuse | Crimes against Children Research Center](http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/sexual-abuse/) has links to various information on child abuse. It led me to this [fact sheet](http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/factsheet/pdf/childhoodSexualAbuseFactSheet.pdf) > [@](#): > > Finally, a meta-analysis of 22 American-based studies, those done with national samples as well as local or regional representative samples, suggested that 30-40% of girls and 13% of boys experience sexual abuse during childhood[12]. An international meta-analysis of 169 studies found that lifetime prevalence rates of sexual abuse for females is 25% and for males is > 8%. This same study found that rates for North America range from 15-22%[13]. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/23 "2010-04-17T01:13:02Z")
Sorry, Here is the correct link. [http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-632111.pdf](http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/amp-632111.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/24 "2010-04-17T04:06:21Z")
I have known literally thousands of gay men over the years (decades), and there’s a sort of commonality that virtually all of us share . . . it’s a part of what is known as “gaydar,” but it goes beyond that. It’s something we subconsciously sense in each other’s presence. Many years ago I was briefly in contact with a group of men from NAMBLA . . . self-professed pedophiles. Not one of them struck me as being gay at all. They seemed like rather eccentric straight guys. And I remember the question asked, whether any of them were also attracted to adult men. None of them were, which didn’t surprise me. Because of this experience, and other reasons, I cannot think of pedophiles as either heterosexual or homosexual. They’re just pedophiles. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/25 "2010-04-17T04:13:23Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Many years ago I was briefly in contact with a group of men from NAMBLA . . . self-professed pedophiles. Not one of them struck me as being gay at all. They seemed like rather eccentric straight guys. And I remember the question asked, whether any of them were also attracted to adult men. None of them were, which didn’t surprise me. Because of this experience, and other reasons, I cannot think of pedophiles as either heterosexual or homosexual. They’re just pedophiles. Were they attracted to adult women? ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/26 "2010-04-17T04:20:47Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > IMany years ago I was briefly in contact with a group of men from NAMBLA . . . self-professed pedophiles. Not one of them struck me as being gay at all… ## You have shared this bit of your insight before. North American MAN-BOY LOVE Association. This is the name THEY chose for THEMSELVES . With a name such as that, what a shocking stretch of homophobic fear-mongering that NAMBLA is indeed a homosexual pedophile’s organization in the minds of 99%percent of the general public’s collective opinion. Your opinion as a gay man is not sacrosanct—NAMBLA is made up of self professed HOMOSEXUAL PEDOPHILES, even if that fact upsets you—PERIOD. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/27 "2010-04-17T04:34:26Z")
> [@MPB in Salt Lake](#): > > a man who sexually abuses only young boys is indeed (by definition) a homosexual pedophile Only if you’re defining “homosexual” rather loosely to mean “involving any form of sexual activity between members of the same sex”. More precisely, “homosexual” refers to an adult sexual orientation: homosexual attraction between adults, as other posters have pointed out, doesn’t correlate at all significantly with sexual attraction to children of one’s own sex. To take a more extreme example, would you say that a man who engages in sexual activity (bestiality) with only male animals is a homosexual zoophile? I’d say no, he’s just a zoophile (a male-male zoophile, if we want to be precise). Zoophilia and pedophilia are in some sense different categories of sexuality from ordinary adult sexual orientation. > [@boytyperanma](#): > > Terminology is important. Men who molest little girls would more appropriately be called male-female molesters. Homosexual heterosexual and bisexual are adult oriented sexualities. Right. If a heterosexual man sexually abuses a boy, it doesn’t make him homosexual or bisexual: it makes him a pedophile in addition to being heterosexual. Similarly, if a homosexual man sexually abuses a girl, it doesn’t make him heterosexual or bisexual, but rather a pedophile (in addition to being homosexual). ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/28 "2010-04-17T04:49:52Z")
Do homosexual men ever molest little girls? I’ve never heard of a situation where that’s been the case. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/29 "2010-04-17T05:05:11Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Do homosexual men ever molest little girls? I’ve never heard of a situation where that’s been the case. I know of at least one bisexual (and psychopathic) offender who considered himself predominantly homosexual while incarcerated who was a nonexclusive pedophile who molested both male and female children, and was attracted to adults as well. He was an extremely unusual guy in many, many ways, though. Psychopathy and pedophilia is a rare and dangerous double whammy. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/30 "2010-04-17T05:05:23Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Do homosexual men ever molest little girls? I don’t know. Since there’s a small but non-negligible minority of heterosexual men who molest little boys, it seems logical to me that there might also be some small minority of homosexual men who molest little girls. However, as [this analysis](http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/HTML/facts_molestation.html) points out, it’s hard to tell partly because studies of molestation often don’t identify the adult sexual orientation of molesters. A man who molests a boy is often automatically assumed to be homosexual, while a man who molests a girl is automatically assumed to be heterosexual, even though their adult sexual orientations might be the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/31 "2010-04-17T05:09:02Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > I know of at least one bisexual (and psychopathic) offender who considered himself predominantly homosexual while incarcerated who was a nonexclusive pedophile who molested both male and female children, and was attracted to adults as well. He was an extremely unusual guy in many, many ways, though. Psychopathy and pedophilia is a rare and dangerous double whammy. Yeah, but that means he was sexually interested in everything under the Sun. My question was specific. I wish some of the SDMB’s pedos would jump into this thread. I have questions, damn it! ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/32 "2010-04-17T05:11:33Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Yeah, but that means he was sexually interested in everything under the Sun. My question was specific. If it helps, his prison name is “Monica” and his eyebrows were plucked out and penciled back in. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/33 "2010-04-17T05:15:18Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > If it helps, his prison name is “Monica” and his eyebrows were plucked out and penciled back in. At least he’s likely enjoying himself. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/34 "2010-04-17T05:21:45Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > ## You have shared this bit of your insight before. > > North American MAN-BOY LOVE Association. This is the name THEY chose for THEMSELVES . > > With a name such as that, what a shocking stretch of homophobic fear-mongering that NAMBLA is indeed a homosexual pedophile’s organization in the minds of 99%percent of the general public’s collective opinion. > > Your opinion as a gay man is not sacrosanct—NAMBLA is made up of self professed HOMOSEXUAL PEDOPHILES, even if that fact upsets you—PERIOD. You seem to have an agenda. Do you think that if you call pedophiles homosexuals then you can justify discriminating against homosexuals that are not pedophiles? I have an idea, maybe you can get together with your neighbors and contribute money to influence an election in California. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/35 "2010-04-17T05:30:26Z")
There’s a part of my brain that tells me it makes sense to call members of NAMBLA gay. I mean, come on. They’re sexually attracted to males. Aren’t some homosexual males only attracted to feminine men? Why isn’t this just another qualifier? They’re attracted to males- prepubescent males. I’m really conflicted about how I should choose to label them. And no, I don’t have an agenda, as I think I proved in the thread about the gays being barred from prom. It just seems weird to not call it like it is. Almost like I feel we’re not calling men who diddle boys gay because we’re afraid that other people will make an unwarranted link between homosexuality and pedophilia. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/36 "2010-04-17T05:41:17Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Were they attracted to adult women? I remember that some of them were married; I don’t know how many. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/37 "2010-04-17T05:44:43Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I remember that some of them were married; I don’t know how many. While that’s a good point, keep in mind that there are lesbian women who married men because it’s what was expected of them. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/38 "2010-04-17T05:47:53Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > ## You have shared this bit of your insight before. > > North American MAN-BOY LOVE Association. This is the name THEY chose for THEMSELVES . > > With a name such as that, what a shocking stretch of homophobic fear-mongering that NAMBLA is indeed a homosexual pedophile’s organization in the minds of 99%percent of the general public’s collective opinion. > > Your opinion as a gay man is not sacrosanct—NAMBLA is made up of self professed HOMOSEXUAL PEDOPHILES, even if that fact upsets you—PERIOD. This isn’t the first time you’ve lashed out at me on this subject, and I have no intention of giving you a further opportunity to do so. You obviously have some personal issues here, and I’d rather not get involved. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/39 "2010-04-17T05:52:16Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > This isn’t the first time you’ve lashed out at me on this subject, and I have no intention of giving you a further opportunity to do so. You obviously have some personal issues here, and I’d rather not get involved. Sometimes people in cloistered communities where they are expected to marry young have little opportunity to explore their “interests”. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2010, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259/40 "2010-04-17T06:23:05Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > There’s a part of my brain that tells me it makes sense to call members of NAMBLA gay. I mean, come on. They’re sexually attracted to males. > > Aren’t some homosexual males only attracted to feminine men? Why isn’t this just another qualifier? They’re attracted to males- prepubescent males. > > I’m really conflicted about how I should choose to label them. That’s understandable: our society tends to assume that anything related to same-sex sexual activity automatically falls into the category “homosexual”. When we hear of a straight man raping a boy, we don’t think “oh, he’s a pedophile”, we think “oh, he’s a pedophile and he’s secretly homosexual”, or “bisexual”. Just like we tend to assume that pre-op MTF transsexuals are “really” homosexual men because they were born with boy bits, instead of being women with an anatomical mismatch between their brain structure and their genitals and hormones. We just automatically make the association that any erotic combination of the form Penis + Penis = Homosexuality, even if the underlying psychology and neurology is actually more complicated than that. We’re starting to get used to the idea that gender identity is biologically and psychologically more complicated than the simple fact of what organs you’re born with. Likewise, we’re starting to get used to the idea that sexual orientation is more complicated than the simple fact of what organs you like to put your organs next to. There do seem to be some important differences, on average, in the psychological functioning of normal homosexual men compared to men (homo or hetero) who are sexually attracted to boys. Sure, there’s a continuum in this as in pretty much every other manifestation of sexuality, so that there are some men attracted only to boys and some men attracted only to adult males and some men attracted to both. But in general, the gender of an abuse victim isn’t a totally reliable guide to the sexual orientation of the abuser. Which is why, if you’re looking for a label, “male-male pedophile” or “male-male sexual abuser” is technically more specific and accurate than “homosexual pedophile”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/percentage-of-gay-pedophiles-vs-hetro-pedophiles/536259.md?page=3)