What are pedophiles supposed to do?

[camille]

@TriPolar

That is exactly the kind of bullshit that they want people to believe.

It’s not bullshit. You think the researchers and doctors who have studied and treated this are lying to people too?

You’re not responding rationally.

[TriPolar]

@camille

It’s not bullshit. You think the researchers and doctors who have studied and treated this are lying to people too?

You’re not responding rationally.

You’ve told me the things that pedophile’s say. I’m sure the researchers reported that correctly. People who say those things have a dangerous mental illness. Claiming that they love children is no reason to ignore the fact that they actually love harming children. If they can’t understand that then it should be grounds for commitment.

[camille]

@TriPolar

You’ve told me the things that pedophile’s say. I’m sure the researchers reported that correctly. People who say those things have a dangerous mental illness. Claiming that they love children is no reason to ignore the fact that they actually love harming children. If they can’t understand that then it should be grounds for commitment.

No. I’m telling you things the research has shown. They are not basing it solely or even predominately on testimony from pedophiles.

[Broomstick]

@TriPolar

That is exactly the kind of bullshit that they want people to believe. If these people are not legally insane then they understand that despite their emotions that their desire is to harm others. I agree that if they came forward it would be easier to keep them away from children by incarceration. Put them in nice little mental hospitals or an island somewhere instead of prison if they’ve committed no crimes.

There’s no such thing as a “nice little mental hospital”.

What you’re talking about is imprisonment by another name, and it still sucks just as much. You’re talking about locking up people for life who have committed no crime - when you aren’t describing them killing themselves as a “noble sacrifice”.

Pedophilia is pretty close to the bottom of the barrel, but it’s not the only sort of evil thoughts you can have, as this thread demonstrates. Locking up people who have committed no crime and applauding suicide is pretty sick, too.

[Dangerosa]

@iiandyiiii

Is it really that hard for you to believe that there are people with fantasies of sex with children who nonetheless have no desire whatsoever to harm a child? That seems incredibly easy for me to imagine… I just think of all the people out there with rape fantasies who might act out their fantasies with consenting adults but have no wish to commit actual rape.

Hell, I have “not my husband” fantasies all the time, and have been faithfully and monogamously married for 20 years. Thoughts are not acts.

[Hershele_Ostropoler]

@Wesley_Clark

But evenso, still illegal to have CG CP right? Which is a shame because giving pedophiles access to CG child porn images may reduce the rates of actual sex crimes against children.

If that weren’t the case, at least in court, there would be a sudden glut of CG material, while the real thing all but disappeared. I’d be fine with CG as an affirmative defense, where the producer has to prove it’s simulated.

[JRDelirious]

@Hershele_Ostropoler

If that weren’t the case, at least in court, there would be a sudden glut of CG material, while the real thing all but disappeared. I’d be fine with CG as an affirmative defense, where the producer has to prove it’s simulated.

There is evan as it stands quite a bit of CG “lolicon” material out there in various *-chans and boards… and that’s on top of a kajillion DRAWN lolicon manga illustrations all over the web too.
But like I said at least to my eyes it’s not that hyperrealistic – what do I know, maybe it’s that the CG’s “uncanny valley” effect does not do the job for hardline CP addicts, or that the really far deep end hopeless cases get off on knowing it’s real…

[sprooglestrewft]

@TriPolar

Claiming that they love children is no reason to ignore the fact that they actually love harming children. If they can’t understand that then it should be grounds for commitment.

It is important to realize that pedophilia is a sexual desire and not a criminal mindset. It is not a desire to harm children, nor is it a desire to rape them. That is a fact.

Sure people misunderstand what it means to be a pedophile, but we shouldn’t encourage those misunderstandings anymore than we should encourage racial stereotyping. To do so is to send the message to those attracted to minors that it is simply in their nature to rape children: that acting out their desires is simply part of their sexuality as opposed to the truly selfish decision that it is.

The reason I say this is because I am part of a discussion group that includes pedophiles seeking help, and yes, a few of them have offended in the past (the majority have not). One thing I see a lot is people who fell into the trap of simply believing that they were destined to act on their desires. The truth is that they were not. They felt less responsible for their actions at the time they were committed because of this conflation of pedophilia with child molestation.

[Trinopus]

@sprooglestrewft

It is important to realize that pedophilia is a sexual desire and not a criminal mindset. It is not a desire to harm children, nor is it a desire to rape them. That is a fact. . . .

It’s a fantasy, and isn’t based on real child psychology. It’s a fixation, a kind of obsession, but it veers from reality.

In contrast (I know I’m not supposed to say this in the same post, but I’m focusing on the difference) gays have real relationships with each other, based on actual and mutual understanding. Two men or two women can have exactly the same kind of intelligent and interest-respecting relationship that a man and a woman can.

But children can’t enter into the relationship in the same way, so the pedophile fantasy is based upon a projection, not upon reality.

(The same is true of many rapists’ fantasies about how the act should play out. A common “rape fantasy” is “…And then she’ll love me.” Doesn’t work that way.)

[sprooglestrewft]

@Trinopus

It’s a fantasy, and isn’t based on real child psychology. It’s a fixation, a kind of obsession, but it veers from reality.

In contrast (I know I’m not supposed to say this in the same post, but I’m focusing on the difference) gays have real relationships with each other, based on actual and mutual understanding. Two men or two women can have exactly the same kind of intelligent and interest-respecting relationship that a man and a woman can.

But children can’t enter into the relationship in the same way, so the pedophile fantasy is based upon a projection, not upon reality.

(The same is true of many rapists’ fantasies about how the act should play out. A common “rape fantasy” is “…And then she’ll love me.” Doesn’t work that way.)

You have a point. Though many pedophiles do believe that children are capable of understanding sexual relationships and reciprocating romantic interest, at least enough to satisfy the pedophile.

What you described is basically my own experience of pedophilia. Even ignoring potential harm to the child, it’s unlikely that a child would be capable of seducing anyone or having an intelligent conversation with the skill that an adult could.

[camille]

@sprooglestrewft

Though many pedophiles do believe that children are capable of understanding sexual relationships and reciprocating romantic interest, at least enough to satisfy the pedophile.

Based on the research I’ve read, pedophiles believe this because their emotional growth is delayed or stunted; so on that level - emotionally - they really are relating to a “peer”. The difference, of course, is that the pedophile is physically sexually mature, and the child they relate to is not. That’s the disconnect.