# Who do so many men want to have sex with young boys? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 5, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371 "2006-04-05T03:54:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/21 "2006-04-05T10:00:10Z")
> [@suezeekay](#): > > And of course we all know about priests and probably believe that not all of the pedophiles were uncovered and there are probably many more who were never caught. Yes, I do know about priests, although I admit I know more about the Episcopal variety than the Catholic. The ones I’ve known have been upright, holy men who were trying to serve God as best they can. They’ve made some real differences to people’s lives. Yes, I think the Catholic Church completely mishandled things. On the other hand, the only priest I know personally who tried something which was sexually immoral was a Fundamentalist priest who was kicked out of the Baptist Church for having sex with grown women who weren’t his wife. You want to put down the broad brush, lady? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/22 "2006-04-05T10:23:36Z")
> [@](#): > > And of course we all know about priests and probably believe that not all of the pedophiles were uncovered and there are probably many more who were never caught. Further to this statement, and to clear up your confusion, a person who engages in sexual relations with a minor is not necessarily a paedophile. A paedophile, by definition, is somebody whose _focus_ of **sexual attraction** is towards pre-pubescent children. I would imagine that, for members of the clergy especially, they were able to act out their need for sexual contact primarily with children **because children were available** especially in Catholic boarding communities. Whilst I am sure that some offenders fitted the paedophile ‘diagnosis’, I’m equally sure that many if not most of the perpetrators were opportunistic offenders who saw any physical contact with any human being (regardless of their age) as an outlet for their sensory and sexual deprivation. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/23 "2006-04-05T10:24:38Z")
> [@suezeekay](#): > > You made me really laugh, Frank. No, he had a rope tied to his penis and he was tying and untying the other end to the car bumpers. He would tie it and then dance around before untying it. And after reading that, you find it’s _weird_ to be attracted by young boys??? Serioulsy, I too don’t get why you’re asking this question specifically about young boys. Is it more mysterious than young girls? ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/24 "2006-04-05T10:28:56Z")
Ah, fuck…I missed and screwed up some bits!! See this? > [@](#): > > …if not most of the perpetrators were opportunistic offenders who saw any physical contact with any human being (regardless of their age) as an outlet for their sensory and sexual deprivation. Can we change that to: …if not most of the perpetrators were opportunistic offenders who saw any physical contact with any human being (regardless of their age **AND GENDER** ) as an outlet for their **TACTILE** and sexual deprivation? Geez, I wish we could edit posts here sometimes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/25 "2006-04-05T10:29:50Z")
> [@suezeekay](#): > > So does this mean that it’s natural and if there are not laws, or cultural barriers that this behavior will come to the fore? Maybe, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s currently the same proportion of men being attracted to young boys. Culture plays an important part, IMO. The proportion of men openly attracted to ephebes in ancient greece where such relationships were expected was probably much higher than the proportion of american men secretely attracted to young teens. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/26 "2006-04-05T10:37:30Z")
> [@suezeekay](#): > > …if there really has been an increase in this behavior or desire for this behavior or not. That’s a false dichotomy, though: that either more men are preying on young boys, if that’s what you mean by “this behaviour”, _and/or_ that more men want to. Consider a third option: that such sexual predation - and let’s assume that the figures are historically constant for a moment - is less likely now to be condoned or ignored than in the past, and that recent highly publicised prosecutions have increased awareness of such crimes. You raised the spectre of priests preying on young boys earlier, but you must be aware that many legal actions which have resulted are historical ones, for offences often dating back decades, which would suggest that it’s _not_ solely a recent phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/27 "2006-04-05T10:41:10Z")
> [@suezeekay](#): > > If there were that many responding to these fake postings how many more are out there? Someone once gave a link to a study (basically, they hooked men’s penis to some apparatus to mesure arousal, showed them pictures and read them erotica) that seemed to show that a very high percentage of men (high as in say, 15%, not high as, say 90% though I don’t remember at all the figures) were aroused by female teens, female children and even non-consensual sex with children. Unfortunately, I can’t find a link. In any case, I wouldn’t at all be surprised to learn that non acted-upon and/or non-exclusive pedophilia is way more widespread than it appears to be. As you mention, for x men caught there must y times x men not stupid enough to be caught, z times x times y men who won’t act at all upon their paraphilia and w times z times x times y men who have some form of limited sexual interest in children. ---
**Author:** ![Siege](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Siege](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siege)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/28 "2006-04-05T10:59:36Z")
Also, statistically, more girls are molested by men than boys. Still it seems there’s a greater uproar about boys being molested. Perhaps (and this is only speculation) it has something to do with people’s distaste for homosexuality? By the way, one of the priests who was accused of sexual misconduct in Boston was accused not of having sex with young boys, but with a married woman. Girls were also molested by priests, but that appears to be something the OP overlooked. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/29 "2006-04-05T11:03:46Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Someone once gave a link to a study (basically, they hooked men’s penis to some apparatus to mesure arousal, showed them pictures and read them erotica) that seemed to show that a very high percentage of men (high as in say, 15%, not high as, say 90% though I don’t remember at all the figures) were aroused by female teens, female children and even non-consensual sex with children. [The penile plethysmograph](http://skepdic.com/penilep.html) is unreliable. Every man knows that you can get (full or partial) erections from nervousness, anxiety, and plenty of other factors. If they hooked my penis to a plethysmograph and showed me pictures of children being raped, I’d be nervous and anxious as hell. I can pretty much guarantee that I would test positive in that situation, especially since all I’d be thinking would be “Don’t get an erection, don’t get an erection”. The only safe way to get one. Finally, being aroused by female teens is hardly deviant. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/30 "2006-04-05T11:06:26Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Someone once gave a link to a study (basically, they hooked men’s penis to some apparatus to mesure arousal, showed them pictures and read them erotica) that seemed to show that a very high percentage of men (high as in say, 15%, not high as, say 90% though I don’t remember at all the figures) were aroused by female teens, female children and even non-consensual sex with children. So, a high percentage of men are aroused by erotica, in that their penis gets bigger…regardless of the nature of that erotica. Wow. That is breaking news!! :rolleyes: Did they do a comparable study with women? Did they consider the notion that exhibitions of sexuality (regardless of age and/or gender) were inherently arousing to observers because they were **sexual** acts? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/31 "2006-04-05T11:12:09Z")
I’m fairly certain that if you hook a man’s penis up to a machine and tell him that you’re going to measure his reactions, what you’ve got is a “Whatever you do, don’t think of pink elephants” situation. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/32 "2006-04-05T12:04:35Z")
> [@Arnold Winkelried](#): > > Why do so many men want an Iron Penis? When your only tool is a penis, everything looks like a vagina? ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/33 "2006-04-05T12:22:47Z")
Could we please stop talking about hooking penises to bumpers, machines or other apparatuses? I’m not a man, but this gives me the _ummm_ willies. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/34 "2006-04-05T12:25:52Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > [url=http://store.martialartsmart.net/prjt001.html][RIGHT]{DarkRed}=CMC[/RIGHT] > I am soo underusing my penis. ☹ When I read that this method “reduces cholesterol and diabetes”, I was -\>| |\<- _this_ close to buying a Utilikilt and a ticket to Vancouver, where I would study ceaselessly to become a master of Qi Dong. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/35 "2006-04-05T12:45:12Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > So, a high percentage of men are aroused by erotica, in that their penis gets bigger…regardless of the nature of that erotica. Wow. That is breaking news!! :rolleyes: Huh??? Yes, I think thet idea men would be aroused by any kind of erotica regardless of the content would be quite a breaking new. I don’t know you, but I can tell you that there’s a lot of erotica out there that’s not going to arouse me. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/36 "2006-04-05T13:26:20Z")
I dunno…after reading the article on CNN’s site, I’ve come to the conclusion that this guy is so tortured and sick that he just wanted it to end. He did everything but hold a press conference regarding his attraction to young girls. There was nothing in the story to indicate he wanted to keep his obsession a secret. I think he just wants to get into treatment and end the charade. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/37 "2006-04-05T14:01:56Z")
> [@suezeekay](#): > > I hope that’s the case. > > I did unfortunately have the experience of knowing two men sentenced to state prison who told me their experiences and what they observed as far as sexual relations between inmates. The young and weak were preyed upon. It happened as often as they could get away with it; and apparently the guards didn’t intervene, at least where they were. I was young and thought a lot of stupid things about how people can change (they usually can’t) and listened to their stories as if I was unbiased and objective, when I was really revolted. I stepped into this situation unwittingly and don’t even like to remember the experience; however, that was where my view of what goes on in prison came from. Well, that’s a very tiny sample you have there-far too insignificant to judge the entire situation from. And even there, that would be intimidation. These men were raped because they were small and weak. Prison rape is often about dominance and control. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/38 "2006-04-05T14:46:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Penis qigong uses a variety of special exercises, including massage, slapping, pulling and hitting it with a tool. I’m quite fond of the first three, but I’m not sure I’d like to try the fourth. > [@suezeekay](#): > > I know I strayed off the topic of young boys, so that was confusing. I think that this is really not the place for this question because it can’t be a matter of opinion; but, a matter of numbers and if there really has been an increase in this behavior or desire for this behavior or not. Well, we can have a discussion of the issue - it’s an important matter - but the question you posed was just sort of disjointed. You asked about sex with young _boys_, referencing a case involving a man hitting on a _girl_, and in discussing it brought up _adult homosexuality_ (in varying degrees of consentuality.) I’m sure you didn’t mean to equate pedophilia with homosexuality, and so I won’t go into how grossly offensive your statements inadvertently were, but you don’t seem to have posed a question that makes any sense (to me, at least.) I think this is an important issue in society right now, partially because we need to examine our society’s sudden obsession with it - but if you have a specific question, it needs to be framed in a way that we can understand it. > [@Sevastopol](#): > > In other words we make a distinction between sexuality that is aberrant and that which is acceptable. In the cold light of day the distinction is arbitrary, once you move past the idea that sexuality is primarily about reproduction. Arbitrary? I would say that the psychological damage inflicted on children by child molesters is a good enough reason to outlaw it - that doesn’t seem arbitrary at all to me. Granted, what is culturally defined as “aberrant” sexuality varies - but I’m not much of a cultural relativist, and I think that, in outlawing child-molestation, we’ve done the right thing as a society. Of course, I do think the issue is considerably more complicated than most people seem to think. > [@Siege](#): > > Yes, I do know about priests, although I admit I know more about the Episcopal variety than the Catholic. The ones I’ve known have been upright, holy men who were trying to serve God as best they can. They’ve made some real differences to people’s lives. Yes, I think the Catholic Church completely mishandled things. On the other hand, the only priest I know personally who tried something which was sexually immoral was a Fundamentalist priest who was kicked out of the Baptist Church for having sex with grown women who weren’t his wife. > > You want to put down the broad brush, lady? The really sad part of this whole Catholic priest scandal is how the church handled it. Inevitably in any group there will be some screwups or even predators, but I hate to see the way the Catholic priesthood has been tainted in the public eye by this, when ultimately it was a matter of a few bad apples and a very bad system for dealing with them. > [@clairobscur](#): > > Someone once gave a link to a study (basically, they hooked men’s penis to some apparatus to mesure arousal, showed them pictures and read them erotica) that seemed to show that a very high percentage of men (high as in say, 15%, not high as, say 90% though I don’t remember at all the figures) were aroused by female teens, female children and even non-consensual sex with children. > > Unfortunately, I can’t find a link. The trouble is that penile plethysmography is not exactly an uncontroversial technique to find out what men are secretly into. You’re a dude, if I recall correctly, so I’m sure you’ve experienced situations in which little **clairobscur** got all excited in inappropriate circumstances. I find (TMI WARNING) that I get erections when I’m nervous or stressed out about a deadline - does that mean I have some weird deadlineophilia? It seems far more likely to imagine that many men are aroused _emotionally_ - angered or upset - than _sexually_ when they see such pictures. I guess I’m judging partially by my own reactions - I simply can’t wrap my head around the desire for sex with children at all. The thought of having sex with someone missing secondary sexual characteristics is absolutely repulsive to me, and I sort of imagine that that’s kind of how it’s supposed to be. Isn’t that what the outward manifestations of puberty are for? So to my mind, it seems absolutely bizarre to imagine someone being interested in children - which means I can’t imagine that any large portion of the population is. On the other hand, I can more understand to the desire to have sex with teenagers, as they do have their secondary sexual characteristics in place and I don’t find the same sort of immediate visceral revulsion at the thought of it. It seems a lot more common for cultures to regularly condone sex with, say, thirteen or fourteen year olds than with prepubescent children. The thought still doesn’t appeal to me, but I could believe that that’s largely cultural programming and my own morals, rather than any inherent wiring. > [@Siege](#): > > Also, statistically, more girls are molested by men than boys. Still it seems there’s a greater uproar about boys being molested. Perhaps (and this is only speculation) it has something to do with people’s distaste for homosexuality? Cite? I’m actually quite interested in what the figures are. I’ve never run into what appear to be accurate accountings for the gender predilections of child-molesters; I’d be curious to see if more complex patters can be drawn from them. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/39 "2006-04-05T15:17:03Z")
> [@suezeekay](#): > > [http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060404/BREAKING/60404013](http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060404/BREAKING/60404013) And now for something completely different: what the _HECK_ is a full name and a full-color recognizable picture of this arrested man’s face doing in the local newspaper? Don’t the media even await a decent trial anymore before they subject to public outrage both this man’s family and every elderly guy who slightly resembles him? :eek: :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371/40 "2006-04-05T15:24:01Z")
some data: RE: [we all know about men in prison](http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/svrca04.htm) gender of victims: > [@](#): > > Gender of sexual assault victims > > Females were more than six times as likely as males to be the > victims of sexual assaults known to law enforcement agencies. > More specifically, 86% of all victims of sexual assault were > female. The relative proportion of female victims generally > increased with age. Sixty-nine percent of victims under age 6 > were female, compared with 73% of victims under age 12, and 82% > of all juvenile (under age 18) victims. The female proportion > of sexual assault victims reached 90% at age 13 and 95% at age > 19. from [US Department of Justice](http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/saycrle.txt) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-so-many-men-want-to-have-sex-with-young-boys/351371.md?page=3)