# Would society approve a cure for pedophilia that killed 1/1000th of the persons who used it? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 25, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527 "2009-09-25T16:11:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SMullen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@SMullen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SMullen)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527/21 "2009-09-25T23:47:31Z")
Four questions: 1. What do you think the results of this election will be? 2. How would **you** vote? 3. If you vote to allow the use of the device, what restrictions would you place on it? 4. If you vote against allowing use of the device, why? [/QUOTE] 5. Results would be to allow the device. 6. I’d vote to allow it. 7. Mandatory for conviction of sexual violence against a non-consenting individual, including juveniles convicted of such crimes. Available for use by others, adults only. With maybe a “once only” rule for non-criminals. 8. n/a Before Mother Nature blessed me by taking away my interest in sex, I would gladly have used the device to go the asexual route. Even at risk of death. Sam Delany has an excellent discussion of this very concept (not asexuality, but voluntary change in sexual orientation) in his novel, _Triton_. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527/22 "2009-09-25T23:50:41Z")
Would people be allowed to turn themselves from gynophiles/androphiles into pedophiles? Why or why not? Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527/23 "2009-09-26T04:19:01Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Yup. I don’t care about someone’s fantasies. I do care about actions. Once there’s a conviction and all appeals are exhausted, I think death is the appropriate sentence. Too bad SCOTUS has explicitly ruled out the death penalty as an appropriate sentence for child rape. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527/24 "2009-09-26T04:46:11Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Four questions: > > 1. What do you think the results of this election will be? > 2. How would **you** vote? > 3. If you vote to allow the use of the device, what restrictions would you place on it? > 4. If you vote against allowing use of the device, why? 1. I think it will pass more because of homophobia than protecting children. 2. I usually abstain from all elections, but I could go either way. 3. I’d say it must be voluntary and reversible, if not reversible, then it must be voluntary. 4. Imho, there’s too much risk that it will be abused by the government, e.g. forced castration, capital punishment, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527/25 "2009-09-26T05:17:29Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Too bad SCOTUS has explicitly ruled out the death penalty as an appropriate sentence for child rape. Well, there’s always hope a more enlightened Court will overturn that mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527/26 "2009-09-26T12:45:37Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > and there’d be black ops types trying to reverse engineer it to use it for other purposes. “Tell us where the cell leaders meet, or we turn you into the world’s biggest [Tomboy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6bGW4ShpNU) fan.” Come to think of it…what’s the military potential of this gadget? Can we corrupt the Arabsat network signals with it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527/27 "2009-09-26T12:58:54Z")
**1. What do you think the results of this election will be?** : Yes; people are fanatics on this issue. **2. How would you vote?** : No. \*\*4. If you vote against allowing use of the device, why? \*\*: Because it is a mind rape. Because it is a violation of what makes people who they are. And because I would expect it to be abused on a massive scale. > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Hmmm… I wonder how religions would line up for or against the use of this. Because as you describe it, it is not merely a cure for pedophilia, it’s a “cure” for being gay. > > And it would change the whole nature of the issue of “gay by nature” vs “gay by choice”. In fact it could be agued that once this device is easily available, every gay person is gay by choice, because they can make themselves straight if they want. > > And you can bet that it won’t bother most fundamentalist one bit if a certain amount of gay people die during the conversion. Afterall, they are “going straight” to get right with god, so if they die they will be like martyrs. > > Sorry for the hijack, but your product has wider applications and moral implications than are first evident. Yes. In my opinion, the whole pedophilia issue would rapidly be eclipsed as the machine became a weapon to be used to eradicate homosexuality. In more authoritarian nations ( who would naturally acquire it even if it only first appeared in America ) gays and suspected gays would be rounded up and processed by force; babies would be run through the machine to ensure a “proper” orientation. You’d see the same first on a smaller scale in America among more conservative groups. If it can be adjusted to induce other preferences like submissiveness then you’ll see the same done to women. Hundreds of millions turned into masochistic, submissive sex toys who can’t even _ **want** _ to fight back against their oppressors. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527/28 "2009-09-26T13:52:36Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > …Come to think of it…what’s the military potential of this gadget? Can we corrupt the Arabsat network signals with it? 😃 I would think the CIA could find a lot of use for it, if it could be done clandestinely. Turn a foreign politician gay, send them into a bath house, and take pictures. Can we get an attitude adjuster that makes someone promiscuous? 'Caus I could really use that! ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527/29 "2009-09-26T16:51:45Z")
1. What do you think the results of this election will be? A. As written, it wouldn’t pass because of part where they could choose to become bisexual or homosexual. That part would quickly disappear from the proposal. 2. How would you vote? A. No. The so-called “choice” would be forced on people. Also, not all who are accused are guilty-has everyone forgotten about [McMartin Preschool?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_Preschool) 3. If you vote to allow the use of the device, what restrictions would you place on it? A. n/a 4. If you vote against allowing use of the device, why? A. Not into death/vengeance. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527/30 "2009-09-26T22:26:24Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > If it can be adjusted to induce other preferences like submissiveness then you’ll see the same done to women. Hundreds of millions turned into masochistic, submissive sex toys who can’t even _ **want** _ to fight back against their oppressors. I didn’t even think of that one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-society-approve-a-cure-for-pedophilia-that-killed-1-1000th-of-the-persons-who-used-it/511527.md?page=1)