PEDOPHILIA ‘AS INTRINSIC AS THE NEXT PERSON’S HETEROSEXUALITY?’

By Jeff ‘Paco’ Doyle

PACOVILLA
February 25, 2013

In his article ‘Many Researchers Taking a Different View of Pedophilia’ (Los Angeles Times, January 14), Alan Zarembo reports: “Pedophilia once was thought to stem from psychological influences early in life. Now, many experts view it as a deep-rooted predisposition that does not change.”

My friend and former colleague, Gary Lowe, is an MSW [Master of Social Work] specializing in the treatment of sex offenders, the juvenile variety in particular. Decades ago he related anecdotes from sex offender group therapy sessions which bore out the concept many pedophiles have a ‘hard-wired’ predilection for children–Their urges and behaviors may be controlled and monitored but never eliminated.

Specifically, Lowe often quoted one unrepentant child molester saying, “You are sexually attracted to women, right? If you were required to attend therapy to make you gay, would you stop being attracted to women? Well, I like little boys. Same thing.” Lowe was quick to point out that while such offenders are strongly compulsed to molest, some, like the quoted subject, advance the predilection argument as a means of normalizing their behaviors e.g. “I’m OK, You’re OK. You like women, I like little boys. You say potato…”

However the prevalence of certain behavioral deviations does not make them “normal” even though political correctness would have us see them as such. Homosexuality, for example, is an abnormal behavior–It is a deviation from the norm. Yet, our insufficiently educated populace is incapable of seeing the distinction between abnormal and bad. So, the mere suggestion being gay is abnormal is offensive these days–It is deemed judgmental rather than a simple statement of fact.

It is “normal” for some people to be homosexuals is what the new-speak tells us. Doesn’t it follow that pedophilia is “normal” for those with a “deep-rooted predisposition” to molest children? The point is not to draw a comparison between being gay and being a pedophile but to highlight the folly of redefining normality to empower or assuage members of one group or another–It is a slippery slope. That there is a growing movement to declare pedophilia normal cannot be disputed. The North American Man-Boy Love Association works tirelessly to advance the right of men to molest boys–Activists in the psychological community are hard at work in that regard as well.

Now, it is well known many child molesters were themselves molested. At the same time, the overwhelming majority do not become abusers, buttressing the argument pedophilia may be hard-wired in some.

__“It is widely believed that boys who are victims of sexual abuse become abusers themselves. Studies of pedophiles suggest this often is the case, but new research shows that the risk may be smaller than previously thought. Roughly one in 10 male victims of child sex abuse in a U.K. study later went on to abuse children as adults. But the risk was far greater for sexually victimized children who came from severely dysfunctional families. Family history of violence, sexual abuse by a female, maternal neglect, and lack of supervision were all associated with a threefold-increased risk that the abused would become an abuser…” (Salynn Boyles, Do Sexually Abused Kids Become Abusers? Feb. 6, 2003)

According to Zarembo’s LA Times article “The best estimates are that between 1% and 5% of men are pedophiles, meaning that they have a dominant attraction to prepubescent children.” Putting the pieces together, it would seem a reasonable conclusion molest victims who become abusers were endowed with the “deep-rooted predisposition” which was triggered by sexual abuse and fomented by the environmental factors noted in Boyles’ article. And, if the “best estimates” are accurate, the United States population includes 1.5 million to 7.5 million male pedophiles. That’s an awful lot of potential child molesters.

In any case, those of us who worked with pedophiles have always known the compulsion lasts a lifetime. After all, self-reinforcing behavior is the hardest to mitigate–Acts which elicit pleasure are those most likely to become compulsive, habitual. That pedophiles will always harbor a sexual and emotional attraction to children is a fact–We must never lose sight of it if we are to remain vigilant in protecting children from harm. However, it is equally important to make certain pedophilia is not permitted to be normalized.

Many Americans practice abnormal, deviant sexual behaviors, are compulsed to do so and receive reinforcement from the gratification inherent to those acts. Sado-Masochism, coprophilia, urophilia and all manner of fetishes abound in the population. Unlike pedophiles, these deviants practice their deeds with consenting adults not innocent children. And, to my knowledge, there are no NAMBLA like groups out there promoting fecal and urine based sex acts as “normal.”

Pedophilia may indeed be “as intrinsic as the next person’s heterosexuality” but that doesn’t make it normal–It is relevant only to the extent we apply this knowledge to the treatment and supervision of pedophiles, active or otherwise.