• RaincoatsGeorge@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    43
    arrow-down
    14
    ·
    1 year ago

    Well this is certainly a thing that someone typed once. I’d counter that it’s not simply that people are innocently attracted to children and therefore deserve sympathy. I’d say there’s more involved in that attraction. You can’t reasonably engage in any romantic or sexual abuse encounter with a child without there being a totally lopsided power dynamic and a high degree of exploitation. I’d argue that for all such people this is what draws them to it. Within that context it’s not some innocent ‘miswiring’ of the brain but instead an individual that is completely unhealthy and mentally unwell that is entertaining the idea of grooming some child. That’s the part they are after.

    I know there’s a movement to try and see pedophiles as anything but what they are and you can sit and have thought experiments about ‘the ones that act vs those that don’t’ but at the end of the day you are left with a deeply unwell individual that desperately needs inpatient psychiatric treatment, psychiatric medication, extensive counseling, and total separation from any children.

    • hh93@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      28
      arrow-down
      14
      ·
      1 year ago

      Exactly - they need treatment and help so they don’t act on it - but with the demonizing that’s happening I’d guess that most of them are too scared to open up and try to fight their urge on their own.

      I’d guess that pretty much no-one wants to normalise pedophilia in a way that makes acting that attraction out normal but making it more normal to talk about if and seek help similar to how depressions aren’t nearly as stigmatized as 50 years ago

    • Serdan@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      11
      ·
      1 year ago

      Well, you’d be wrong. Pedophilia is well studied. It’s attraction to children, and there’s a huge amount of variation in how that is expressed and how the psychology around it develops through a person’s life. Baselessly claiming that all people with pedophilia are just rapists who want easy prey is unhelpful nonsense.

      • Resonosity@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        9
        ·
        1 year ago

        After all, the word stems from the suffix “philia” which means tendency or affinity towards, as opposed to “phobia” which means aversion or separation from. Philia is used for a lot of words as a suffix for literally meaning affinity towards, like in the word “hydrophilic” or affinity towards (bearing) water, but it can also denote interest or attraction as in “audiophile” (interested in audio), “cynophile” (interested in or lover of canines/dogs), or “gynophile” (interested or loving of women).

        Here’s the definition and further background about “pedophile”.

    • magnetosphere @beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      14
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      That is absolutely a worthwhile argument. I definitely agree with you about treatment, medication, and counseling. Total separation from children is probably for the best, as well. If these people can be helped, they should be - not just for their own benefit, but for the improvement of society as a whole.

    • xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yes, they need treatment – and threatening them with torture and death will discourage them from seeking treatment.