Caution: This article doesn't support sexual predators or any form of sexual abuse of children. This article’s purpose is to give people an understanding of Pedophilia. It is completely illegal and punishable to involve in any sexual activity with children below the age of 18 in India and according to respective age limits around the world.
Thank you: I would like to thank @Rapunzel for her major and interesting contributions to this article and for collaborating with me.
Let's get started
Why we need to discuss this because it is essential to understand it, it is like teaching good touch and bad touch, according to a survey 1% of people go through this mental illness of being attracted to minors and it requires proper treatment and awareness.
Since the beginning of life, we have evolved so much as human beings. Physically, mentally, emotionally, economically, and morally. We let go of the savage ways of the barbaric times. We found structure in an unstructured and unorganized world. We progressed so much as a race, as a society. Yet we still have a lot of stigmas around a lot of things. We stereotype people and judge them before we even start to know them. That led to so many misunderstandings, unrest, and wars among people, cultures, and nations in our past.
Pedophilia is one of those stereotypes. When we hear the word pedophile we automatically picture a child molester in our minds and judge them to be evil. But in reality, not every pedophile is a predator or a molester. We created so much disgust in our hearts for pedophiles, so nobody even dares to talk about them. But does disgust solves the problem? Does it really help? The answer is no I must say. Disgusting something never solves the problem, instead, it creates more problems. But trying to understand it, might give us a solution. So let's keep an open mind and try to understand Pedophilia.
What is Pedophilia?
It is sexual attraction towards children. It mostly pans out during adolescence. Sometimes it is interchangeably used with Hebephilia and Ephebophilia.
Hebephilia - sexual attraction towards kids between the age of 11 to 14
Ephebophilia - sexual attraction towards kids between the age of 15 to 19
What causes Pedophilia?
To understand this, we have to look at our own sexuality. Most of us start getting attracted to people in our teenage years. But even before that some of us start getting attracted to other children in our childhood. Like crushes in first grade, kindergarten, etc. But with age, our sexuality evolves too. So if you are 20, even if you had crushes on other children in your childhood, you don't get attracted to children of that age anymore as you are evolved sexually now, you get attracted to people around or above your age only. So technically we all have been pedophiles at some point in our life in a way, but we evolved later on. That sexual evolution doesn't happen in some individuals, some people stop evolving at a young age, so they get stuck.
Another way to end up as a pedophile is, if one is consuming child pornography, it might alter their sexual preferences to some extent.
Ex: If one starts consuming incest porn, they start getting more thoughts about incest.
We are what we feed our brain.
But it happens by choice and it is a crime to download/share child pornography from/on the internet. Even sharing your fantasy online which involve underage children constitutes under crime.
Case study: Recently Court convicted a Dublin man and sentenced him for distributing child pornography also involving in an online fantasy chat with a stranger about underage children. Most of these people are unaware of the consequences they will face by engaging in unlawful fantasies hidden behind the online walls.
As per the findings, the man was reclusive with no prior history of crime and had limited insight into his offending, but he was willing to engage in treatment. Though the conversation was “all a fantasy” and that the man had not carried out any of the sexual activities, it is seriously disturbing so he requires special treatment and counselling in the eyes of law.
And some people sexually abuse children, not because they are pedophiles but because they are sexually frustrated individuals and for them, children are an easy target, vulnerable and powerless. It is mostly psychopathic personality disorder rather than Pedophilia.
Is it a crime to be a pedophile?
Nope, not at all. Pedophilia is not a crime but giving in to it, making bad decisions at the cost of some child’s life is definitely a crime. We judge whether something is a crime or not a crime by actions and their consequences. Not thoughts and feelings. If we judge crimes on the basis of thoughts and feelings, we would be seeing 99.99% of the human population in prison. It is important to acknowledge that it is not their fault. We don’t choose our sexuality, we can’t control it, it is nature.
But we can choose what we do with it, we can control our actions. So whoever gets attracted to children are not demons but they become demons if they choose to be. And there is evidence that the brains of pedophiles and normal people have differences. So it is a mental disability. Having said that, although it is a mental disability, affects some functions of the brain, it doesn't really affect the decision making capability of the brain so if one commits a crime, they shall get punished.
Is there any treatment for Pedophilia?
Nope, we cannot alter the sexuality of pedophiles. It is just like homosexuality. But we can put them on medication and psychological therapy to reduce the sex hormones to lessen the sex drive. So that there will be fewer chances of them becoming a predator (having said that, not every pedophile who doesn’t go to therapy will become a predator, it all comes down to our character and morality in the end).
Indian laws protecting Minors:
POCSO is the only act that is been made for child molestation in India. Child predatory concerns are valid in any country and laws to protect them must be executed.
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 was enacted to provide a legal framework for the protection of children from offences like sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography, while safeguarding the interest of the child at every stage of the judicial process. The act is gender-neutral for both children and the accused. The Act also makes abetment of child sexual abuse an offence.
So basically this Act only focuses on the victims and gives all the sexual offenders the same kind of punishment, but what it ignores is the mental condition of the offender. Pedophilia is a disorder that cannot be fully treated, so even if the offender does his/her time in jail, it doesn't guarantee that he/she will not repeat it again in the future, because of the lack of proper treatment.
There must be some law to differentiate sick or unfit pedophilia from the rest of the offenders so that proper treatment is available to them.
What should we do with them?
Unless you know they are predators, there is no reason to reject them for who they are. Not every pedophile is a child molester, just like not every man whose sex drive is high, rapes women. The only thing we can do is to not let them watch any child porn as it increases the sex drive which can increase the chances of committing the crime, give them moral support and put them in therapy. They are just as human as you and I are. And they deserve a happy life, so don’t make it complicated for them.
Thank you: I would like to thank @Rapunzel for her major and interesting contributions to this article and for collaborating with me.
Let's get started
Why we need to discuss this because it is essential to understand it, it is like teaching good touch and bad touch, according to a survey 1% of people go through this mental illness of being attracted to minors and it requires proper treatment and awareness.
Since the beginning of life, we have evolved so much as human beings. Physically, mentally, emotionally, economically, and morally. We let go of the savage ways of the barbaric times. We found structure in an unstructured and unorganized world. We progressed so much as a race, as a society. Yet we still have a lot of stigmas around a lot of things. We stereotype people and judge them before we even start to know them. That led to so many misunderstandings, unrest, and wars among people, cultures, and nations in our past.
Pedophilia is one of those stereotypes. When we hear the word pedophile we automatically picture a child molester in our minds and judge them to be evil. But in reality, not every pedophile is a predator or a molester. We created so much disgust in our hearts for pedophiles, so nobody even dares to talk about them. But does disgust solves the problem? Does it really help? The answer is no I must say. Disgusting something never solves the problem, instead, it creates more problems. But trying to understand it, might give us a solution. So let's keep an open mind and try to understand Pedophilia.
What is Pedophilia?
It is sexual attraction towards children. It mostly pans out during adolescence. Sometimes it is interchangeably used with Hebephilia and Ephebophilia.
Hebephilia - sexual attraction towards kids between the age of 11 to 14
Ephebophilia - sexual attraction towards kids between the age of 15 to 19
What causes Pedophilia?
To understand this, we have to look at our own sexuality. Most of us start getting attracted to people in our teenage years. But even before that some of us start getting attracted to other children in our childhood. Like crushes in first grade, kindergarten, etc. But with age, our sexuality evolves too. So if you are 20, even if you had crushes on other children in your childhood, you don't get attracted to children of that age anymore as you are evolved sexually now, you get attracted to people around or above your age only. So technically we all have been pedophiles at some point in our life in a way, but we evolved later on. That sexual evolution doesn't happen in some individuals, some people stop evolving at a young age, so they get stuck.
Another way to end up as a pedophile is, if one is consuming child pornography, it might alter their sexual preferences to some extent.
Ex: If one starts consuming incest porn, they start getting more thoughts about incest.
We are what we feed our brain.
But it happens by choice and it is a crime to download/share child pornography from/on the internet. Even sharing your fantasy online which involve underage children constitutes under crime.
Case study: Recently Court convicted a Dublin man and sentenced him for distributing child pornography also involving in an online fantasy chat with a stranger about underage children. Most of these people are unaware of the consequences they will face by engaging in unlawful fantasies hidden behind the online walls.
As per the findings, the man was reclusive with no prior history of crime and had limited insight into his offending, but he was willing to engage in treatment. Though the conversation was “all a fantasy” and that the man had not carried out any of the sexual activities, it is seriously disturbing so he requires special treatment and counselling in the eyes of law.
And some people sexually abuse children, not because they are pedophiles but because they are sexually frustrated individuals and for them, children are an easy target, vulnerable and powerless. It is mostly psychopathic personality disorder rather than Pedophilia.
Is it a crime to be a pedophile?
Nope, not at all. Pedophilia is not a crime but giving in to it, making bad decisions at the cost of some child’s life is definitely a crime. We judge whether something is a crime or not a crime by actions and their consequences. Not thoughts and feelings. If we judge crimes on the basis of thoughts and feelings, we would be seeing 99.99% of the human population in prison. It is important to acknowledge that it is not their fault. We don’t choose our sexuality, we can’t control it, it is nature.
But we can choose what we do with it, we can control our actions. So whoever gets attracted to children are not demons but they become demons if they choose to be. And there is evidence that the brains of pedophiles and normal people have differences. So it is a mental disability. Having said that, although it is a mental disability, affects some functions of the brain, it doesn't really affect the decision making capability of the brain so if one commits a crime, they shall get punished.
Is there any treatment for Pedophilia?
Nope, we cannot alter the sexuality of pedophiles. It is just like homosexuality. But we can put them on medication and psychological therapy to reduce the sex hormones to lessen the sex drive. So that there will be fewer chances of them becoming a predator (having said that, not every pedophile who doesn’t go to therapy will become a predator, it all comes down to our character and morality in the end).
Indian laws protecting Minors:
POCSO is the only act that is been made for child molestation in India. Child predatory concerns are valid in any country and laws to protect them must be executed.
The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012 was enacted to provide a legal framework for the protection of children from offences like sexual assault, sexual harassment, and pornography, while safeguarding the interest of the child at every stage of the judicial process. The act is gender-neutral for both children and the accused. The Act also makes abetment of child sexual abuse an offence.
So basically this Act only focuses on the victims and gives all the sexual offenders the same kind of punishment, but what it ignores is the mental condition of the offender. Pedophilia is a disorder that cannot be fully treated, so even if the offender does his/her time in jail, it doesn't guarantee that he/she will not repeat it again in the future, because of the lack of proper treatment.
There must be some law to differentiate sick or unfit pedophilia from the rest of the offenders so that proper treatment is available to them.
What should we do with them?
Unless you know they are predators, there is no reason to reject them for who they are. Not every pedophile is a child molester, just like not every man whose sex drive is high, rapes women. The only thing we can do is to not let them watch any child porn as it increases the sex drive which can increase the chances of committing the crime, give them moral support and put them in therapy. They are just as human as you and I are. And they deserve a happy life, so don’t make it complicated for them.
haha
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and how many times you edited it let me know
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