pedophiles
Friday, 6 June 2008 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eI don't listen to the radio news or watch TV or read newspapers (other than New Scientist) so I hadn't heard about it when Margaret told me today that a big pedophilia ring had been broken, with lots of people going to jail.
Over the years it has surprised me to find out how many of my friends have had their lives damaged by being molested when they were kids. I grew up in blissful ignorance of such things. It always puzzled me that some people can be sexually attracted to children. How can that be? They don't produce any of the sexual cues that puberty brings. Margaret insists that it is about power. She was molested when young and is terrified of, and furious at pedophiles. She may be right. I can't even begin to understand what must be going on in the mind of a pedophile.
But there are a number of things about the current approach to pedophilia that ring very loud alarm bells. It has become a witchhunt. All that is needed to destroy someone's life is to name them as a pedophile -- evidence is not really required. This is a very dangerous situation.
Margaret said the people were obviously guilty because child porn was found on their computers, but I pointed out that is relatively easy to put files on almost anybody's computer if they are running Microsoft Windows. Finding such pictures on people's computers is circumstantial evidence at best. Also, looking at pictures doesn't mean those people actually go out and interfere with children. Do we throw people in jail for thinking about crimes now? Have George Orwell's thought police finally arrived?
There is also the problem of what to do with pedophiles. "Take them of the street. Lock them away from the kids," Margaret said. Although mopping up afterwards will always be fairly ineffective, it should still be done. Taking offenders off the street keeps them away from their prey. It is a short term help, but it doesn't solve the problem. It closes the gate after the horse has bolted. Wouldn't it be better to prevent it? Is it fixable? Many people have considered being gay to be an illness, but now we know better -- homosexuality has always been one of the various shades of normal. That makes me ask the very discomforting question, is it possible that pedophilia is part of the normal range of sexuality? It has certainly been around for a long time. I think the Koran says Muhammed's youngest wife was 12, and there is no way 12 can be viewed as anything but a child. I don't care what excuses are made for earlier times; anyone pre-puberty is a child. If it is part of the normal sexual spectrum, what can, or should, be done about it? If it is part of normal then it will likely be impossible to "cure". Inded I've read of pedophiles who have tried to be cured only to find the desires simply remain.
But many of my friends remain extremely upset about their experiences. It has had a very bad effect on their lives. By their descriptions I feel quite strongly that no child should have to live through such traumas. So something needs to be done whether is is a part of "normal" or not. Even if if it can't be cured perhaps we should be finding ways to prevent it happening. How do we do that? One of the temptations will always be to remove contact with adults. Unfortunately adults are not the only problem. I know of people who were sexually assaulted by older siblings. Isolation would never work anyway. It would simply impoverish a child's world and paradoxically make pedophilia easier by removing potential witnesses.
I can't help feeling that the children themselves are the solution somehow. I don't mean using a child's accusations as evidence -- some years back a teacher in North Queensland had his entire life destroyed by such an accusation, only to have the girl admit many years later that she'd simply made it up.
We need to find a way to prevent pedophilia without limiting kids themselves or victimising innocent people. Most of all we need to do this without a witchhunt. Witchhunts are extremely dangerous. They run out of control far too easily. I feel uncomfortable raising these concerns because I'm sure that in some people's eyes it will make me suspect. My stories and artwork clearly show I'm only attracted to sexually mature women, so it is not a great worry to me, but how difficult must it be for others to speak out in such a climate? The fear of such suspicions is part of the great danger any witchhunt poses. In engineering it is called a positive feedback loop and can be very destructive, wrecking things that have nothing to do with the original problem.
Over the years it has surprised me to find out how many of my friends have had their lives damaged by being molested when they were kids. I grew up in blissful ignorance of such things. It always puzzled me that some people can be sexually attracted to children. How can that be? They don't produce any of the sexual cues that puberty brings. Margaret insists that it is about power. She was molested when young and is terrified of, and furious at pedophiles. She may be right. I can't even begin to understand what must be going on in the mind of a pedophile.
But there are a number of things about the current approach to pedophilia that ring very loud alarm bells. It has become a witchhunt. All that is needed to destroy someone's life is to name them as a pedophile -- evidence is not really required. This is a very dangerous situation.
Margaret said the people were obviously guilty because child porn was found on their computers, but I pointed out that is relatively easy to put files on almost anybody's computer if they are running Microsoft Windows. Finding such pictures on people's computers is circumstantial evidence at best. Also, looking at pictures doesn't mean those people actually go out and interfere with children. Do we throw people in jail for thinking about crimes now? Have George Orwell's thought police finally arrived?
There is also the problem of what to do with pedophiles. "Take them of the street. Lock them away from the kids," Margaret said. Although mopping up afterwards will always be fairly ineffective, it should still be done. Taking offenders off the street keeps them away from their prey. It is a short term help, but it doesn't solve the problem. It closes the gate after the horse has bolted. Wouldn't it be better to prevent it? Is it fixable? Many people have considered being gay to be an illness, but now we know better -- homosexuality has always been one of the various shades of normal. That makes me ask the very discomforting question, is it possible that pedophilia is part of the normal range of sexuality? It has certainly been around for a long time. I think the Koran says Muhammed's youngest wife was 12, and there is no way 12 can be viewed as anything but a child. I don't care what excuses are made for earlier times; anyone pre-puberty is a child. If it is part of the normal sexual spectrum, what can, or should, be done about it? If it is part of normal then it will likely be impossible to "cure". Inded I've read of pedophiles who have tried to be cured only to find the desires simply remain.
But many of my friends remain extremely upset about their experiences. It has had a very bad effect on their lives. By their descriptions I feel quite strongly that no child should have to live through such traumas. So something needs to be done whether is is a part of "normal" or not. Even if if it can't be cured perhaps we should be finding ways to prevent it happening. How do we do that? One of the temptations will always be to remove contact with adults. Unfortunately adults are not the only problem. I know of people who were sexually assaulted by older siblings. Isolation would never work anyway. It would simply impoverish a child's world and paradoxically make pedophilia easier by removing potential witnesses.
I can't help feeling that the children themselves are the solution somehow. I don't mean using a child's accusations as evidence -- some years back a teacher in North Queensland had his entire life destroyed by such an accusation, only to have the girl admit many years later that she'd simply made it up.
We need to find a way to prevent pedophilia without limiting kids themselves or victimising innocent people. Most of all we need to do this without a witchhunt. Witchhunts are extremely dangerous. They run out of control far too easily. I feel uncomfortable raising these concerns because I'm sure that in some people's eyes it will make me suspect. My stories and artwork clearly show I'm only attracted to sexually mature women, so it is not a great worry to me, but how difficult must it be for others to speak out in such a climate? The fear of such suspicions is part of the great danger any witchhunt poses. In engineering it is called a positive feedback loop and can be very destructive, wrecking things that have nothing to do with the original problem.
towards solutions
Date: 2008-06-06 01:31 am (UTC)Education for perpetrators about what is unacceptable - and what the consequences will be.
As well as a culture where reporting incidents is considered normal, and child-friendly systems are in place for reporting - a "Molestation Hotline."
MFG
Re: towards solutions
Date: 2008-06-07 10:26 pm (UTC)Education for perpetrators: I doubt this would have any effect at all. From what I've read it seems, in many cases, to be an impulse-control issue, and consequences are useless in that situation. I think probably pedophiles understand what they're doing is wrong... though to be honest I have no real evidence for that.
A culture where reporting incidents is considered normal: a qualified yes. Our culture needs to grow up and become a lot less fear-based. I worry that the current witchhunt may have indirectly contributed to the death of kids. A while ago a kid was abducted from the Sunshine Coast and was never found. I wonder how many kids are killed by their horrid abductors because they can't countenance the risk of being identified.
Years ago I read a story (by H.G. Wells?) in which a civilisation of the future had no crime because as soon as a person did something wrong or even considered doing wrong they presented themselves to the doctors for repair of what was felt to be a simple illness. The problem, of course, is that we don't know how to repair such things yet. Unfortunately our current society is not going to even consider repair when revenge is instead our overarching concern.
Re: towards solutions
Date: 2008-06-07 11:57 pm (UTC)Isn't psychology trying to help people repair themselves? I don't know how much innovation or new thinking is going into treating people's criminal tendencies though...