this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2024
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See, imo this is the exact kind of thinking that makes pedophilia dangerous. Most people would agree that being attracted to children is a mental illness. Most people would agree that mental illnesses should be treated by a knowledgeable professional. But pedophilia is so stigmatized that someone even admitting they have a problem, one I very much doubt most of them want to have, has people calling for them to be drawn and quartered, regardless of if they've ever actually hurt anyone.
Do I like that there's art and writing of people having fantasies about children? No, of course not. But making it impossible for people to have a safe outlet, to even talk about it with a medical professional for fear of imprisonment, death threats, or worse, makes it so these people can't even get the help they need. It's like teaching abstinence only sex ed. You're trying to get people to stop having fantasies by burying them, but it only exacerbates the issue.
Edit: lol got your downvote less than five minutes in and the whole comment edited to just say "pedophiles bad." I guess I, as you like to put it, "hit a nerve."
snek has been permabanned from .world for their behavior in this thread. Somewhat refreshing to find a place where the admins recognize that voicing one's violent murder fantasies doesn't have a pedophile exception.
I personally think that pedophilia is genetic, or a chemical brain imbalance or something. There has to be something that would cause someone to do something they know that it they get caught, their life is over.
It's like Louie CK's joke from his SNL appearance. To paraphrase "I love Mounds bars, but if you told me I would be thrown in jail and raped or killed, I wouldn't eat one ever again"
Any evidence of that, or just playing armchair scientist?
It seems a lot more likely that humans don't have control over their attractions in general. Human sexuality has never been linked to specific genetics or brain chemistry, so maybe put the calipers away.
You don't choose to be straight, you don't choose to be gay. You don't choose to like big boobs or little boobs. You don't choose whether or not to be attracted to muscles. You literally don't get to choose "your type". You have your own set of attractions that you largely discover about yourself, rather than decide for yourself.
Pedophilia is likely no different. The only difference in practice is that most other types of interpersonal attraction can be ethically fulfilled between consenting adults. Pedophilia, by definition, cannot, as it involves someone who cannot ethically consent.
We need to start looking at people with inappropriate attractions as people who carry a burden.
I was going to add that to my argument, but i felt that it would get twisted into someone saying that gay people are pedophiles. I didn't feel like arguing that point.
The same counterarguments work.
"When did you choose not to be a pedophile?"