In this day and age, my stance is quite unpopular and unspoken. I get it. - GC
Good. As long as you are aware of your outdated, small-minded, homophobic prejudice that is the first step in changing.
Pedophilia: A Disorder, Not a Crime (NYTimes)
by NewYork44M 73 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
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cofty
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Band on the Run
It is a disorder. I don't understand why the sex drive is so great and the recidivism rate so great. Society cannot tolerate acting out on innocent children. Someday scientists may find the reason. We just cannot condone certain conduct even if it is a disorder. The Catholic Church has argued that it formed its pedophile policy in the 1960s, believing in repentence and treaatment. Today effective treatment appears further away. We don't live in an ideal world. This is why the WTBTS "two witness" requirement is so tragic. There is no evidence of effective control of the drive. It should be a matter for the police.
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Gregor
The true crime is the wrecking of a childs youthful innocence which can effect them negatively the rest of their lives. Many victims grow up to be pedos.
Pedos spread a virus as deadly as ebola in destroying lives.
If they cannot stop themselves....
The NY Times is adding to the momentum of the "up is down" "black is white" moral equivalency trend of progressive liberals.
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Apognophos
Gregor, considering pedophilia a disorder does not prevent anyone from locking up pedophiles who abuse kids, and putting them on registries when they get out.
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DogGone
Thank-you, to the usual suspects for your rational discourse.
I can't abide arguing with who can't grasp the difference between "want" and "did" or between "desire" and "action". It saddens me, since these posters are otherwise thoughful. This is just too painful and scary a subject for some, I fear.
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DogGone
Band,
It might interest you to know that the recidivism rate is not "so great". For a previous discussion of the many studies regarding this:
Otherwise, I appreciated your post. I was wondering how you came to the conclusion that there is no control of the drive? I've found you usually hold well supported opinions so I'm interested to learn.
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Band on the Run
I am not an expert on the matter. My sources of info are main stream media and comments from people who work in the field. If there were effective treatment, why would people act out despite drastic consequences. Gay men don't act the way pedophiles do. I am in my sixties. Cancer could not be spoken. I personally witnessed my neighborhood scourged by AIDS. Science can lead understanding. Pedophile thoughts don't bother me. Pedophile acting out does bother me. A few offenders do take drastic action not to commit the acts. With out present understanding (As a Star Trek fan, I keep hoping for First Contact and the Vulcans to come to the rescue), there are two affected groups: adult sex and children. I don't understand fully why sexual crimes are so harmful. It seems it is. Until Jesus Comes or the Vulcans arrive, society should protect the most innocent.
I believe this pedophile siutation has been going on since humans evolved and maybe even earlier. I dont know.
As a New York Times reader, their headlines are becoming more sensational. They want a profit. I remember when they did news, not Style, the Arts, and entertainment gossip. The articles are informative. More people read the headline and saw the ads then if it accurately reflected the content of the article. It was an op-ed piece, not hard news. I've considered writing an op-ed piece about the Witnesses so I read the NYT rules for submission. Few pieces are chosen. The primary purpose of the op-ed page is to expose readers to ideas that the NYT does not reflect in its news pages. I've read the op-ed page since it started and never read its purpose and rules for submission until my interest in writing a personal piece about the Witnesses. They want to provoke. Many people may remember the NYT reporters who wrote complete fiction on hard news reported on page one.The Times editorial process did not catch the errors. The NYT should not be your only news source. Judith Miller, Jason Blair. Take everything with a grain of salt.
Anyway, educate us about the effective treatments that stop acting out that pedophiles will voluntarily seek out and comply with as a remedy. I simply do not understand it. Why doesn't masturbation seem to work? I've seen the insides of prisons. They are not nice places. Being a pariah must not be fun.So many hard questions and not answers. Of course, the WT will have a definitive answer! Joke.
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DogGone
Band,
I enjoyed reading your post and discovering you had investigated writing an op-ed for the NYT. For what it is worth, my view of the matter is close to yours. I see you were refering the the power of the sex drive in general and not this specific one in particular. It is true, we humans frequently do mad things for this drive, putting ourselves in all manner of risky situation.
Although some offenders take dramatic action to stop from re-offending, it is also worth pointing out some who have never offended also make great effort to never offend. If they were to tell some on this thread that they are a pedophile but are working hard to be safe and want others to know to increase safetly, some would want them dead. The thinking being they cannot be helped, are monsters, are evil, etc etc. Others, such as yourself, have a much more nuanced understanding of "want" and "do". We are betting served as a society to help these people. That is what I understand the article was saying.
Right now the proliferation of child pornography is exposing thousands who have the inclination and have never acted on it, beyond hoarding hideous images and videos. We could kill them all, we could lock them up forever, or we could treat them effectively.
As for treatment, the greatest proof it works is the significantly lower recidivism for those who complete treatment as for those who don't. The links are a few years old, but good old cognitive behavioural therapy [CBT] has success in controlling impulses - not eliminating them.
National Review of Medicine - http://www.nationalreviewofmedicine.com/issue/2006/09_15/3_patients_practice02_15.html
Institute of Health Economics, Edmonton - http://www.sexual-offender-treatment.org/93.html
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Paralipomenon
In this day and age, my stance is quite unpopular and unspoken. I get it.
Curious, 50 years ago the exact same stance was taken against black people for interacial marriage as well as segregation.
People condemn that as racist and claim they would never say such things, but really the message is the same, just a different target. It is still hate and outdated.
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flipper
I think that pedophilia is both a disorder AND a crime. Pedophiles do what they do not mainly for the sex - but for the control and oppression of another under age human being. And they use the rape of a child to oppress and put into submission that minor child. It's disgusting and should not be tolerated in society at all. It's a crime and the offenders should be locked up where they won't oppress other minor children or have access to minor children