Disclaimer: I know this is an extremely emotionally-charged (if not exactly "controversial") topic so before I throw questions out there I want to specifiy that I AM NOT A PEDOPHILE NOR DO I SUPPORT CHILD MOLESTATION. Just because I am (as you will see) more sympathetic to pedophiles than the average Joe, that does not mean I think some motherfucker on the street raping a child is justified. I think such people belong in prison or mental hospitals. The topic of this thread is PEDOPHILIA. I repeat: not CHILD ABUSE, but PEDOPHILIA. Please no personal attacks or "debating" at all. I want this to be a discussion. so hotheads can leave.
Also: the below are not rhetorical questions.
Now here are some questions that I have to anybody out there who cares to answer, especially those who think that pedophiles are by default sick or criminal:
1. Aren't there pedophiles who do not act (illegally) on their desires? Why is there such a stigma against pedophilia, ANY pedophilia, if clearly not every pedophile molests children? If you remove the act, all that's left is an attraction. Why is that in itself any more disgusting than, say, homosexuality?
2. Aren't age of consent laws a little arbitrary? When does a person become "mature" enough to have an intimate relationship and why is the law justified in essentially making up an age at which this happens?
3. What EXACTLY is the psychological harm of having consentual sex at a young age?
4. Can it be assumed that pedophiles are mentally ill? Is pedophilia an illness in all cases or can it just be regarded as another orientation.
I'm not going to respond to anybody who jumps down my throat or is hotheaded.
Also: the below are not rhetorical questions.
Now here are some questions that I have to anybody out there who cares to answer, especially those who think that pedophiles are by default sick or criminal:
1. Aren't there pedophiles who do not act (illegally) on their desires? Why is there such a stigma against pedophilia, ANY pedophilia, if clearly not every pedophile molests children? If you remove the act, all that's left is an attraction. Why is that in itself any more disgusting than, say, homosexuality?
2. Aren't age of consent laws a little arbitrary? When does a person become "mature" enough to have an intimate relationship and why is the law justified in essentially making up an age at which this happens?
3. What EXACTLY is the psychological harm of having consentual sex at a young age?
4. Can it be assumed that pedophiles are mentally ill? Is pedophilia an illness in all cases or can it just be regarded as another orientation.
I'm not going to respond to anybody who jumps down my throat or is hotheaded.
And your very flesh shall be a great poem.
-Walt Whitman
-Walt Whitman