Exploring the World of Pedophilia
Abnormal Psychology 201
Abstract
In recent years religious groups, policymakers and psychologist have debated information regarding the psychosexual disorder called Pedophilia. Most people agree that this disorder deserves attention, and there are very negative stigmas associated. California Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Democrat, wants to federalize a state law to protect pedophiles. In October 2013, the top cleric in Poland’s Roman Catholic Church said parents share blame for certain cases of pedophilia. Recently, Iranian legislature approved a law that will allow girls under the age of 13 to marry as long as the permission of her father is granted. This research paper will examine the
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Lastly, in October 2013 the top cleric in Poland’s Roman Catholic Church said parents share blame for certain cases of pedophilia. Pedophilia has become a great topic of interest and concern to the public. With television shows like “To Catch a Predator”, spark the emotions of everyday citizens regarding the vulnerability of children to sex offenders.
The vast majority of the abuse against minors is from either a family member, or someone they know such as a coach, teacher or church leader, according to Dr. Fred Berlin, founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic in Baltimore. Pedophilia and child sexual abuse are generally seen as morally wrong and abnormal by American society.
While some other cultures justify this sexual behavior through religion and culture; Americans normally do not. For instance, Jerry Sandusky was convicted of sexual assault, although he had a clinical diagnosis of histrionic personality disorder (HPD). As defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a person that is prone to flirtatiousness, attention seeking, and emotionally manipulative behavior. Sandusky was convicted last year of 45 counts of child sexual abuse and sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison. (Ferguson, 2012)
In Middle Eastern cultures because of the prophet Muhammad actions with Aisha a 6 year old bride, some Muslims have justified pedophilia
Pedophilia is a severe personality disorder that effects a small portion of people. Low self esteem, social efficiency and an overall feeling of inadequacy are all strong traits an individual with pedophilia possesses. The effect of such traits will be analyzed in this paper as it is a primary incentive for their criminal offenses. Pedophiles are separated into different groupings that contain a variety of motives that explain how long they will offend for and the specific reasons for why. Evolution also plays a crucial role in their offenses as it involves the competitive nature of mating. Demonstrating a low antisocial, low self worth, and need for power allows for their negative behaviours to thrive.
The issue of opportunity is a major factor in the sex offenses in Churches. In churches, opportunities for abuse are in activities such as taking children home after an activity or youth group, giving individual attention to a child, and being alone with children in summer camps. These opportunities allow priests to be alone with children without other adults being suspicious or concerned. Another factor in explaining the opportunity for abuse is the power and influence that clergy have. Since in the church, priests or ministers are influential in defining what is right and wrong, they may have the power to show abusive behavior as normal. Children are in a position that church workers can use their authority within the church to persuade a child to comply with sexual acts (Farrell & Taylor 2000). When authority is misused in this way it adds trauma to the abuse. The betrayal of trust involved is enormous, and for some victims it causes the difficulty to trust authority again.
Book Report: Identifying Child Molesters Carla van Dam states in Identifying Child Molesters, Preventing Child Sexual Abuse by Recognizing the Patterns of the Offenders that unlike how it currently is, the primary responsibility to prevent child sexual abuse should be placed on adults, rather than children. Child sexual abuse is the only child safety issue in which the main responsibility is placed on children. Adults take the main responsibility in child road safety, for example, by building cross walks, passing laws to make school buses that are unloading children illegal to pass, and holding children’s hands while crossing the street. It would make sense to establish similar boundaries and guidelines to prevent child sexual abuse. Children, comparably, are often unable to successfully put an end to their sexual abuse after it has already happened.
Sexual violation of a child is one of the world’s darkest crimes. In most cases the victim’s view of the world and themselves is completely changed. This paper will
With the Pandora’s Box opened, we may find ourselves forced to rediscover morality due to our natural tendencies. This does not mean accepting adult-child relationships. Figure 3 indicates if we are serious about protecting children, then that ultimately requires some level of understanding, which is a problem for most because that is dangerously close to compassion. On the contrary, the risk they pose is the very reason why we need to support pedophiles who do not want to become sex offenders. We all want the same thing. We do not want them to offend nor their potential victims to offend. In 2008, Michael Seto, a forensic psychologist, published a book stating that the onset of pedophilia is right around the stages of puberty, as with any other sexual orientation. I believe we can prevent a greater number of victims if we put more energy into early detection and providing support before the first offense occurs, rather than solely relying on punishment after the fact. We need to be thinking about the children that pedophiles once were and catch them at their vulnerable stages, which are during puberty. There we can find a sense of compassion and support to want to help. In 2014, Margo Kaplan, an associate professor at Rutgers School of Law, wrote an op-ed in New York Times stating that pedophilia is neurologically rooted, supporting Cantor’s research.
Sexual abuse can be hard to define because of the many different forms it can take on, the different levels of frequency, the variation of circumstances that can occur. Until a child is fit to function as a self-supporting and informed adult, we have an obligation not to take advantage of their lack of power or protection to inflict damage, or demand submission to acts that are not in their own best interests within. Children are being abused every day in different countries. While commonly accepted wisdom had been that childhood sexual abuse results in long lasting negative outcomes.
There has been much level headed discussion concerning why individuals carry out sexual violations. To the extent to what causes individuals to wind up sex wrongdoers, there is no genuine response to this inquiry. No single component can completely decipher why somebody submits a sexual offense, however it is trusted that some blend of variables may join to increment sexual deviancy significantly. These components incorporate natural, fortuitous, ecological, and sociocultural parts of the individual, depicting the advancement of anomalous sexual expression through the same instruments by which traditional sexuality is likewise learned (Terry and Tallon). There are various sub-hypotheses which have been intended to clarify the onset of
Cohen, Seghorn, and Calmas (1969) described three types of child molesters derived from their clinical studies. One type had a history of relatively normal functioning and the incident of molestation appears to reflect a reaction to a severe threat to their sense of sexual adequacy. Another type had a history of poor social-sexual functioning and is regarded as primitive and immature in terms of social-sexual skills. The last type they found in their study had offenses involving cruel and vicious assaults on children and the act of molestation is regarded as more aggressive then sexual. (Mc Creary, 1975)
Andrea born en New Jersey in 1946 and die April 9, 2005. She was origin from a Jewish family. She was a writer and activist and also a feminist. She was a person who fight for the right she was a fighter against violence towards women, and against pornography and prostitution. Her personal life was very radical and hard, abuse by her father as her first husband. She was devoted to the feminist struggle. Basically battles against pedophilia and violence against women. She wrote several books where she was famous for making pointed statements such “I am a feminist... not the fun kind.” Her first encounter was when she was arrested for making a protest against war in Vietnam. She went to prison where she suffered abuses by doctors and whom
In 2002 the Catholic Church was rocked with scandalous reports of Priests sexually molesting young children and particularly boys. The scandal is the result of numerous investigations, allegations, arrests, trials, convictions and imprisonment of Catholic Priests. It became largely reported that once trusted and respected Catholic Priests were pedophiles. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) categorizes pedophilia as a mental disorder if the sexual fantasies or urges involve prepubescent children , if they last six months or longer, if the individual has acted on them, or if they cause marked distress” (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).
The American Psychiatric Association has declared that pedophilia is no longer thought of as a mental disorder. In early studies, (DSM-III-R), pedophilia was characterized as a disorder if "the person acted out on the urges, or was markedly distressed by them" (Medinger 2). Nowadays, the diagnostic description is that pedophilia is a disorder if the offender is mentally impaired, agitated, or experiencing guilt as a result of what he is doing. In other words, a pedophile can "play" all he wants until he becomes irrational about it. Outwardly, the pedophile may, in today's society, seem to be a perfectly normal human being. Pedophilia, like homosexuality and transvestitism, is just a sexual preference (APA).
Most people consider pedophiles to be anyone who has committed a sex offense against a child and that all pedophiles will commit this offense. In both cases that is, at best, a half truth. The DSM-5, which is a tool that outlines the diagnostic criteria for a given disorder, defines pedophilic disorder as, “a paraphilia involving intense and recurrent sexual urges towards and fantasies about prepubescent children that have either been acted upon or which cause the person with the attraction distress or interpersonal difficulty.” With the latter half of this definition, we begin to open up to the idea that there are those who have sexual interests in children who have had no form of inappropriate contact with a child, but rather just have their daily life affected by the feelings that they are having toward
Throughout the ages, media and society have been concerned over children. Instead of youth as folk devils, children nowadays serve as the victims of folk devils (Critcher, 2002, p.532). With these trigger events popping up, stereotypes are gradually formed. In recent British history, Paedophile had become one of the most terrifying folk-devils (Jenkins, 1992, p.99). Paedophile behaviour is a moral panic one legal case and the panic is generally fuelled by the sensationalism of media in
Sexual offenses have happened for a long as people have been around. According to Derek Logue, sex crimes can be dated as far back as 1880 AD and even further back to the days of the bible (2012). Depending of the nature and severity of the crime committed there were many ways the offender could be punished (Logue, 2012). Logue stated that on page 12 of a book written by Philip Jenkins, it was found that the Middle Ages were to some extent an influence on sexual crimes (2012). In the days of the bible the offenders who chose to commit sexual crimes where seen simply as sinners that had turned away from God. They were seen as unholy or unclean and sexual immoral. Sexual crimes weren’t really that widely recognized until the 1800’s (Logue, 12, para 7). When it finally became a more public matter females victims were the most talked about. Even to this day, Jack the Ripper is one of the most well-known acts of sexual violence ever committed. In 2012, Logue mentioned that this is one of the cases that was brought to the public’s attention that led to this becoming a more well know crime in the media. People started to become more aware of these crimes and became “fascinated” will serial killers and sexual offenders. As a result of this stereotypes about sexual offenders where created (Logue, 2012). There are many people who believe that these sexual crimes are a direct violation to our
The current problem is the continued rise in child abuse and neglect today. Within the United States, the problem of child abuse and neglect is far much common than most people would like to admit. Sanchez (2012) stated that child maltreatment is a global epidemic and a major social problem in the United States resulting in at least 740, 000 visits to hospital emergency departments and more than $124 in child welfare, criminal justice, and health care. Norman, Byambaa, De, Butchart, Scott, and Vos (2012) also observed that child abuse and neglect is a global problem that is mostly perpetrated by parental guardians and parents. Sexual abuse is the infringement of a child’s