Pedophilia and Psychology

Fr. Levi over at The Way Out There posted another article regarding the slipping of society as it falls further into the cesspool of degradation and disorder it seems hellbent on creating for itself.

The article deals with the "plight" of pedophiles who are demanding to be accepted as normal in the same way that homosexuals are now deemed "normal."  Incredibly, there are psychologists who want to help this along by removing Pedophilia from the list of mental disorders they list in their version of the Bible - the DSM. 

In an attempt to make people more aware that this was happening, I posted the link (along with the following commentary) onto my Facebook page:

'Cause no one saw this coming...

NAMBLA has been attempting to push for declassification of pedophilia for a while. So has IASHS. Homosexuality issue aside, this is severely disturbing that anyone in their right damn mind thinks it's even remotely okay to declassify this as a mental disorder.

Adults wanting to have sex with children is mentally disordered. There's simply no other way of looking at it.

"Oh, but these poor men and women who abused children must live with the stigma attached! They've gotta warn parents when they move into the area! They've gotta have 'the talk' with potential employers!"

Oh flippin' well. What about the children whose lives you shattered? What about what THEY are forced to endure for the rest of their lives?

You get to deal with moments of social awkwardness every now and again. They get to deal with shattered innocence, a void of trust, a shamed self-image, and the stigma of having endured your barbarity.

Your whining behind is lucky we don't still brand people on the forehead. Stop attempting to justify your mental disorder and just accept it for what it is so you can seek help to protect those children who you seek to harm!

BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE DOING! I don't care how much you think you love these children, you're outta your dang mind.

About 30 seconds later I got a "like" and an "AGREED!" comment (both from a family member of mine).  Another minute or so later, my good friend posted a video of the South Park parody that deals with NAMBLA's insistence that pedophilia is normal.  Otherwise, there was complete radio silence.

Now I'm not upset that I didn't get "likes" or "comments."  That's not why I post things.  I post them to educate... to make others aware.  However, I have to admit being slightly unsettled by the lack of feedback regarding this particular post.  Typically things this upsetting in nature solicit SOMETHING. 

My first thought was "Folks are steering clear of this because of the connection with homosexuality.  It makes them uneasy."

Well of course it does.  No one likes to look at the truth of this logic because it's somewhat similar to the crazy folks out there shouting that once we accept homosexuality, we'll accept people marrying goats, sheep or dinosaurs.

However, the fact remains that when a minority of folks force others to accept disordered conduct as a product of "It's just the way I am" then other minorities are able to do the same.  They're able to use the same arguments and the same tactics because from a logical standpoint, they've got accepted precedence. 

So I chalked it up to the fact that the majority of my friends are very pro-homosexual marriage and were bristling at the idea that I was advocating homosexuality and pedophilia being on the same wavelength (which I'm not... but people tend to automatically assume that about those of us who disagree with homosexual unions).

The next morning, though, I got two supremely disturbing messages through Facebook from a family member and an acquaintance I had gone to school with.  The first was from a family member who is both a woman, and a mother.  A MOTHER.  Keep that in mind.  The second was also from a woman (though she has no children).

Both stated very similar things, so I'll give you a quick summary. 

Gina, I would've posted this on your thread, but I didn't want to look like I condoned molestation.  The psychologists make a good argument for why pedophilia should be removed from the disorder list because they (the pedophilies) really can't help themselves.  It's unfair to be stigmatized for your entire life because of feelings you can't help.  They shouldn't have to suffer so cruelly just because they have strong affection for children.  They're good people, and they really try to love everyone.  There are chemical imbalances that make them aroused around children, and with the proper medicines, they could live out normal lives that don't involve harming children.

One even went so far as to suggest that children SHOULD be allowed to make the decision for themselves by the time they're 12 because "by that age, I was fully capable of deciding who I should or should not have sex with."

Go ahead and let that digest a little bit.

This person was 12 years old and already felt capable of deciding who she should or should not have sex with.  This means she was ALREADY deciding she SHOULD have sex with some folks (note that 'folks' is plural) at 12 years of age. 

Below is exactly how I felt upon reading those two letters.  I wanted to blast myself off the Earth because no... there is just no way that people can really, truly feel this way.  I simply do not want to live in a world that wishes to allow such perversion to walk around unabated because it's "just how they are."  NO.  My SON lives in this world, and allowing these folks to just "be who they are" without needing to warn ANY of the surrounding families leaves him open to some terrible, terrible things!

---

I promptly wrote back (with less charity than I should have, I'm ashamed to admit) that they were part of the problem.

I was so taken aback by the mother who agreed with this declassification.  She has children!  How would she feel if we just allowed these people to move from town to town completely undetected so they could harm more children?  If her son or her daughter were abused by a pedophile who was disordered to the point of thinking the abuse is not only OK, but DESIRED by her child, how would she feel when this person was allowed to move on to a new city to begin the process again?  How would she feel knowing her child could have been protected had society treated pedophilia as the mental disorder it is???

She wrote back that people do take pedophilia seriously.  No one wants to see children hurt by adults in any manner.  There were ways to control those desires, she said.

I agree.  There ARE ways of controlling those desires, but ya know what's a great deterrent?  Knowing that everyone is keeping an eye on you.

And the only way that folks really learn you're a pedophile is when you get caught... which means that you've already abused someone in the past in some way.  So guess what?  Punishment is that you get marked going forward as someone likely to harm a child.  Ya know why?  Because studies have shown that much like homosexuality, pedophilia isn't something that can be "cured."  It's simply a disorder of the brain.  It is a lifelong cross for those who bear it. 

Does that make pedophilias horrible, awful people?  No.  Not at all.  Much like the rest of us, they've got a particular cross to bear, and this is it.  It's a terrible one.  But considering how much danger they pose to children - the most innocent among us - this cross NEEDS to be public.  It NEEDS to be shared, because it is only in sharing this cross that they will be given the proper direction and support necessary to shoulder it properly.  The public NEEDS to help them, and that help will arrive in the form of policing their activities.  Not necessarily in an over-bearing "Who are you seeing today?" sort of way, but in an "We know you have an issue and we want to make sure that no temptations come your way... and if they do, you are able to handle them in the proper way because you know we're looking out for you" sort of way.

The only way for us to be able to "look out" for them is through knowing they've got an issue.  Knowing they've got a disorder is the only way we know to remove the temptation should it arise. 

Bah - I'll have to write more coherently later.  I just wanted to get that out there because I've been meaning to write about it for a while.  It's been banging around in my head since first reading it, and I can't help but feel completely unsettled that there are folks out there trying to push for this declassification. 

Anyone have experience with this?  Any words of wisdom on language to use to counter-act this line of thinking?