Is it right to demonise paedophiles? Are they just sick people needing help? Is the word evil subjective?

Answer 1

I find these responses interesting from a psychological stand point. I took a few psych classes in high school.
The way readers are responding to this question about pedophiles, is the same way mainstream people reacted to homosexuals around 30-plus years ago.
Homosexuals state they have a compulsive attraction to members of the same sex.
Pedophiles, in the same vein, have a compulsive attraction toward children.
I'm not advocating, nor condoning a pedophile's actions.
I'm merely pointing out the same compulsive behavior between two groups.

p.s. much as heterosexuals are compulsively attracted to the opposite sex.
Are pedophiles sick, and wrong?...yes.
look at it more from a psychological standpoint if they don't act upon their compulsions.
Criminal if they do.

p.s.
I've noticed some people saying society should kill them outright. Let me ask them this: Even the best of parents can get stuck with a child who grows into a law-breaking adult.
What if it were your child who grew into a pedophile? Would you be clamoring for your own offspring's execution? Or would you seek to understand what drove him/her to this point if their life?

Answer 2

a tricky subject.
before anyone reads any further please note I completely object and am disgusted by the acts of paedophiles.

I work in the legal system, and have come across many (possibly over 100) paedophiles - including children who commit acts against children.
the majority of these have been abused as children, or have some type of learning disability, extremely low IQ, or mental health issue.
its extremely sad that men (although I have seen women too, but to a lesser extent) can grow up to become whet they are. many of them, rightly so, are sickened by their actions. the whole situation, everyone involved, makes me feel immensely sad.
if these men were treated properly when they were boys, these crimes could have been avoided. saying that, they still go on to commit them, knowing its wrong - hence hiding it, blackmailing the child to keep quiet. so they are not so 'ill' that they do not know right from wrong, and should be punished for their actions and treated so for it never to happen again.

but can a person really change?
you're either gay, or straight. you like older women/men, those your same age, or those too young.
what these people see in children... how they can see them as a sexual object I dont know. there are no sexual chemicals eminating from children like adults, so its not a physical reaction. it must be mental.
i dont think we'll ever understand it.

but can we demonise them. yes, we CAN. should we demonise them.... I dont think we should.
they are sick people, they do need help, although I dont truly believe they can ever be cured - not yet anyway. i think its a gentic malfunction of some kind - and one day those clever scientists will notice it and it can be treated.
until then, they are in this society - the police need to take better measures to ensure they are tracked, and that their whereabouts is known.

as for the word evil - it is subjective. it's a feeling you get when a person does something wrong - very wrong.
but this does differ with people. some will say a person is evil for something relatively minor (ie - 'stealing' a partner); others use it sparingly for paedophiles, rapists etc.
sadistic may be a better term - they are enjoying what they do and someone else is being caused pain.

Answer 3

i think that the problem with them is that they are attacking innocent children who have done nothing to provoke them. adults give off signals, all a child wants to do is play and have fun, and i find it sad that even when i was a child (only 18 years ago) i was able to play in the street and my mum didn't have the constant threat of someone coming and taking me, i don't know why but it appears that recently there have been more chases of paedophelia, and it could be for many reasons, but personally i think that people find the internet a great tool for images which are just wrong and should not be seen by anybody. and for all we know many of these people may 'stumble' across an inappropriate image and like it while in normal circumstances they wouldn't even imagine anthing like that (i don't know if you can just stumble onto that kind of stuff though to be fair)

i'm not trying to justify what happens, personally i think they should be locked up for life (i think it's better than a death penalty for them as remember Brady and hindley, although it's a different thing, they missed the death penalty by about a week and both said they would have preffered it because of the treatment they got from inmates) people don't forgive any act which involves a child as they are defenseless

however, in history it has been acceptable for a young girl to be 'sold' to the highest bidder at a brothel, i'm not saying this is right either!

but is a paedohpils someone who has thoughts about anyone under age, is a 17 year old with a 15 year old girlfriend a paedophile? i remember when i was at school at the age of 14 many of my friends were going out with 20 year olds (i don't know why, a bit creepy if you ask me) so were they paedophiles?

i don't think we will ever find a cause for paedophiles because we don't understand it, and to be perfectly honest i don't think somebody would want to. as far as i'm concerned it's nature and nurture, maybe they were missing affection as a child so feel that need to replace this? or maybe they haven't left their own personal childhood so do not see it as wrong.

but i don't think they should be able to be put into society near a school or nursery, it's like an giving an alcoholic a job in a bar! (i know it's very different but you know)

Answer 4

Evil is subjective, in history the age of sex would now be classified as an offence, and in some countires the age of sex would still be classified as an offence, fathers used to own thier daughters and could sell them to dirty old men if they wished. but society has progressed and become more civilised and by definition in todays society i think they have to be 'sick' to do the stuff that they do, they are deviating from societies norms and going against what we are socialised into thinking is right or wrong. i do think they need help, we as a society also need to gain understanding discover whether there is something that we can do to prevent future generations getting 'sick'. i do however think its also right to demonise paedophiles, they know what they do is wrong, they know they are harming others and if they cant help themselves, they could turn themselves in to recieve help, the demonising of paedophiles also prevents more people from thinking its acceptable and believing they could also get away with it. children are the innocents of society and they should be protected, if someone wants to abuse their position and take away a childs innocence then they are doing it with the knowledge that they will be demonised, hopefully this discourages a lot of people who would otherwise dabble in it, social exclusion can be a powerful deterrant, for those who it does not work for (paedophiles), should be locked up for life and studied.

Answer 5

I don't believe they are sick - this is not something that can be treated. It is, however it sounds, a sexual preference. To protect children from this kind of abuse and make them aware that some people will actually enjoy hurting them in the worst way possible I do believe they need to be demonised. Children should be taught that monsters DO exist.

Answer 6

There is no cure fo them, that has been proven by the ones that go through so called rehabilitation then are released to rape and murder again.

A paedophile cannot be changed as it is their sexual nature to be this way. The same as I am straight and no one could rehabilitate me to be gay.

I fully support megans law in the US and its about time the UK got saras law implemented so we can protect our children.

here in the UK most people will have read recently about a paedophile being in a halfway house right by a nursery - well I live near there, and was totally horrified to think I have ben walking around with my toddler near such evil perverts.

My cousin and friend were kidnapped by a paedo when they were 11, he drugged them, raped them, sodomised them with foreign objects, stabbed them and left them for dead. Luckily they survived and all the pervert got was 14 years.

For ruining two litle girls lives.

They cannot be cured, they should be sent down for life so they cant destroy another innocent childs life.

Answer 7

Alot of people think of paedophiles as ill,personally,i dont think paedophilia is an illness,i think its a perversion.
I will not understand how anyone can do what they do to a child and feel this is 'normal'.
To try to understand these people is a fete in its self.
I do not want to understand these people nor do i want to know anyone like this.
I have no children but i do have nephews and a niece and if i found out someone like this hurt any of them,i would hunt them down and do the most unimaginable things.
Anyway how is everyone?
christy

Answer 8

no it is not right to demonsise paedophiles, however they do deserve to be taught a bloody good lesson. they are lonely people that cant get a girlfriend so they choose people that dont make the right desicions yet. the world is not eveil just has a few evil people in it.

Answer 9

Someone who has a brain tumor that makes them act a certain way deserves sympathy. A pedophile deserves no such mercy. That's LEARNED behavior, not genetic abnormality or some kind of sickness. Just because something's in the DSM doesn't make it treatable.

Answer 10

They're sick. Paedophilic thoughts might come naturally to them, but they don't need to act on them

fcuking scum, you are for asking, you should kill yourself, I know someone whose life was ruined by a paedophile