What causes PEDOPHILIA?

Question

What makes adults look at children as potential sex objects/partners? Are pedophiles attracted exclusively to kids, or do they also like adults?

Can they be successfully treated? (I ask this last question because they are usually "branded" for life, which makes me think that whatever treatment there is for them may not have a very good success rate.)

Thanks!

Arcane Idiocy, your reply was thoughtless and incorrect. I'm a born-again Christian, not a scientist, and even I recognize pedophilia as a severe psych-disorder.

Answer 1

Sam, those individuals are mentally sick, and there is no cure for their illness. It is not something they are born with, it is an overabundance of inadequacies and lack of social skills to be able to interact with others that leads them to terrorize and abuse children. Their victims are small, timid, powerless and frightened to death, and they have no way of fighting them off. It is a pathetic reasoning that they use to explain their behaviors. They feel they are deserving of what ever they need that provides their need to feel power over someone else, as they have no power or control over their own selves. There is no cure, they can not be rehabilitated, it has been proven over and over that they continue their predatory and abusive behavior until they are imprisoned. I understand that in several cases they have been victims themselves, but that does not excuse them from continuing to abuse. In cases such as those, they can and should seek assistance so as not to repeat what harm has been done to them. There is no excuse for anything else. They know enough to stalk, plan, kidnap, avoid leaving any evidence, lie, they know exactly what they are doing, and they are fully ware that what they are doing is wrong. No excuses.

Answer 2

That is a Very Wide Question. What Causes? There are a thousand Excuses given for this. Pick any one that you like. Can it be Treated Successfully=== Not from what I have seen in the Field. Just Like any other Addiction---- once a Pedophile, Always a Pedophile. I personally have worked with Hundreds of Pedophiles in Different settings, Every One Of Them Has Gone Back to Abusing Children. Best Cure? A Bullet to the Head would Cure it. But, be sure to use a BIG GUN. Death Stops Pedophilia, nothing else does.

Answer 3

What you have there is the $64M question! If you discover the answer, you will benefit society enormously. The cure-rate isn't great. Treatment varies from aversion therapy to incarceration. I hope you can delvelop a much better treatment. All would benefit. Pedophiles much prefer children. Otherwise, with the societal onus, and the length of sentence (it is a felony, and a big one, as it is a crime against children) -noone would do it. Apparently self-control isn't the answer.... Many pedophiles also have a spouse, and children of their own... Maybe it's genetic, and you will isolate the gene, and fix it... it's a good thought.

Answer 4

From what I understand, most pedophiles were molested as children. Somehow, when they don't properly deal with all of the psychological issues that causes, they deal with their issues by molesting other children.

Sex offenders are branded for life, at least here in the states, with increasing regulations on where they can go or live, after they get out of prison. Some sex offenders have requested chemical castration, but it remains to be seen whether this can truly quell their urge to molest children.

Answer 5

Probably not genetic wiring, since children cannot reproduce.. It would be very anti-survival for any genetic attraction to having sex with children before their reproductive age, to remain in the gene pool.
Childhood molestation often leads to promiscuity, but not necessarily to pedophilia. My shrink told me this.
According to profilers, it's power and powerlessness. The pederast has no validation for a normal sexual identity, and so is drawn to powerless children, that he can have power over. Sickness, somehow spawned in mental frustration. Sodomy (sex with animals) might come from the same basic dilemma. All humans have that "crisis" point in life:--what to do with the sex urges?
There is treatment, but "cure" remains to be found.

Answer 6

One word

INTERNET


25 years ago, Internet wasn't around much at all in those times and it wasn't a huge problem, but today since technology is grown so much, there are some people out there that couldn't get off their computers and look at Porn all day long, when they look at Porn all day long, that could lead to other things too, like looking at Kiddie porn because they were exposed to much of it everyday giving them access to almost everything that doesn't show in the mainstream media.

It's growing every year, and it's a scary thing... a few Males and Females in this world are into PEDOPHILIA, and it's sickening.

Answer 7

Many things can cause pedophilia. Early experiences, their behavior is learned through seeing their parents, they have a strong-sex-drive, their cognitive thoughts, sexually abused when they where younger... etc... As far as treatment, they can undergo psychosocial theraphy where they learn to change their sexual associations. For example, they connect arounsing thoughts to something dangerous. Orgasmic reconditioning is also good. With theraphy, when they are about to orgasim, they change those thoughts from children, to a woman. It can be done! Last is aversive conditioning when they are "shocked" everytime they think of children.

Answer 8

There have been very few successful rehabilitations of pedophiles. Pedophiles are generally raised in moral-less households. They usually do it because they enjoy the power to be able to take another person's innocence.

Answer 9

The majority of pedophiles were abused themselves. I also blame the media, which glorifies preteen girls and portrays them in a sexual light (Bratz dolls, thong underwear for 10 year olds?!!?)

There is no known cure for pedophiles - chemical castration, medication and therapy treatments have all been unsuccessfull.

Answer 10

Maybe they had their first sexual experiences as children. They may have been molested themselves. Our early experiences form us in so many ways. It's a terrible cycle. Yet some people overcome abuses like this. I wonder how some people overcome it, and some don't.