Pedophilia = not a crime

A reader sent me this New York Times op ed, "Pedophilia: A Disorder, Not a Crime" written by a law professor. I thought there were some pretty strong similarities to other hated mental disorders, and the comments section is a little disheartening with people talking about how this law professor would not be saying the things she is saying if she knew how disgusting and sick these pedophiles really are. One was from a prosecutor, talking about how he has prosecuted exactly two of these cases in which the details were apparently disturbing, so therefore feels like an expert on the subject: "These people don't need protection; children do." False dichotomy (can't they both need protection?), and one that you could really use for any class of people based on the actions of a few individuals, e.g. couldn't we make the same argument about NFL players based on their seemingly expressed propensity for violence (either on the field or with their wives and girlfriends?).

The article is worth reading in its entirety, but here is the probably the part that most closely parallels other maligned mental health disorders:

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines pedophilia as an intense and recurrent sexual interest in prepubescent children, and a disorder if it causes a person “marked distress or interpersonal difficulty” or if the person acts on his interests. Yet our laws ignore pedophilia until after the commission of a sexual offense, emphasizing punishment, not prevention.

Part of this failure stems from the misconception that pedophilia is the same as child molestation. One can live with pedophilia and not act on it. Sites like Virtuous Pedophiles provide support for pedophiles who do not molest children and believe that sex with children is wrong. It is not that these individuals are “inactive” or “nonpracticing” pedophiles, but rather that pedophilia is a status and not an act. In fact, research shows, about half of all child molesters are not sexually attracted to their victims.

A second misconception is that pedophilia is a choice. Recent research, while often limited to sex offenders — because of the stigma of pedophilia — suggests that the disorder may have neurological origins. Pedophilia could result from a failure in the brain to identify which environmental stimuli should provoke a sexual response. M.R.I.s of sex offenders with pedophilia show fewer of the neural pathways known as white matter in their brains. Men with pedophilia are three times more likely to be left-handed or ambidextrous, a finding that strongly suggests a neurological cause. Some findings also suggest that disturbances in neurodevelopment in utero or early childhood increase the risk of pedophilia. Studies have also shown that men with pedophilia have, on average, lower scores on tests of visual-spatial ability and verbal memory.

The Virtuous Pedophiles website is full of testimonials of people who vow never to touch a child and yet live in terror. They must hide their disorder from everyone they know — or risk losing educational and job opportunities, and face the prospect of harassment and even violence. Many feel isolated; some contemplate suicide. The psychologist Jesse Bering, author of “Perv: The Sexual Deviant in All of Us,” writes that people with pedophilia “aren’t living their lives in the closet; they’re eternally hunkered down in a panic room.”