Pedophilia
Human Sexual Evolution, Morality, Informed Consent, Prevention Strategies, History & Cultural Views of Child Sexuality, Abuse

Hello. Thanks for visiting our evolutionary philosophy of human sexuality pages. We are currently researching good quality sites relating to our biological and cultural sexual evolution - as a way of collecting and presenting the most important / latest knowledge and research.

Below you will find summaries of articles & websites on Pedophilia, i.e. definitions, statistics, latest research on evolution & human sexuality, arousal, psychology, sex education, morality, informed consent, orientation, pedophile prevention & counseling. See our related pages on child sexual abuse and child pornography.

With the strong emotions surrounding child sexual abuse and pedophilia, it is difficult for genuine science research to be heard. So please appreciate this is an educational / philosophy website - we are not 'pro-pedophilia' but 'pro-truth'. The truth is that pedophilia exists in society, we need to understand why (etiology) to develop effective prevention strategies and an informed sexual morality founded on the truth of human sexual evolution.

Though many people will not like this conclusion, it seems that humans (in our ancestry) have most likely evolved to have an instinct for sexual relations with children (given certain environmental factors). Why must we conclude this?
There are four main reasons;

1. Sexual relations with children (pedophilia) have existed throughout history, and across all cultures. This eliminates culture as a cause, leaving our biological evolution as the only explanation.

2. Some argue (rather naively) that sex only concerns reproduction, and since children are not fertile, we could not evolve to have sexual relations with them. However, it is clear that copulation serves multiple functions (bonding, building immune system, hormone function, ...) all of which would be beneficial to both children and adults.

3. Other species engage in 'pedophilia'.

4. Search results (adult / sexual) relating to children are very high.

Now this obviously does not mean that we support child sexual abuse and pornography (even though these may be evolved instincts). Humans have also evolved a moral instinct, of which two central pillars must be Informed Consent, and Do Not Harm Others. Based on this pedophilia and child pornography both cause children harm, and are immoral. However, what is most important is to minimise harm in the future, and we strongly believe that an evolutionary approach (knowing the truth about things) is the best solution.

The top related searches are;
pedophilia (2,770), pedophilia stories (200), pedophilia sex (60), paedophilia (90), pedophile (1,500)
The related terms 'child p*rn' (18,000), 'lolita' (48,000) and 'preteen' (40,000) are significantly higher.

(For comparison also see: Internet Search Results - Top 200 Internet Search Terms)

There are actually a lot of good academic articles and websites on paedophilia where people are trying to help improve things. We believe that understanding the truth about our diverse sexual evolution is the best foundation from which to build better human relations. We hope you find the following articles & websites informative and useful.
Karene Jade Howie

Definitions of Pedophilia

Pedophilia, is the paraphilia of being sexually attracted primarily or exclusively to prepubescent or peripubescent children. A person with this attraction is called a pedophile or paedophile. In contrast to the generally accepted medical definition, the term pedophile is also used colloquially to denote significantly older adults who are sexually attracted to adolescents below the local age of consent, as well as those who have sexually abused a child.
The word comes from the Greek paidophilia (pais - child) and (philia - love, friendship).

The term paedophilia erotica was coined in 1886 by the Vienna psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his writing Psychopathia Sexualis. He gave the following characteristics:
* the sexual interest is toward children, either prepubescent or at the beginning of puberty
* the sexual interest is the primary one, that is, exclusively or mainly toward children
* the sexual interest remains over time

Use of the term pedophile to describe all child sexual offenders is seen as problematic by some people, especially when viewed from a medical standpoint, as the majority of sex crimes against children are perpetrated by situational offenders rather than people sexually preferring prepubertal children.
Some individuals, such as Dr. Fred S. Berlin, assert sexual attraction to children to be a sexual orientation in itself. Dan Markussen, spokesman for Danish Pedophile Association, argues that 'sexual orientation is defined as a lifelong attraction, which pedophilia obviously is.'

Definitions of Pedophilia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedophile

Sexual Politics: Gender, Feminism, Homosexuality & Pedophilia

From the essay: 'This article will develop a model of sexual politics by discussing the struggles over feminism and homosexuality, and then use the model to clarify the current political situation of pedophiles. Though the issues have shifted from the new woman, sodomy and masturbation in the early part of the century to current concerns with promiscuity, homosexuality and pedophilia, the general patterns of sexual politics have remained remarkably stable.
... Like homosexuality, the concept of child molestation is a culture and class specific modern creation. Though Americans consider intergenerational sex to be evil, it has been permissible or obligatory in many cultures and periods of history.'

Harris Mirkin. Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 37, No. 2, 1999

An Essay on Sexual Politics: Gender, Feminism, Homosexuality & Pedophilia
http://www.ipce.info/ipceweb/Library/mirkin_text.htm

Homophobia & Pedophilia

From the website: 'Gay people have often been portrayed as a threat to children. In recent years, antigay activists have routinely asserted that gay people are child molesters. The empirical research does not show that gay or bisexual men are any more likely than heterosexual men to molest children. This is not to argue that homosexual and bisexual men never molest children. But there is no scientific basis for asserting that they are more likely than heterosexual men to do so. Many child molesters cannot be characterized as having an adult sexual orientation at all; they are fixated on children.'

Read More: The Anti-Gay Movement, Homosexuality, Pedophilia & Child Molestors

Pedophilia, Sexual Orientation and Birth Order

From the website: 'This study examined the birth order in a sample of pedophiles. Charts of 338 pedophiles, assessed from 1980 - 1994 in the Behavioural Sexology Department of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, were reviewed for family-demographic information. In total, 170 (57 heterosexual pedophiles, 68 homosexual pedophiles, and 45 bisexual pedophiles) of these men had sufficient sibling information to be included in the analyses.

The results indicated that homosexual or bisexual pedophiles had a later birth order than heterosexual pedophiles and that this effect was primarily the result of the homosexual / bisexual group being born later among their brothers. The results extend previous findings that homosexual men, regardless of sample composition, have a later birth order than comparable groups of heterosexual men. The results also challenge some existing theories on the nature and origins of pedophilia.'

Pedophilia, Sexual Orientation and Birth Order
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9131853&dopt=Abstract

Note - This article is restricted to APA members. Otherwise you have to pay $11.95 to read this study.

Does Sexual Abuse in Childhood cause Pedophilia?

From the website: 'The reliability of the notion that pedophilia is caused by sexual abuse in childhood was explored by examining retrospective self-reports of 344 males.

The analysis of self-reports confirmed that the proportion of pedophiles who report having been sexually abused in childhood is larger than that of men who were not charged for or accused of a sex offense against a child though the difference is relatively small.

Further analysis demonstrated that pedophiles who admitted having an erotic interest in children more often claimed that they had been sexually abused as children than pedophiles who did not admit having such feelings. This interdependence renders the reliability of these self-reports questionable.'

Read More: Does Sexual Abuse in Childhood cause Pedophilia: A Study

Celibacy, Pedophilia and the Church

From the essay: 'Sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests is and has been a problem known to every bishop in America. Many or most of these bishops and their chancery officials have been, unwittingly or not, accomplices of child abusers.

... Celibacy is not the cause of pedophilia. But celibacy as idealized, institutionalized and mandated by the church provides an ideal environment for those men whose sexuality (and personality) development has been arrested at an immature level leading to their inability to establish intimate relations with another adult.'

Read More: Celibacy, Pedophilia and the Church

Child Pornography & Link to Abuse of Children Unclear

If someone downloads child pornography onto their computer, is that an indication they're a pedophile, or might become one in the future? That question is gaining the attention of forensic psychiatrists as never before, thanks to recent legislation making possession of Internet child pornography a federal crime.
According to Dr. Charles L. Scott, associate professor of clinical psychiatry, two federally commissioned studies, one in 1970 and 1980, failed to find a strong correlation between viewing erotica and acting out sexually.

Read More: Child Pornography Link to Abuse / Pedophilia is Unclear

This Page Title: 'Pedophilia Prevention Strategies Founded on Human Sexual Evolution. History & Cultural Views of Child Sexuality, Abuse'.
The main sexuality pages on the evolution of our diverse sexual behaviors have good content and are well worth browsing (see links at top of page). And the list of related sexuality terms that people actually search is informative (to say the least!).
Want to be Involved? Join us in this research, which provides an excellent opportunity to present to the world the latest knowledge about the thing we all find most interesting - sex! The work will not just benefit humanity, it will profoundly enhance your own sexuality as you learn more about our complex and diverse sexual evolution.
We seek help in finding the latest scientific (evolutionary) research on our biological and cultural sexual evolution and distributing content (overviews / summaries) to relevant pages.
This site is well respected. We are listed as the Top Philosophy Website on the Internet with around 500,000 page views each week. So your contributions will be seen and read, and will be providing humanity with a great source of wisdom about a very important subject (that currently suffers due to cultural / religious myths).

If you would like to be involved (or have comments about this website) please write to us using the form lower on this page. Many thanks! Karene

Analyse any human emotion, no matter how far it may be removed from the sphere of sex, and you are sure to discover somewhere the primal impulse, to which life owes its perpetuation. ... The primitive stages can always be re-established; the primitive mind is, in the fullest meaning of the word, imperishable. ... Mans most disagreeable habits and idiosyncrasies, his deceit, his cowardice, his lack of reverence, are engendered by his incomplete adjustment to a complicated civilisation. It is the result of the conflict between our instincts and our culture. (Sigmund Freud)

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Pedophilia, Child, Prevention, Strategies, Human, Sexual, Evolution, Abuse, Morals, Pedophile, Law