Will Pedophilia Be 'Defined Down'?
Earlier this week, John Rossomando at The Daily Caller reported that a conference was being held to push to redefine pedophilia to curtail the stigma for "minor-attracted persons." They're pushing the American Psychological Association to redefine pedophilia in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. (The APA did not participate in the conference.)
The liberal media has been quiet, leaving this to social conservatives in the alternative media. But the liberals at Salon.com were willing to take a crack at an "emotionless" evaluation of definitions. While expressing some skepticism, Tracy Clark-Flory concluded:
There is a general consensus within the medical community that pedophilia is a sexual orientation and as such is unlikely to change, so treatment focuses on helping them to suppress their desires through psychotherapy and medication. Fred Berlin, director of the Sexual Behavior Consultation Unit at Johns Hopkins and an expert presenter at today's event, compares it to the sort of treatment people with drug addiction or alcoholism go through. "They need to learn to not give in to cravings which are satisfying and very pleasurable but which their intellect and their conscience and society is telling them they ought not to act on," he told me by phone. "Now, can everybody succeed? No, but there are large numbers of people who experience these attractions and with proper help go on and don't continue to offend. There is good evidence to show that that's the case."
He says many pedophile activists are concerned that the term "has become a stigmatizing pejorative," a way of saying "that somebody is less than human." They're unlikely to get much sympathy from the general public for being stigmatized, but Berlin says it's in society's best interest to resist demonizing them. "The idea is to try to get folks who are sexually attracted to children to come forward and get help before acting so that children are not harmed," he said. "That's certainly a goal that I would fully support." He adds: "None of us as little children sit down and ask ourselves the question, 'Do I want to grow up to be attracted to men or to women, to boys or to girls?' Nobody sits down, reflects about that and then decides," he argues. "If someone realizes while growing up that they're attracted to pre-pubescent children, it seems to me it is very important for them to know that there are places they can go to get help before they act on those feelings."
This debate goes far beyond the push by pedo-activists, raising fundamental questions within the medical community about how we define mental illness. Controversially, the proposed DSM adds hebephilia (attraction to pubescent children) to the entry for pedophilia (attraction to pre-pubescents), creating the hybrid "pedohebephilic disorder." Psychiatry professor Richard Green, founding president of the International Academy of Sex Research, wrote in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, "In several European countries, the age of legal consent to have sex falls within the range proposed for the DSM as signifying mental disorder for the older participant," he writes. "If the general culture is accepting of participation by the younger party, but psychiatry pathologizes the participation by the older party, then the mental health profession pronounces a moralistic standard and, if successful, becomes an agent of social control."
Few of us in the general public are capable of thinking about pedophiles, or hebephiles, in emotionless, scientific terms -- but, luckily, we aren't the ones charged with treating them, or defining who "they" are.
- Tim Graham's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Ewwww
Submitted by shawn. on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 10:48am.
Ewwww
pedo-marriage rights
Submitted by bkeyser on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 10:58am.
soon to follow.
What's the big deal?
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 12:22pm.
They're in the process of redefining "marriage." What's the problem with redefining "consenting" and "adult?"
And to the academics that will support this, I know better than to ask if they would be ok with one of their children having sex with an adult. I have no doubt that they would approve.
Yeah now I will be able to
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:19pm.
Yeah now I will be able to marry my sweetheat, she cant help it she is an adolescent cat.
Bizarre
Submitted by lrgon on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 10:34pm.
A wag once said that he never met a shrink that didn't need one.
Soon to follow,
Submitted by UpNorth on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 11:05am.
demonization of pedophobes.
Already underway, UpNorth
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 11:24am.
And of course, Fox is responsible.
They're "fanning the flames of intolerance."
Western society is committing suicide
Submitted by Free Stinker on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 11:49am.
Western society is committing suicide.
"Does thinking you're the only sane man left in the world mean you're crazy?" -- Will Smith in I, Robot
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
And commission of the
Submitted by bkeyser on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 11:25am.
USS Nambla
Gives a whole new meaning to being "piped aboard."
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 11:27am.
.
It'll be a sub
Submitted by bkeyser on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 11:34am.
cause the little ones fit better in those confined spaces.
USS Nambla Where sailors
Submitted by stratman on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 5:42pm.
USS Nambla
Where sailors volunteer to swab the poop deck.
excuse me whilst I vomit
Submitted by Free Stinker on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 11:32am.
There is already a French designer making lingerie for girls as young as four.
Drudge had that story a few days ago. . .
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Not surprising. The "Hello
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 11:33am.
Not surprising. The "Hello Kitty" has a line of thongs for young girls...and I don't mean flip-flops.
Glad to see you picked up on this, Tim
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 11:34am.
A couple of us linked to it the other day in the Corey Feldman thread.
I remember Dr. Laura talking about this years ago, and she was poo-pooh-ed as fanning hysteria.
It's all about incrementalism with these people, from tolerance to acceptance to celebration to normalcy with opponents tarred as the ones who are abnormal.
Building a road to Hell ...
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:21pm.
Building a road to Hell ... one brick at a time.
MB
Submitted by Radical1979 on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 10:15pm.
By the way, I sent a link for the link YOU sent to a bunch of people. We really need to spread the word on this and make people aware. Now I'm hoping NOT to be a grandmother some day. The world is to darn disgusting.
This from the Salon comments
Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 12:26pm.
"Homosexuality used to be considered a mental illness until wiser and cooler heads prevailed."
Wiser? Cooler? Other homosexuals?
Ann Barnhardt
Submitted by Blonde on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 12:30pm.
(she of the bacon-bookmarked Koran burning video) has an interesting take on the ulterior motives behind this.
Handy Reference Guide to Obama's Gaffes and Goofs ~ Currently Numbering 200 (and Counting)
That piece reminded me
Submitted by bkeyser on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:29pm.
of a photoshop I did almost two years ago.
Sick, BK, so funny but so sick.
Submitted by UpNorth on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 3:19pm.
I wasted most of a glass of lemonade on that one.
Maybe when enough parents have put enough bullets into these
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:47pm.
...sick freaks, this BS will stop.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Dave, we can't even get rid of the resident one here @ NB.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 2:51pm.
.
I disagree with some of the implications
Submitted by gopcongress on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 3:02pm.
Let me be clear: Pedophilia is a crime when it is actually committed.
But looking at the article, I do NOT see where anyone is actually CONDONING the practice, as Graham implies. Dr. Berlin is not by any means of the imagination encouraging or even condoning pedophilia, at least from the linked article.
Berlin only states the results of his long experience in studying the reasons for pedophilia and hebephilia. And I AM troubled, to a degree, that stigmatizes self-recognition of an addiction or condition that, if carried out, would be a criminal or at least a morally or health-destroying activity.
Let's give some examples. Alcoholism is not a societal problem when someone acknowledges that he is addicted to alcohol and wants to get help in preventing his actually drinking. However, his drinking DOES become a societal problem when he drinks to the point of affecting others through criminal or non-criminal actions, such as DUI, spousal abuse, and job neglect. So if he goes to someone or an organization to prevent him from drinking, at this point he is considered successful because he is taking action to prevent himself from acting on his addictions.
Closer to home: Sex is also not a societal problem when one acknowledges that he is addicted to sex and wants to get help in preventing his actual thoughts that would not be conducive to his own best interests. However, if he did act out on some of his deviant actions, he can be subject to moral, perhaps civil penalties, and in the event of non-consent, rape and assault charges. So if he goes to someone or an organization to prevent him from acting out on these deviant sexual thoughts, at this point he is considered successful because he is taking action to prevent himself from acting on his addictions. Tiger Woods comes to mind here.
Now, consider an individual's thoughts on wanting to stop his pedophilia tendencies. The plain fact is that we are all appalled when illegal sexual activity takes place between an adult and a child, as it should be. But what Berlin is talking about is the stigmatization of even admitting to a licensed sexologist about such thoughts. In most cases, even thoughts like this are required to be reported to the police, who launches an investigation to see if any actual illicit activity has taken place. Such investigations cannot happen in a vacuum, and have dynamic consequences such as exposing the individual as a deviant. Once this happens, there is no incentive for such an individual to approach someone else to help him with his addictive tendencies... in which case serious consequences may result, such as an actual crime against a child.
THIS is what I gather. My take is just because the vast majority of us find such activity, when it happens, disgusting (including me), or even to discuss, as long as someone identifies his tendencies, he should have somewhere to go to work from acting out on them BEFORE he succumbs. While I harbor NO sympathy for anyone who commits such a crime, I do have strong reservations against a societal more that PREVENTS individuals from seeking help from the predilections that lead to the crime. I don't see any "downgrading" of pedophilia to societal acceptance by any stretch of my rational and constitutional imagination.
"The news and truth are not the same thing." -Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
Oddly enough, one troll is avoiding this thread like the plague.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 3:21pm.
You know, the one that threadjacks virtually every posting and is on here 18+ hours a day. I wonder why?
~Whaddaya know..
Submitted by Wrathful Brunette on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 3:29pm.
His instinct for self-preservation isn't entirely atrophied.
SoL: There's more than one
Submitted by stratman on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 5:50pm.
SoL:
There's more than one that fits that description.
Right, Strat
Submitted by SickofLibs on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 5:58pm.
What was I thinking?
Bad Medicine
Submitted by stratman on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 7:16pm.
There's rabid "consensus" among the Left that Anthropogenic Global Warming is fact. Unfortunately for them (and the rest of us until this myth is shunned), the data is corrupt in parts and contorted in other areas in order to reach their conclusion. Consensus does not necessarily mean fact. Sometimes, consensus is just another word for groupthink.
I'll bet a sizable number of these supporters, both laypeople and physician, have no problem demonizing the Right.
First, that "several European countries" allow children to have sex with adults (how "progessive"!) should have little impact on how America decides her values. Sodom and Europa have been decaying for over a century, their economic rot as one indicator of their cultural cesspool. (Thanks a lot Europe, you assclowns, for exporting the ebola virus of ideology - Marxism - to our shores.) Second, the mental health profession already pronounces moralistic standards. They are embodied in the DSM as to what constitutes pathology. Schizophrenia is not a normal variant of human existence. There is neither benefit nor functional stability within society (and probably a shortened lifespan if uncontrolled even without society's presence) for an uncontrolled schizoprenic. Hence, by detailing and categorizing schizophrenia, the DSM does make judgements, including moral judgements, albeit obtusely, on pathologies. Third, I am glad to hear that psychiatry professor Richard Green is concerned about who and how people may become agents of social control. I'll bet he votes straight Democrat. How's Obama et al working out for you on the anti-moralistic agents of social control front, Richard?
Several years ago, a new law allowed a minor to decide against cancer treatment despite medical advice to the contrary - Abraham's Law. Previously, the refusal of parents to obtain treatment for their child could be ruled neglect by the courts, which would force parents to comply and have the child undergo treatment. While some may see this as a victory, others as a natural extension of emancipation of minors, or as a hideous legislative overreach, I viewed it as a powerful tool of pedophile organizations and the attorneys representing them in their incrementalism towards normalizing/decriminalizing pedophilia. If a child can make legal decisions about their own death - refusing cancer treatment - then why not that same minor able to legally make decisions on whom he has sex with regardless of age? Abraham's Law, one borne out of well intended people, is more grease on the slippery slope to further morral/societal decay, whether intended or not.
Who signed into law Abraham's Law? Former Virgina Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, who was Democratic Party Chairman before Debbie WheresMyBrain Shultz (of the WheresMyBrain crime family syndicate), and current Senate hopeful.
What medical community is making this consensus?
Submitted by drsamherman on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 7:53pm.
Certainly none of the psychiatrists I know across the political spectrum.
Pedophilia is NOT a sexual orientation. It is defined as a paraphilia, an Axis 1 diagnostic category that includes such "orientations" as autoerotic asphyxiation, bestiality, necrophilia and other such pleasant and wholesome thoughts.
I will re-state that removing pedophilia (and other paraphilias) from the DSM is an extremely STUPID idea. Doing so will cause an avalanche of criminal appeals from the basest of offenders--those who commit sexual assault (or other term as defined by appropriate law) on those who are legally and emotionally incapable of conferring consent to sexual activity.
Having the thoughts is one thing, but those with paraphilias more often act upon them to some degree. This results in exploitation of those incapable of consent (legally or otherwise).
Stigmatization is a natural inhibition to those who otherwise cause harm to themselves or others when acting on paraphilias. If the APA is stupid enough to remove or substantially alter the paraphilia definitions towards normalization, you can count on the law of unintended consequences striking back with a vengeance.
I will remind Richard Green that mental health professionals have been instrumental in setting moral standards for years within the diagnostic process, e.g. defining when someone is legally competent to handle their own affairs or not. How he derives that somehow mental health professionals should not be involved in setting societal standards through the ethics that guide their practices is just ridiculous. As far as an "agent of social control", he sounds more like a Scientologist.
Not all of them are crazy
Submitted by lrgon on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 10:40pm.
Dr. Judith Riesman who has spent decades researching and exposing efforts to normalize pedophilia in society said the efforts by mental health professionals to normalize pedophilia is a continuation of a strategy she observed decades ago. “I first met up with what I had come to call ‘the Academic Pedophile Lobby’ in 1977 at the British Psychological Society Conference on Love and Attraction, Swansea, Wales,” Riesman told LifeSiteNews.
She recalled that other researchers and academics at the conference, “some hired by pornographers, presented ‘scientific’ papers advocating the legalization of child pornography, prostitution, and an end to age of consent. They promoted their ‘scientific’ claims for early childhood sexuality to lawmakers and fellow academicians via both legitimate and pornographic media.”
Riesman charged that, even without the changes desired by the people at the American Psychiatric Asso. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders “is typical of this degeneracy since they already had lightened the diagnosis of pedophilia as to make it almost meaningless, requiring that the pedophile be ‘bothered’ by his and her abuse of children and so on. We now have women and children sexually violating children as well as men.”
Riesman warned that such degeneracy “will continue to spiral down into, well, we’d have to say the abyss of hell, unless we retrieve our laws, our mass media, and our schools.”
The loon lrgon PLARIARIZES again.
Submitted by The Vet on Mon, 11/28/2011 - 6:49pm.
The loon cribbed his entire post without attribution from here.