Anonymous
Anonymous asked:
Studies show that pedophilic attractions exist in a substantial percentage of nonpedophiles. You state you don't have a preference for prepubescent children, so what makes you identify as a pedophile? In what ways are you different from the millions of nonpedophiles who are also attracted to children to some degree?Ah! Thank you for these difficult questions! (It seems someone has done their homework!)
First of all, while I have heard anecdotal references to these studies, I am not exactly familiar with their findings. I don’t feel I can make an accurate comparison to their results until I do my own homework on them. I have informally toyed with the the idea that there might be a Kinsey-esque scale for pedophilia, but I do not have research to back that up.
“…what makes you identify as a pedophile?”
That is a question I think I will have to do a longer post on at some point. I guess the short version is that I am attracted to children; If I came out with this attraction publicly, society would certainly treat me as if I were a “true” pedophile, so I feel a strong kinship there, no matter what you classify me as. Besides, the definitions for pedophilia in the DSM are vague. The line that separates me from having pedophilia as a disorder is mostly made of my own personal opinion - it is not scientific. The LGBTQ community is very big on “you are X if you say you are X; you are not X if you say you are not X.” I have a similar attitude for pedophilia (keeping pedophilia as an aspect of sexuality separate from pedophiliac disorder).
“In what ways are you different…?”
Again, I do not really know. I have to do more research on this front. Maybe I am not “different” at all; especially if something like a Kinsey scale for pedophilia exists.