On Pedophilia
Repost from old blog, 2/16/2007
Is there anything sadder than a pedophile?
Born with his predilection, the pedophile is forced to make a choice: submit to his desires, either through pornography or child rape, and live life as a criminal, most likely ruining young lives in the process. Or, remain a slave to his sexual proclivities for the entirety of his life, always knowing that he is a freak and a degenerate, never able to truly accept himself or love himself in a society where he is unilaterally demonized.
In a country as oversexually stimulated as America, to maintain a neutered state of mind must be a challenge. We are bombarded with the sexualized images of young children – youth is put at a premium. It’s all “look – but don’t look too closely – and certainly don’t touch.”
As a gay man, I sympathize with the plight of the pedophile, even as I see their actions as repellent. I know what it’s like to be born differently, to not have any control over your desires even when you most want to. There was no way I could have lived a straight life. And there is no way a pedophile can live a life any other way.
This makes me question nature. Isn’t nature supposed to make sense? If a person is born with certain desires, shouldn’t they be able to act on them?
No. Nature doesn’t make sense – nature is as chaotic and uncompromising as it is beautiful and nurturing. So living beings will always have to die to keep other beings alive. So violence is essential for creation. So we’ve been given brains large enough to devise things (nukes) capable of destroying all of this.
It’s life. I guess no one ever said it was easy, but I’m going to say that sometimes: Life Sucks.
6 Comments
Feb 17, 2007 @ 00:51:00
Well said.
Nov 13, 2011 @ 21:36:44
Yep. Acknowledging that I often find myself aroused by erotica that involves minors, a voice tells me “who are you to throw stones?”
But then, the world of fantasy is quite different from reality where the powerless are used for gratification of selfcentered people; powerless minors, developmentally intellectually, socially and economically short-changed people, etc …
I am reminded that social conservatives and the religious right point to gay liberation as the first step eventually leading to the recognition of pedophiles, animal lovers, etc as legitimate lifestyles.
It’s complicated and hard for me to put into words. Nope. I don’t feel sorry for them. I am appalled. But in a twisted way, I understand.
Nov 13, 2011 @ 21:40:19
clarification. I find myself aroused by fictional literature and artistic caricatures, not actual images of people. YIKEE!
Nov 14, 2011 @ 18:22:02
Thanks, Rick – I knew what you meant, haha!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 04:30:00
I don’t go along with the ‘born this way’ argument, for either homosexuality or paedophilia. See the work of Mark Simpson.
Especially not because we are all born *babies*. How can a baby be a paedophile? or a homosexual for that matter?
Freud and Foucault have also touched on the issue quite sensitively but their views would be laughed out of town these days.
I love your writing that deals with taboo subjects such as fantasies of ‘incest’ and ‘paedophilia’ I think dealing with the taboo is one way of tackling the problem.
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