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Can recovering pedophiles who ABSTAIN from child molestation/child porn be accepted?

Serious question if anyone accuses me of being a closet paedophile etc. I'll have to report them

In response to the latest thread which is disgusting and almost certainly a troll-but for the sake of argument let's say he's not. (I still don't condone his argument at all, btw).

Can a paedophile (that is, a person with sexual thoughts towards children), if willing to accept that they have a socially and morally unacceptable desire, seek treatment from their GP to control their impulses so that they will never be fulfilled and-at the price of their eternal sexual frustration-be allowed to live productive and successful lives within the community and career world (with the obvious exceptions via the DBS)?

According to WebMD paedophilia can be treated as a mental illness.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/features/explaining-pedophilia?page=2


Would you personally be willing to tolerate a recovering/recovered pedophile in your community? (OP if not a troll is clearly not a recovering pedophile).

I guess this is a question about do you believe there are certain beliefs that can ever be accepted or redeemable. If a pedophile could treat their desires as an illness and learn to manage it (that is keep their thoughts forever within the realm of their thoughts) in principle I would say yes they should be tolerated and accepted in the way that criminals are rehabilitated in prison and re-enter the community. However, in practice I don't know whether I would ever want to associate with them or if I would tolerate someone I publicly or privately knew was a pedophile, so this remains entirely in the realm of speculation. And hopefully it will stay that way.

Thoughts?

edit: would be much more likely to consider tolerating if they have never acted on their impulses.
(edited 9 years ago)

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Too long; didn't ride.

:mmm:

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Reply 2
Avatar for Riku
Riku
OP
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who will be brave enough to make a sincere response? :smile:
I find it hard to find a convincing reason why they shouldn't be. I can understand people being skeptical but if you know that they are sincere in their acceptance of it being a problem I don't really see why I wouldn't accept them...
Reply 4
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Riku
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Original post by RandZul'Zorander
I find it hard to find a convincing reason why they shouldn't be. I can understand people being skeptical but if you know that they are sincere in their acceptance of it being a problem I don't really see why I wouldn't accept them...


Thanks for this-though in fairness saw your sig, you may be more learned in this than the average person :tongue:
Reply 5
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pjm600
18
Yes, given regular monitoring and appropriate housing.
Original post by QuantumSuicide
Too long; didn't ride.

:mmm:

Posted from TSR Mobile


ride?
Original post by Riku
Thanks for this-though in fairness saw your sig, you may be more learned in this than the average person :tongue:


Probably :tongue: - I would try to stress the importance that community can play in the recovery of any addiction/mental-illness/dysfunction. Community can be a strong support as well as a tool for accountability. In many cases feeling ostracized only makes issues worse.
Reply 8
Avatar for Rakas21
Rakas21
21
Well this depends on the individual circumstance.

If he had consensual sex with a teen then i probably could accept him living in the same area as me. If had raped a child then i would support him being hunted down and castrated, there's no way he'd be near my children.

Rapists and Murderers are inferior to the common human, they must not be accepted in society.
OP must be a closet paedo. Why all the interest otherwise?
God I am such a badass.
Yes they should be imo, although I can understand why some parents might still be a bit cautious if they were around their kids.
Reply 12
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Riku
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Original post by Viva Emptiness
OP must be a closet paedo. Why all the interest otherwise?


goddammit Viva
Reply 13
Avatar for miser
miser
20
I personally view paedophilia as an unfortunate mental abnormality. There should absolutely be a support structure in place to help people like this, rather than ostracising and demonising them.

If we treat them as criminals from the outset, how can we blame them when they commit crimes?
Original post by Rakas21
Well this depends on the individual circumstance.

If he had consensual sex with a teen then i probably could accept him living in the same area as me. If had raped a child then i would support him being hunted down and castrated, there's no way he'd be near my children.

Rapists and Murderers are inferior to the common human, they must not be accepted in society.


I think you might be misunderstanding the OP. If I have it right, he's not talking about child molesters, but paedophiles who want to have sex with children but due to accepting that it is wrong and or illegal, refrain from attempting to do so.
Reply 15
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Truths
15
I know in Japan there are many pedophiles who distance themselves from children and get off on perverted kiddie hentai. As long as nobody is hurt, they shouldn't lose any rights.
Reply 16
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Riku
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Original post by Truths
I know in Japan there are many pedophiles who distance themselves from children and get off on perverted kiddie hentai. As long as nobody is hurt, they shouldn't lose any rights.


Wow, what a pitfall of a quote to fall into!

That then opens the question of whether child porn should be accepted, which was yesterday's Epic Insta-Ban Troll Thread.

Obviously, absolutely no real life imagery. I'm in a very grey area regarding my attitude to the likes of hentai and cartoon imagery for pedophiles to sublimate with, but of course it's prohibited now under UK and (I think?) US law. I would probably say no, not even fictional imagery of fictional children should be used for that purpose because it sets a precedent. YMMV.
Reply 17
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Riku
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Original post by miser
I personally view paedophilia as an unfortunate mental abnormality. There should absolutely be a support structure in place to help people like this, rather than ostracising and demonising them.

If we treat them as criminals from the outset, how can we blame them when they commit crimes?


Yours is a progressive and empathetic view which I admire :smile: obviously I have never had to deal with the situation in reality, and might be much more hostile to the paedophile due to social conditioning in practice.
Reply 18
Avatar for Truths
Truths
15
Original post by Riku
Wow, what a pitfall of a quote to fall into!

That then opens the question of whether child porn should be accepted, which was yesterday's Epic Insta-Ban Troll Thread.

Obviously, absolutely no real life imagery. I'm in a very grey area regarding my attitude to the likes of hentai and cartoon imagery for pedophiles to sublimate with, but of course it's prohibited now under UK and (I think?) US law. I would probably say no, not even fictional imagery of fictional children should be used for that purpose because it sets a precedent. YMMV.


Sets precedent for what? As a religious person it certainly does not sit well with my principles. But at the same time, logically, if no one is harmed in anime/fiction I don't see the issue.
Reply 19
Avatar for Riku
Riku
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Original post by anarchism101
I think you might be misunderstanding the OP. If I have it right, he's not talking about child molesters, but paedophiles who want to have sex with children but due to accepting that it is wrong and or illegal, refrain from attempting to do so.


Yep, you'd be correct. And ideally, refrain from accessing pornography to fulfil their desires. There's an interesting MetaFilter post on this; see the story on Doug by hippy
bear

http://www.metafilter.com/120238/How-Can-We-Stop-Pedophiles-Stop-treating-them-like-monsters
(edited 9 years ago)

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