The definition of pedophilia is "a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children, generally age 11 years or younger."
Note how I emphasized "attraction." To be a pedophile, you don't have to act on your urges. Just thinking them is enough. Which makes sense. The thing is, though, this attraction can start manifesting in kids as young as 12 or 13. And they have no way to talk about these urges or how to prevent them from taking control of their lives without being considered a threat. Talk to a shrink? You risk being reported to the authorities. The scientific community is so afraid of the stigma attached to even researching pedophilia that it's barely been studied it at all. Which seems like kind of a bad idea if we want to prevent the victimization of more young children.
Pedo Pthc Stories
So a 19-year-old kid, an admitted pedophile who has never acted on his impulses, started an online support group. His mom is helping him find solutions. He needs you to hear this, for the sake of your own kids.
More importantly, if you could tweet and share this so we can prove that audio stories about important and complicated issues can reach a wide audience, I'd owe you one. It's a really painful issue, but it needs to be addressed.
Thank you for sharing, this was really brave of you. You wrote "I am less worried about my kids because I know the anatomy of a pedophile/psychopath and can help them navigate the world and recognize those danger signs."
I should probably clarify I'm more looking for signs or indicators that someone is a pedophile and less for signs of child abuse. Not that I'm not concerned about child abuse, it's more that I'd like to be able to notice things about an individual before they harm someone.
Renee, I hope that you will continue to share your story. You briefly mentioned that the courts awarded your father custody. Today, courts are STILL awarding pedophiles with custody of their victims, at alarming rates. When people hear of these cases, they simply assume that the mother was "crazy" and was simply "brainwashing" the kids to make the allegations. In today's courts, 90% of fathers, who have been accused of molesting their children, are awarded custody. 58,000 children PER YEAR are handed to their identified abuser. I hope that you will speak out on behalf of these victims.
Renee here. I didn't realize the rates were so high but somehow, I'm not surprised. There is something seriously broken with the system. Not to mention, it was easy for my father to discredit my mother because he purposely married a woman who has the emotional intelligence of a 13 year old. Making her appear "crazy" or "neglectful" (even though she was a stay-at-home mom for my entire childhood) was easy for him because he's hyper-intelligent and she could never stand up for herself. Just didn't have the tools. Shame. I imagine there are so many more stories like this. I will continue to do what I can, and once he's gone (and I don't have to worry about my safety), I will be very vocal and public about it. Thanks for your comment. 2ff7e9595c
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