Parents; do you see pedophilia as a choice or a mental illness?

Question

lets have less thumbs down people, everyone has a right to an opinain.=]

Answer 1

depends on the person. It could be 100% either way depending on the person.  

Answer 2

Paedophilia is definitely and completely a choice. A mental illness will not let you lead a complete normal life, like child molesters do. They lead normal lives, have normal interactions with adults and even children in the presence of adults, given to accurate schemings to lure victims, very cautious about not being caught, threat issuers and even completely normal and cool towards their own victims when they come off age.

Isn't this too much for mental illness? Maybe illness gets better with therapy, but a sick mind and twisted sense of pleasure never does. They are supposedly humans but with dangerous manufacturing defects, they should be publicly flogged and castrated.

Because you can never measure the magnitude of hurt and trauma, a child goes through in the hands of a pedophile.

Answer 3

i wouldn't call it a mental illness, mabey a mental disorder.  if it was a mental "illness" i beleive it would be treatable some day with medicine-which i don't think will ever happen.

from the studies that i have seen on it, their brains after death is no different than that of a normal person.  i think it is more choice than anything. most child molesters/pedophiles talk, walk,work and associate with us everyday in a normal enviroment. they KNOW what is right and wrong, they have a different view of it, and CHOOSE to act upon it.

that is like killers killing b/c it feels good, or kidnappers taking people for the rush, or robbery becuase it makes them feel important.

im sure alot of child molesters might have underlying conditions which aggrevate it (bi-polar, schizophrenia, mp etc.) but pedophilia in and of itself i don't see as a mental illness.

also from what i have seen and read, pedophiles "might" love the child, but it is more of an attraction. most pedophiles that have been interviewed have felt an "attraction" to the child, but love has barely entered the picture-and this is whether they acted on those feelings or not.

Answer 4

A choice.  People who molest children are fully aware of what they are doing.  Why else do they do it in secret?

Answer 5

It's a choice based on mental discrepancies or neuroses but it is not a mental illness.

Answer 6

I'm sorry to say that even though someone may have some underlying disorder I think it is ultimately a choice. People have feelings and it is their choice whether to react to them or not. Look at it this way people deal with postpartum depression everyday but only a handful kill their children so I believe that people can have a thought about children but they don't have to act on it. If it is so strong I guess they should go get some help.  

Answer 7

You are born with pedophilia the same way you are born a homosexual.

Child molestation is a choice and/or a learned behavior.

And yes, there is an actual difference.  pedophilia's actually care about or love the children.  Not saying it makes it any better, but there are real emotional feelings of love behind it.

Child molestation is more like rape in that there are no feelings of love or caring towards the child, its all about power and control and manipulation

Answer 8

as a parent it does sicken me, but i do think that it is a mental illness but one which in which they can control their actions!!  

Answer 9

I believe you can't chose who you are attracted to, but you can chose what you do about it.

Basically, if you are attracted to young ppl, date a legal aged person who looks young, not a child.

Answer 10

More of a mental illness but definitely a choice!

Answer 11

I think it's a psychological disorder that they are choosing to ignore.

I do think most pedophiles are "made" by their environment. There's some early research that shows there's a genetic component--I suppose we'll have to see on that one, but I just don't know...

Answer 12

Well, if homosexuality is not a choice, how could pedophilia be?

We are either born that way or not. If one particular non-hetero sexual orientation is more common and gets more media than the other, does that make it ok? No.

Pedophilia is simply worse because the child can't defend themselves or understand. They have no choice. Wait, that sounds like bestiality or necrophilia.

The purpose of s*x is procreation. s*x that cannot result in procreation is against the natural order of things. Consentual or not.

Answer 13

Its a mental illness but just like an alcoholic they can choose to be obove thier illness.  I feel they should be castrated.  

Answer 14

It's a choice, completely.

Answer 15

Both.  I think certain people are more likely to be attracted to children (eww).  But they do know right from wrong, and they do make the decision to do pedophilic acts.