User:Hikari/fs

Notes

-The factsheet, when folded properly, should be no bigger than a business card. (One 8"x11" page with print on both sides) -Should have no title on front, but should come with a warning, ie "For your safety, please read this only when you are alone." -Print only in black and white, pages printed in color may leave yellow tracking dots. -much of the text comes from the newgon pamphlet. Please add suggestions and criticisms.

Factsheet Start

Myth: “The word pedophile means child molester or sex offender.”
Fact: The word pedophile is commonly misused. Initially used by the ancient Greeks, the word pedophile is derived from the Greek words for child and love or friendship (Philadelphia:City of brotherly love). Literally, the word pedophile means “lover of children”. Many people are surprised to discover the linguistic origins of the word pedophile. After all, how could a word whose literal meaning has historically implied love and affection be used to describe something that is supposedly so horrible? However, a pedophile is simply someone who has an emotional and physical attraction to children. The word does not imply any particular action, nor does it mean child abuser or sex offender. In fact, pedophiles and child abusers are often very different people (see next fact). The misuse of the word pedophile is frequently promoted by the media which often uses erroneous terms like “serial pedophile” or “convicted pedophile”. Such terms unfairly equate an unchosen attraction with criminal activity. This does a disservice to the many pedophiles who obey the law.

Myth: “Most sexual offenders against children are pedophiles.”
Fact: There is much scientific data to indicate that most sexual offenders against children are people who prefer and have adult partners, rather than people who are attracted to young people. Thus, most child abuse is not committed by actual pedophiles.[1] This distinction was first acknowledged by psychologist Richard von Krafft-Ebing, who originally studied pedophilia in a psychological context in 1886. Krafft-Ebing separated true pedophiles-those who have preferential romantic feelings for young people-from sadists and those who opportunistically offend.[2] Just as adult rape is a crime that usually has nothing to do with true feelings of love and attraction, sexual offenses against minors are usually not motivated by a romantic preference. Many researchers have confirmed that most sexual offenders against children are not pedophiles, but situational offenders.[3] A similar myth is that pedophiles are often responsible for kidnapping children. Citing police statistics, author Judith Levine writes that 95% of allegedly abducted children are runaways or are taken by a parent in a custody dispute.[4] Myth: “Pedophiles are violent, have an uncontrollable sex drive, and wish to have power and control over others.”
Fact: This is completely unsupported by scientific evidence. A study based specifically on a group of pedophiles drawn from the general population concluded that “the majority of pedophiles...seem to be gentle and rational.”[5] The study also noted that pedophiles tend to desire “affectionate and gentle” relationships rather than dominance, and showed no evidence that pedophiles are abnormally fixated on sex.[5]

Myth: Pedophiles exhibit an immature psychological level of sexual development, are socially inadequate, or possess other psychological abnormalities.”
Fact: This myth is unsupported by scientific evidence. Two researchers conclude “the scientific support for the belief that pedophiles are passive, dependent, unassertive, isolated, and socially awkward is weak. Almost all studies are based on offenders against minors rather than pedophiles.” [6] Another researcher writes “the data also do not support the theories that pedophilia is due to fixation at an immature stage of development, to an inability to relate to women, to mental retardation, or to senility.” and noted that “one non-clinical study suggests that studies of clinical samples may be biased toward finding pathology which is not an inherent part of the sexual anomaly...Even when characteristic traits are found, they may be due to society's reactions rather than to be causes or correlates of pedophilia.”[7] One study conducted using a sample of pedophiles from the general population concluded that pedophiles possess no specific psychological abnormalities when compared to the rest of general population.[6] “The most striking thing about these results”, the researchers write, “is how normal the paedophiles appear to be according to their scores on these major personality dimensions.”[8] They speculated that some may experience depression due to societal reaction.[5]

Myth: Pedophilia is caused by childhood sexual abuse.
Fact: Scientific evidence shows no credible link between childhood sexual abuse and development of a pedophilic attraction. The vast majority of people who have had sexual experiences with adults as children never sexually offend or discover a pedophilic preference.[9] Additionally, there is no evidence to indicate that most people who have a pedophilic preference were abused as young people. One study calls this “abused/abuser hypothesis” “inadequate and incorrect.”[9] One reason for the popularity of this myth might be the fact that many convicted offenders falsely report childhood abuse in an attempt to excuse their behavior.[9] Myth: Pedophilia is an unnatural mental disorder. Fact: Many psychologists and other academics have challenged the notion that pedophilia is a disorder.[10] Psychologist Richard Green observes that pedophiles have not been demonstrated to possess psychological abnormalities and that attraction to young people is relatively common.[11] Green also notes that intimate relationships between adults and young people have existed throughout history, and that pedophilia is frequently observed within the animal kingdom, including among primates that are closely genetically related to humans.[11] Political scientist Harris Mirkin concludes that the consideration of pedophilia as a disorder has more to do with society's historical reactions to sexual minorities than it does with valid scientific evidence.[12]

Myth: Pedophiles' interactions with young people only involve the eventual pursuit of sexual activity and can never be beneficial.
Fact: Pedophilia, as a romantic preference, involves many feelings separate from physical attraction. One researcher notes that pedophiles' feelings about young people “include an intense interest in what children think and do and the ways in which they experience the world around them.” [13] Others similarly conclude that pedophiles “often interact with children in ways that include many non-sexual aspects, including affection, which children experience positively.”[6] There are many pedophiles, however, who suffer intense guilt from society's reaction to their feelings. MAPs have campaigned for their rights before, alongside gays and lesbians in some of the first LGBT marches. However, after the UN threatened to remove the NGO status of any group “supporting pedophilia”, most LGBT groups withdrew their support for MAP groups.[14]&[15] The authors of this pamphlet hope that a better understanding of pedophilia by the public will allow more open discussion about this attraction. We encourage you to read more at the following sites using a secure VPN. https://takearisknz.wordpress.com/ https://tomocarroll.wordpress.com/ http://www.ipce.info/ for an online copy of this pamphlet go to:

References: 1. Feelgood S, Hoyer J (2008). "Child molester or paedophile? Sociolegal versus psychopathological classification of sexual offenders against children". Journal of Sexual Aggression 14 (1): 33–43. https://web.archive.org/web/20080827175248/http://anu.nfshost.com/2007/quotes-on-the-occurence-of-paedophilia-in-csos 2. http://www.mhamic.org/sources/howells.htm 3. Blaney, Paul H.; Millon, Theodore (2009). Oxford Textbook of Psychopathology (Oxford Series in Clinical Psychology) (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press, USA. p. 528. ISBN 0-19-537421-5. 4.https://web.archive.org/web/20061002101521/http://www.altpr.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=361 5. http://mhamic.org/sources/wilson&cox.htm 6. http://mhamic.org/sources/okami&goldberg.htm 7. http://mhamic.org/sources/langevin.htm 8. http://www.sexarchive.info/BIB/pedophilia.htm#2 9. http://mhamic.org/myths/abused.htm 10. http://www.narth.com/docs/symposium.html 11. https://web.archive.org/web/20070717230631/http://anu.nfshost.com/2007/occurrence-of-paedophilia-in-the-general-population 12. https://www.ipce.info/ipceweb/Library/mirkin_frame.htm 13. http://mhamic.org/sources/sandfort.htm 14. Bullough, V. (2002). Before Stonewall: Activists for gay and lesbian rights in historical context. New York: Harrington Park Press. 15. http://sex.sagepub.com/content/17/1-2/121.short