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I have noticed two groups of people drawing parallels between pedophilia and homosexuality: people in support of pedophilia and people against homosexuality. This argument attempts to rebutt both their parallels. First, I'll start with the homophobic use of this parallel. They often argue that homosexuals are far more likely to be pedophiles. It's possible that there is a slight association. However, the "evidence" they use to "prove" this is often being misinterpreted. For example, one site says, regarding a survey of sexually abused people, that "seven percent of the girls and 93% of the men had been molested by adults of the same sex. That means that 40% of child molestations were by homosexuals." However, not all same-sex abusers are homosexual. Many pedophiles abuse both genders, prefering the opposite gender but willing to abuse the same gender. Depending on your definition, they could be considered homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual. If they are considered homosexual, that would correlate, in terms of definitions, with Kinsey's 30% rate for homosexuals(Kinsey did a well known study on human sexual behaviour. In that study, he describes various points along the sexual orientation spectrum and the percentages of people. The highest percentage, 30%, refers to anyone who had one or more homosexual "encounters". The lowest, 3%, refers to exclusively homosexual people.), if they are heterosexual, that would correlate with the 3% rate. That site uses the 3% rate, yet for pedophiles, they use the definition correlating with the 30% rate. I don't know how many people in the study they quote were abused, as they give percentages based on gender and do not specify how many men and how many women made up the total number of adults studied, so I can't determine the standard error(amount by which a percentage could be "off"). But it is probably less than 10%, so it does appear that pedophiles are more likely to abuse same sex children than ordinary people are to have same sex sexual activity. However, the differences is slight. In fact, it may be explained by the fact that most pedophiles were abused themselves, some of them by same-sex abusers(note: the vast majority of sexual abuse survivors do not abuse others, since sexual abuse survivors far outnumber sexual abusers). Abused people who abuse others often reenact aspects of their own abuse, which would probably include abusing others of the same or opposite gender. However, it is important to note that many, if not most, abusers abuse children of either gender, although they may prefer one gender. Other people do not do these fallacies, but merely argue a conceptual parallel. You can draw a parallel between deafness and autism without having to argue that they are the same, and so it is for homosexuality and pedophilia. I can't find the site where I read an argument like that, but I saw a site like that. Another site argues that pedophilia is OK. I would like to emphasize the important difference between pedophilia and homosexuality. This difference is that homosexual sex is not inherently an unequal relationship. It is possible for homosexual sex to take place in a unequal relationship, such as rape, but not inherently more likely that heterosexual sex. But children are weaker, less mature, and have less cognitive ability than adults, and, the way our society is set up, a child can't really refuse to do something an adult wants them to do. People regularly get to do things to children that they do not have veto power on, such as brush their hair, hold them back from crossing the street, etc. If you tell a child to do something, as an adult, the child takes it as an order. They may refuse or accept. But they view it as someone ordering them to do somethiong, even if it's phrased as a question. Orders often are phrased as questions, and most kids learn this fairly easily. And most of the time, sexual abusers don't ask, they just start doing something to the child. It's a rare child who is confidant enough to tell an adult to stop doing something sexual to them. Thirdly, pedophile-advocates often argue that it doesn't harm the child. This is not true. I know this both from my own experience with sexual abuse and from the tons of research I've seen. I have not found a single study showing that sexually abused people are not harmed by that experience. In the Courage to Heal, they have stories by women who were abused, some of whom fit the so called "ideal" relationship between an adult and child. And they were hurt by it. I was commenting once to my dad that the Christian view that "sexual pleasure is bad" sounded a lot like the view of sexually abused people, and he said that much of Christian culture was influenced by the ancient Greeks, who had widespread man-boy pedophilia. There is a significant chance that such widespread sexual abuse could significantly influence cultural views. Children have trouble understanding the dichotomy between the good sides and bad sides of people and when a much loved and admired person(as most abusers are to children) hurts them emotionally, they blame themselves. I keep forgetting that I was only 1 when the abuse started. I keep thinking I was older, more capable of defending myself. My cousin, who abused me and was abused himself, said he beat his dad up when he was 4. Like his dad, he was somewhat small for his age. Viewing ourselves as stronger than we were simultaneuosly helps us feel less powerless and helps us blame ourselves for other people's mistreatment of us. Rather than sexual abuse helping a child "be a better lover" when they grow up, sexually abused people usually are prone to flashbacks during sex. One moment, they're enjoying it, the next, the abused woman(or man) thinks their lover is their abuser and is terrified. |
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