Pedophilia is not morally wrong. What’s morally wrong is abusing a child. Plenty of child abusers are not pedophiles, and plenty of pedophiles are not child abusers.People are not responsible for their inherent sexual attraction. It’s counterproductive to hate pedophiles as such.

Demonising pedophiles is stupid for two reasons: Pedophiles that want help with change/self-control will not expose themselves & thinking all child abusers are pedophiles hinders helping abuse victims because non-pedophiles are outside any suspicion.

Plus pedophiles = inhuman monsters, forgets many upstanding good citizens, your best friend, the prime minister, a family member that is otherwise virtuous can’t be a pedophile or a child abuser which is false. Child abusers come in all shapes and sizes unfortunately.

Also: Labelling individual people as pedophile monsters is easier than thinking about what societal pressures makes some human beings want to have sex with children in the first place. Why do certain institutions (e.g. catholic church) are so rife with child abuse?

I think it would be helpful for all pedophiles to get treatment for their sake but I don’t believe in forcing unless there’s been an attempt.There are no thought crimes. If a pedophile doesn’t want treatment and is always able to restrain himself, there’s nothing wrong with that.

I know this topic is taboo cuz the “pedophiles are evil monsters” narrative is comforting. It makes you feel that you’re standing behind abuse victims on the strongest possible terms. But you’re not really, you’re just misunderstanding psychopathology & criminology simultaneously

I have been using "pedophile" so far in a blanket way as attraction to minors, but even that's not really correct. According to DSM-V, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, pedophilia is defined as recurrent sexual urges for children at most 13 years old.

So using "pedophile" as a blanket term to cover all age gap/predactory/minor sexual contexts mixes up a range of cases: ephebophiles, predatory behaviour, abusers and pedophiles that we need to keep separate both morally, criminally and therapeutically.