WHAT IS NOT PAEDOPHILIA?

First, it's important to know that Paedophilia is NOT a crime & paedophiles might just deserve a little praise.
Secondly, you must also know that when an adult has sexual contact whatsoever with a minor, and for any reason, it *is* a crime.

A thread:

While it's absolutely ok to be sexually attracted to a minor who has well developed sexual organs, it is both morally wrong and a crime to actually have sexual contact with them. Because, obviously, they are regarded as 'minors' who can't give consent & should be treated as such.

People who do otherwise are criminals; and to be more exact, Child Sex Abusers and their crime is called *Child Sexual Abuse/Assault*

However, Paedophilia is really the involuntary & "primary/exclusive sexual attraction to *prepubescent* children".

Key word: pre pubescent - children who haven't attained puberty.
Thus Paedophilia is not sexual attraction to children of any age, or minors (which are children <16yo in Jordan, <18yo in Nigeria and <21yo in Bahrain). The 'objects' of attraction must be prepubescent children.

This simply means that not everyone who sexually abuses a child (individuals <18yo) is a paedophile!

Sadly, many people don't know this.

Indeed, if you tweet about fucking with a fully sexually developed 17 year old, you'd be violently cancelled in the name of paedophilia.

Throw back to when Yul Edochie put up a photo of his 15yo daughter on her birthday and some Nigerians made inappropriate sexual comments about her.
Many outraged Nigerians called them out and labelled them PAEDOPHILES (including those who noted that's she'd be 'ready' in 3yrs).

In fact one tweep said something about them being "paedophiles in human clothing" as though paedophiles were so evil and vile, they could not share the homo sapiens ID card.

That event clearly exposed the ignorance of many people and I've been meaning to clear the air.

So...

I totally understand the need for the our generation to express outrage when 'sex' and 'minor' occur in the same sentence, but what isn't cool is not knowing what is what.
You don't go around calling everyone who fucks a minor or thinks a minor is sexually appealing a paedophile.

Because paedophilia is simply an involuntary sexual attraction (not the act of sexual contact) with a minor. The act is wrong whatever the reason. The behaviour is wrong. But simple attraction, which is the hallmark of the psychiatric disorder, paedophilia, is NOT a crime.

The criminals are *Child Sexual Abusers/Offenders* Period.
And yes, a small crop of them might be paedophiles who've acted on their attraction in the same way Kleptomaniacs are found among thieves.
Whatever the case, it's still important to make the distinction.

Why?

Because:
(1) we cannot claim to care about mental health and people with mental disorders when we, first, call every child sex abuser a paedophile, then attack them with intense anger, tag them as "dangerous", before throwing them all into a fiery furnace.

It is not good for people with the disorder. And in fact, because paedophiles know that you cannot clearly distinguish them - who need medical help - from non-ill criminals (who should face the law) they are very unlikely to seek help.

And (2) Because research has shown that...

Paedophiles who seek help for their condition are less likely to act on their desires, and attaching stigma or outright hate to "pedophilia" would make sufferers disinclined to seek medical care, more likely to act on their attractions and in turn make children the end victims.

I'm sure you have, some time, labelled a child sex abuser a *paedophile*, termed them dangerous, and asked the world to take 'note' of them.
But today, your sins are forgiven granted you now see why paedophiles should not be the go-to word for all child sex offenders;...

...why non-offending paedophiles should even be praised, encouraged to seek help, and actually helped, rather than stigmatized and crucified. And why, beyond semantics, it is key to have at the back of your mind that:

Lumping all sex offenders into one "unpalatable" group oversimplifies the realities of those caught in that messy web, and remains very harmful, both to the subjects who actually suffer from the disease and the children whom we try so hard to protect.
Go home and sin no more.