WARNING: GRAPHIC WRITTEN CONTENT
Diagnostic criteria for pedophilia
Pedophilia is a well-known disorder. It’s defined by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-IV-TR.
To be diagnosed with pedophilia, a person must:
- be sexually aroused by, have intense, recurring sexual fantasies of, or be involved in sexual behavior with a prepubescent child or children (generally 13 years or younger);
- be aroused by, have sexual fantasies of, or be involved with a child for at least six months.;
- be at least 16 years old, and
- be at least five years older than the child or children he or she is attracted to.
Let’s say a man with sexual addictions toward children was caught multiple times over the last two decades; although investigators in different states who have investigated are certain the history goes back to early teenage years and most likely includes dozens, possibly hundreds, of victims. He likes very young children both boys and girls with brown hair. Is he a pedophile or a molester?
Is there a difference between being a pedophilic sex offender and being a molester?
Answer: Yes
The media tends to use these terms as synonyms (a word having the same or nearly the same meaning as another) though they are not. Although both pedophilic sex offenders and molesters abuse children; statistically pedophilic offenders have a ‘look’ or ‘type’ of child they prey upon plus they victimize more children over time.
Pedophiles and Child Molesters: The Differences
Although virtually all pedophilic sex offenders are child molesters, not all child molesters are pedophilic sex offenders. Pedophiles have a clear sexual attraction for children. The focus of a pedophile is a child or children generally under the age of 13. Pedophiles often report they are attracted to children in a particular age range (DSM-IV), build, look, hair or eye color. Pedophilic sex offenders are those who act on their attraction to children by violating a child. Child molesters are sexual offenders who have committed either intra-familial sexual offense (incest) against a child victim or extra-familial sexual offenses against a child victim or both.
Pedophilic Sex Offenders:
- True offenders may abuse family members, but the majority of their offenses is extra-familial and is directed toward vulnerable children whom they court or groom for the purpose of victimization. Their relationships with children are based on exploitation of the children for sexual gratification.
- Offenders, who seek out children to victimize by placing themselves in positions of trust, authority, and easy access to youngsters, can have hundreds of victims over the course of their lifetimes.
- Offenders, especially those who molest boys, or both boys and girls, are the sex offenders who have the highest recidivism (relapse) rates after incarceration and/or treatment.
- Offenders frequently are uncomfortable with adult intimacy and may spend their lives maneuvering to be near children. They may be extremely charming and skilled at manipulating adults, and they may use adult relationships to gain access to children.
- The pedophilic sex offender may spend years working up to a position of authority and trust within a church, school, or youth organization in order to have access to children. Of course, most such individuals in these types of authoritative positions have no sexual interest in children.
Child Molesters:
- The non-pedophilic molester is someone whose primary sexual orientation includes adults, but who may molest children in a maladaptive attempt to meet emotional needs.
- Research has found that many men who molest their own children or related female children have sexual interests that are indistinguishable from those of non-offending males.
- Data suggest incestuous offenders, regardless of the gender of the victim, have lower numbers of victims and are less likely to be rearrested for new sex crimes after they have been convicted.
- A child molester may turn to a child for sex out of a perceived inability to be close with an adult partner, out of poor self-esteem, or to escape feelings of powerlessness and loneliness. This type of offender usually has had appropriate (but often dysfunctional) relationships with peers and may be married
—Outcome studies have demonstrated consistently low rates of recidivism (relapse) for incestuous only offenders.
Retired FBI special agent, Nancy Fisher, says pedophiles and molesters don’t change.
“I’ve never had a success with a child pornographer or pedophile, never, not one, ever, ever, ever, ever. They never change,” said Fisher.
No cure for pedophilia has been developed. A number of proposed treatment techniques for pedophilia have been developed, though the success rate of these therapies has been very low.[1] Medications are used to lower sex drive in pedophiles by interfering with the activity of testosterone, such as with Depo-Provera (medroxyprogesterone acetate), Androcur (cyproterone acetate), and Lupron (leuprolide acetate).
The Mayo Clinic reports perpetrators who meet the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia offend more often than non-pedophile perpetrators, and with a greater number of victims. They state that approximately 95% of child sexual abuse incidents are committed by the 88% of child molestation offenders who meet the diagnostic criteria for pedophilia.[2] A behavioral analysis report by the FBI states that a “high percentage of acquaintance child molesters are preferential sex offenders who have a true sexual preference for [prepubescent] children (i.e., true pedophiles)”.[3]
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Please pray this Psalms over innocent children who have been abused. May their day of justice be upon them.
Psalm 3
1 Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
2 Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”
3 But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, the One who lifts my head high.
4 I call out to the Lord,
and he answers me from his holy mountain.
5 I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
6 I will not fear though tens of thousands
assail me on every side.
7 Arise, Lord!
Deliver me, my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
8 From the Lord comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people.
Psalm 27
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked advance against me
to devour me,
it is my enemies and my foes
who will stumble and fall.
3 Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.
Psalm 54
1 Save me, O God, by your name;
vindicate me by your might.
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
listen to the words of my mouth.
3 Arrogant foes are attacking me;
ruthless people are trying to kill me—
people without regard for God.
4 Surely God is my help;
the Lord is the one who sustains me.
5 Let evil recoil on those who slander me;
in your faithfulness destroy them.
Previous post: http://carolyndeevers.com/2014/05/31/p-r-a-y-e-r-for-innocent-children/
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1. Crawford, David (1981). “Treatment approaches with pedophiles”. Adult sexual interest in children. 181–217.
2. Lanning, Kenneth (2001). “Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis (Third Edition)” (PDF). National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. pp. 25, 27, 29.
3. Hall RC, Hall RC (2007). “A profile of pedophilia: definition, characteristics of offenders, recidivism, treatment outcomes, and forensic issues”. Mayo Clin. Proc. 82 (4): 457–71. doi:10.4065/82.4.457. PMID 17418075.
Hello.
I read your post because it was tagged with the word “pedophile.” I was quite hopeful when I saw you indicate that there is a difference between pedophiles and child molesters, but then my spirits were let down just as quickly with the next few things you said. I would like to offer some insight to clarify some things in your post.
First of all, the current standard of diagnosis is no longer the DSM-IV-TR — that was replaced a full year ago with the DSM-5. It is important to note that while diagnosis of the disorder in question did not really change, the name of it (and many other disorders) were changed to better reflect their reality. As such, what used to be diagnosed as “Pedophilia” is now diagnosed as “Pedophilic Disorder.” This may seem like an insignificant change, but it allows people to more clearly see that pedophilia (the sexual attraction to prepubescent children) is not inherently a disorder. In fact, you don’t need to infer this with the subtle change in language — it’s stated pretty plainly:
“[I]f they report an absence of feelings of guilt, shame, or anxiety about these impulses and are not functionally limited by their paraphilic impulses (according to self-report, objective assessment, or both), and their self reported and legally recorded histories indicate that they have never acted on their impulses, then these individuals have a pedophilic sexual orientation but not pedophilic disorder.” [DSM-5, p.698]
[Full disclosure — the APA changed the word “orientation” to “interest” (to be corrected in future publications) after an attack by certain media outlets in October 2013. This change is merely from a powerful legal term to a more ambiguous term. The meaning is still essentially the same.]
The purpose of showing you this clarification is to show you that the medical community explicitly acknowledges the existence of pedophiles who do not offend against children. As you see, this seems to contradict your assertion that “virtually all pedophiles are child molesters.”
I have personally met (and read about) many pedophiles that are not offenders.
– virped.org is a support group for pedophiles committed to not offending. (I am a member.)
– b4uact.org is another support group with a focus on not offending.
– Sexologist Dan Savage has publicly talked about non-offending pedophiles for years.
– This American Life (National Public Radio) interviewed a non-offending pedophile a few weeks ago. And thanks to new research by men like Drs James Cantor and Michael Seto (go ahead and google them), non-offending pedophiles have been written about in many media outlets in the past couple of years. I can supply links, if you like.
Current research shows that pedophilia functions in the mind of a pedophile like a sexual orientation (which is presumably why the APA initially used that term.) A key characteristic of any sexual orientation is that it cannot be changed by will. There is no therapy that can make a homosexual person become heterosexual, and similarly there is no therapy that can remove pedophilic attraction. (Even chemical castration merely lowers sex drive, as you indicated — it does nothing to alter orientation.) So it’s no surprise that Nancy Fisher would say “I’ve never had a success with a child pornographer or pedophile, never, not one, ever, ever, ever, ever. They never change,” That’s because they physically CAN’T change their orientation. It isn’t for a lack of trying or willpower.
Now I hope this hasn’t come off too much as a lecture. I DO appreciate you looking at this subject close enough to differentiate between pedophilic offenders and non-pedophilic offenders, but I need you to be aware that your references to “pedophiles” in this post are not actually applicable to pedophiles at large, but only to pedophilic sex offenders. Many pedophiles never offend against children, and pointing out this this fact, aside from doing right by them, is a very valuable notion in the fight against child sex abuse. (I would elaborate, but I believe I’ve said enough for this post. Feel free to reply or ask questions.)
I understand where you are coming from and thank you for differentiating between pedophiles and pedophilic offenders.