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In
a recent issue of the Archives of Sexual Behavior--the
official journal of the International Academy of Sex Research--some
clinicians argue that "unusual sexual interests"
should not be considered mental disorders.
Bruce
Rind, author of the 1998 meta-analysis that claimed to
find little or no harm in man-boy sex, joins the discussion;
other commentators disagree.
The Archives of Sexual Behavior published a special edition
in December 2002 to discuss whether pedophilia should
remain a mental disorder.
Opening
the debate was Richard Green, M.D., J.D. a widely known
writer specializing in homosexuality and gender-identity
issues. Green argued in favor of removing pedophilia from
the diagnostic manual (DSM).
Green
was one of the clinicians who, in the 1973, took the side
of gay activists to argue for removing homosexuality from
the diagnostic manual.
In
a second article in the Archives, "The Dilemma of
the Male Pedophile," Gunter Schmidt, D. Phil., makes
a sympathetic case for the pedophile who, Schmidt says,
must "remain abstinent for significant periods of
time" and "lead a life of self-denial at significant
emotional cost." Schmidt calls for a new, "enlightened
discourse on morality" with the recognition that
"in view of the pedophile's burden, the necessity
of denying himself the experience of love and sexuality,"
he deserves society's respect.
Furthermore,
Schmidt argues, molested children do not always appear
to be harmed. A 1998 study by Bruce Rind, he notes, found
that many boys grow up to have positive or neutral memories
of their man-boy sexual experiences.
The Issue of "Consent"
Many
of the commentators in the Archives argued that children
are usually too emotionally immature to offer valid consent
for sex with an adult. But the issue of ability to give
valid consent is not the point at all, another writer
responded--for no parent asks his child for his "consent"
before baptizing him into a church.
A
number of the commentators indicated their disapproval
of the moral influences exerted on society by its Judeo-Christian
heritage, which has traditionally stigmatized child sexuality.
Psychiatrist
Richard C. Friedman, the author of Male Homosexuality:
A Contemporary Psychoanalytic Perspective and a number
of related research papers, says that it would be "more
helpful than harmful" to continue to view pedophilia
as a mental disorder because we know so little about adult-child
sex at this time, and because of the potentially harmful
age and power discrepancy between children and adults.
But he closes his commentary by urging that society not
"discriminate" against people who are sexually
attracted to children.
Looking
at the issue historically, argues psychologist Robert
Prentky, the age for sexual consent used to be age ten
in England until about 100 years ago. So when, Prentky
asks, is "a child no longer a child?" Certainly
there are some 12-year-olds, he says, who are mature enough
to give valid consent for sex. Prentky also observes that
some of our culture's most beloved heroes were "clearly
pedophiles" --including, he says, the authors of
the children's classics Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland.
The
debate in the Archives provides an eye-opening view into
the philosophical reasoning employed in the ongoing debate
about what should be the defining criteria for mental
illness.
Criteria for Mental Illness
Why should pedophilia not be considered a mental illness?
Richard green makes the case by considering several factors.
Distress.
One of the criteria for mental illness is subjective distress
- and, Green notes, many pedophiles are not distressed
about their attractions at all--except, he notes, about
being the possibility of being jailed. In fact, "some
celebrate their interests, organize politically, and publish
magazines or books."
Disability.
Considering another marker of illness, "disability,"
Green says, psychiatry must not let itself be locked into
the narrow definition of disability currently dictated
by our culture. When we broaden our view to consider other
cultures over time, Green explains, we see that many African
tribes and even the ancient Greeks considered man-boy
pedophilia to be a helpful rite-of-passage into manhood.
Animal
Behavior. Looking at normality from the perspective of
our animal relatives, Dr. Green looks at a close genetic
relative, the pygmy chimp, or bonobo. Studies show that
the bonobo has erotic contact with babies of its own species.
And that behavior isn't likely harmful to the babies,
Green says, because it's the babies themselves that often
initiate the sex play.
Frequency
of Occurrence. Green says that contrary to popular myth,
pedophile attractions aren't even especially unusual.
Studies prove that many so-called "normal" men
with conventional sexual interests can, in fact, be sexually
aroused in a laboratory setting when they are shown erotic
photos of little girls.
Is
the pedophile a dysfunctional person? No, Green says;
in truth, there appear to be quite a number of "highly
skilled pedophiles" - in fact, even some beloved
public figures--so a simple explanation of "social
inadequacy" doesn't explain their psychological condition.
Taken
together, Green says, these findings converge on the conclusion
that pedophilia is not a mental disorder - at least "not
unless we declare a lot of people in many cultures and
in much of the past to be mentally ill."
A Change in Worldviews
Dr. Gunther Schmidt counters that the Western world was
once dominated by Judeo-Christian principles, and we used
to judge particular sex acts like adultery, sodomy, and
sado-masochistic sex as intrinsically wrong. But now those
old "prejudices," he says, are fading away.
What
anyone decides to do sexually with another person is today
considered morally acceptable as long as a valid agreement
is negotiated. But because the child is usually too immature
to give his "consent," pedophilia must continue
to be seen as harmful.
However,
Schmidt notes, even though the child is too young to agree
to sex, it's certainly not, in fact, true that harm always
results from child molestation. Even some boys who were
actually forced into sex with a man against their will,
Schmidt says, later remember those experiences as having
been "favorable to their development" and "interesting
and enjoyable."
And
because an attraction to children is a basic part of the
pedophile's identity--in other words, "who he is"--
the pedophile's self-denial of gratification is, in fact,
"tragic."
Others
Say the Issue of "Consent" is Irrelevant
Among
those writers who opted for retaining pedophilia in the
DSM, the majority made their argument against adult-child
sex on the grounds of the age and power discrepancy between
the partners. But not all of the writers in the Archives
agreed that a power imbalance renders a relationship psychologically
harmful or even subjectively unsatisfying.
For
example, psychiatrist Emil Ng, M.D. of the University
of Hong Kong says that in ancient Chinese history, children
are described as "natural sexual beings," and
romances are portrayed with children as young as ten years
old in sexual relationships with each other, or with adults--and
"sex play is viewed as beneficial to their healthy
development."
Is
lack of "consent" a valid reason to call pedophilia
harmful? No, Dr. Ng notes, "the seemingly righteous
and humanitarian debate on child self-determination"
is nothing more than "another game adults play to
impose their own values on children."
After
all, Ng notes, "How often do the adults [in the West]
try to ascertain 'valid consent' from their children before
getting them to do most things?" For example, have
parents "sought valid 'consent' from their children
before baptizing them soon after birth?"
"Unequal Relationships Are Not Necessarily Unprincipled"
Dr.
Paul Okami of UCLA agrees that a power imbalance should
not be the deciding issue. History is full of examples,
he notes, of unequal relationships that "work"
for the individuals involved--for example, a professor
and his student marry "and live happily ever after."
An unequal relationship doesn't violate principles of
justice or fairness in sexual relationships, Dr. Okami
says, "unless one views sexual relationships as similar
to hand-to-hand combat."
Actually,
he says, the real problem in pedophilia traces back to
Christianity. People "detest" pedophilia because
Christianity has given our culture a restrictive attitude
toward the "naturalistic" child and his sexual
instincts.
Christianity,
Okami says, "regards children as sinful heathens
who need the devil beat out of them. The end result is
a powerful desire to save priceless, lovable, sacred innocents
from something dangerous, dirty, disgusting and sinful."
Dr.
Bruce Rind agrees with Dr. Ng and Dr. Okami that lack
of consent from the child doesn't necessarily mean adult-child
sexual relationships are harmful. (Dr. Rind was the lead
author of the 1998 study that was attacked in the media
by radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger. The Rind
study concluded that there was little or no psychological
harm in man-boy sexual relationships.)
Dr.
Rind notes that many other societies, today and in the
past, have endorsed sex between a man and a boy. And,
what is necessarily wrong with a power imbalance?
After
all, Rind says, some parents force their children to go
to church! And couldn't religious indoctrination, for
that matter, be harmful to the child?
Even Man-Boy Incest May Be Remembered Positively, Says
Rind
To
back up his claim that pedophile relationships can be
consensual, Rind describes several cases of men who say
they benefited from--and even initiated--their childhood
sexual experiences, including a "positive" recollection
of father-son incest.
One
boy had several relationships with men, starting when
he was age 11, "all of which he viewed as very positive.
He thinks the sex helped his sexual self-confidence; as
he matured, he knew exactly what he wanted in sex, while
his peers were still searching."
Another
man saw the childhood intimacy he had with a man as the
"highlight of his life."
Still
another boy started having sex with his own father at
age ten, and now (he is 33 years old) he looks back on
their incestuous relationship as "beautiful, pure"
and full of love. He said he "cherished the intimacy."
Dr.
Charles Moser--the clinician who was invited to present
a paper at the May 2003 American Psychiatric Conference
on pedophilia--supported Rind's observations. Psychiatry,
he said, is ethically obliged to help those people who
have unusual sexual interests pursue their subjective
ideal of personal fulfillment.
"Any
sexual interest," concluded Moser, "can be healthy
and life-enhancing."
References:
1.
Moser, Charles and Peggy J. Kleinplatz, "DSM-IV-TR
and the Paraphilias: An Argument for Removal," paper
presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual
conference, San Francisco, California, May 19, 2003.
2.
"Special Section: Pedophilia: Concepts and Controversy,"
in Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 31, No. 6, December
2002, p. 465-510.
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