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WHO
ARE THEY
As stated in the Foreword of this
book, the opinions and research presented may often appear contradictory, due to
variations in aspects of the studies, and the researcher’s perspective,
amongst other considerations. This
needs to be borne in mind in reading this chapter in particular. What these contradictions serve to highlight, though,
is how poor our understanding is of the true nature of the paedophile and other
sex offenders.
Not
all paedophiles sexually abuse children.
However, once a paedophile has abused he will almost always continue to
abuse, whereas paedophiles who have not yet offended can more easily continue
that way. Many non-offending
paedophiles are usually restricted from offending by a perceived lack of
opportunity and societal opinion bringing the possibility of severe
recriminations, including incarceration. This
paedophile has simply not had the opportunity and lacks the confidence to
offend. Also his desires may
also not be as strong and overwhelming as those of offending paedophiles.
Child molesters are not regarded as paedophiles and are also regarded as not having a loving or caring intent in their dealings with children. Child molesters are frequently in adult relationships. Child molesters are regarded as having little sympathy for their victims, and will often hurt the victim.
One
major problem with the study of paedophilia is that it has been largely based on
clinical and some academic experience with incarcerates.
This reduces effectiveness when attempting to apply results to the
general population. With
virtually all our knowledge of this subject coming from incarcerated offenders,
considerably more research is necessary to determine the extent of the problem
in the community.
Until
recently these incarcerates were predominantly working class or unemployed.
Only in very recent times have authorities been able to successfully
prosecute public figures and persons in positions of power.
Frequently
the sexual encounter stops short of intercourse, with the paedophile obtaining
sexual gratification through fondling the child and sometimes through genital
display alone. Reactions of
the child victim can range from fright, particularly if force or violence is
involved, to bewilderment or passive enjoyment.
Although some children seem more upset by previous parental warnings than
by an actual encounter, the sexual encounter can often be quite traumatic to
them, especially if there is associated violence.
There
is also evidence that children who have been sexually victimised are more likely
to become troubled adults. Studies
have determined that boys who were sexually abused are more likely to become
adult sex offenders. Sexually
abused girls more frequently respond by self-destructive behaviours such as
substance abuse, self-abuse or prostitution.
(See Chapter 7 for more on the impact of abuse.)
Research by Lang and Langevin, 1991, into the childhoods of girl orientated, boy orientated paedophiles and incest offenders who had all admitted offending revealed that over half had been sexually abused as children and a third had been physically abused as children. Double victimisation involving both physical and sexual abuse was not unusual, at between one-fifth and two-fifths of the offenders.
“Collectively, sex offenders fathers were
considered more aggressive…and stricter… but viewed as more affectionate to
their sons… The sex offender groups identified with their fathers… but
homosexual paedophiles were less inclined to do so.
Only one Mother Scale was significant, Aggression to Fathers… There was
a trend for mothers of sex offenders in general to be more aggressive to their
husbands, but not to their sons”. (Lang
and Langevin, 1991)
Exceptionally
high (clinically deviant) scores were found for offender’s mothers being
aggressive to their partners, especially in the boy orientated paedophile group.
Paedophiles mothers also tended to be stricter.
(In contrast, another study, Bass and Levant (1992) suggests that
paedophiles perceive their parents as unaccepting, rejecting and controlling).
Paedophiles
and homosexual delinquents are more frequently the last of three or more
children according to a study of Czechoslovakian offenders.
(Raboch and Raboch, 1986) Research
into a sample of Belgium paedophile club members revealed that only 32% had no
older siblings.
“Paedophiles are variously shown to be timid,
isolated, dependent, submissive, effeminate, sexually inhibited and generally
not adequate to the task of competition with other men for adult heterosexual
conquests”. (Wilson and
Cox, 1983)
Paedophiles
most frequently mentioned naïve innocence as the most attractive quality in
children and “softness, simplicity, openness and willingness to learn”.
Many paedophiles found children easier to approach than adults.
Paedophilia is seen as “adaptive”, just one of several means of
coping with failure to relate satisfactorily with women.
(Howitt, 1997)
Children
were described in words implying gentleness, warmth, generosity, innocence,
truthfulness, broad-mindedness, affectionateness and perceptiveness.
These contrast markedly with perceptions of adults as selfish,
narrow-minded, materialistic and shallow in their feelings; the child’s world
represents the finest aspects of life.
Li suggests that sex is not the primary motive of paedophiles.
Love and the feeling of being wanted are among the things that the
paedophile wants but the adult world fails to provide.
(Howitt, 1997)
To
date no precise profile has been confirmed in any paedophilia or hebephilia
research. Whilst many
similarities have been noted and similar personality traits have been found to
exist, no personality test, clinical or academic research has found conclusive
data to distinguish sex offenders from the rest of the community.
Certain
personality and behaviour traits lead some ‘experts’ to believe they are
able to identify offenders, but to date none has proved conclusive.
Research has concluded that there are some traits that paedophiles share,
which when found together in one individual could lead some to conclude that a
particular person should be considered to be of possible interest.
This is a very haphazard and possibly litigious pursuit.
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