Pedophili Causes And Typologies
Pedophilia: Causes and Typologies
Perhaps no single act causes such strong emotions as the act of child sexual abuse. Child molesters can not even find refuge in prisons where rapists and murderers are commonplace. These offenders are shunned in every aspect of our society, yet there is no consensus as to the causes of this behavior. Sexual abuse of children is not new, and has not always been socially taboo. The ancient Greeks and Romans used children for sexual gratification(Langevin, 1983). In Greece, it was commonplace for adolescent males to be forced into sexual relationships with mature males. This behavior was normal and not objected to by the child's parents nor the Greek government(Langevin, 1983). The Romans encouraged …show more content…
Garland and
Dougher(1990) theorized two reasons for this behavior leading to the development of pedophiliac behavior:(1) and adolescent's sexual activity with persons his or her own age could condition sexual arousal to pubescent children, and (2) through memory distortions that have occur with the passage of time, the child or adolescent who was sexually victimized by an adult developed a fantasy that places him or her in the role of the aggressor rather than in the role of the victim. As a result of this recurrent fantasy, he or she then becomes sexually conditioned to respond to children. Learned behavior closely resembles the conditioned response theory.
Pedophilia as a learned behavior is due to sexual abuse of the abuser as a child. The pedophile then begins to imitate this behavior later in life(Groth, Hobson, and Gary, 1982).
Social Skills Theory Social skills that have been underdeveloped or dysfunctional social skills have been suggested as a possible explanation for pedophilia, …show more content…
Compulsive behavior is the third stage, which is the sex act. The fourth and final stage is despair. This is when the addict realizes that there is a lack of control over the compulsive behaviors. Carnes suggested three separate levels of addiction within this model.
Level one addicts are associated with pornography, compulsive masturbation, repeatedly engaging in purely sexual relationships with no other meaning, and prostitution. Level two behaviors include illegal sexual acts with another person being victimized emotionally, but not physically(exhibition, voyeurism).
Level three behavior includes rape, incest, and pedophiliac behavior. Feminist Theory The feminist theory argues that children are easy targets for sexual abuse by mature males because of the emphasis that our society puts on the male being the dominant, powerful, and controlling partner in intimate relationships(Hite, 1981). Males, on the other hand tend to search out sexual partners who are "younger, smaller, and weaker than themselves"(Finkelhor and
Araji, 1986, p. 149). Child pornography and advertising have been targeted by some
Perhaps no single act causes such strong emotions as the act of child sexual abuse. Child molesters can not even find refuge in prisons where rapists and murderers are commonplace. These offenders are shunned in every aspect of our society, yet there is no consensus as to the causes of this behavior. Sexual abuse of children is not new, and has not always been socially taboo. The ancient Greeks and Romans used children for sexual gratification(Langevin, 1983). In Greece, it was commonplace for adolescent males to be forced into sexual relationships with mature males. This behavior was normal and not objected to by the child's parents nor the Greek government(Langevin, 1983). The Romans encouraged …show more content…
Garland and
Dougher(1990) theorized two reasons for this behavior leading to the development of pedophiliac behavior:(1) and adolescent's sexual activity with persons his or her own age could condition sexual arousal to pubescent children, and (2) through memory distortions that have occur with the passage of time, the child or adolescent who was sexually victimized by an adult developed a fantasy that places him or her in the role of the aggressor rather than in the role of the victim. As a result of this recurrent fantasy, he or she then becomes sexually conditioned to respond to children. Learned behavior closely resembles the conditioned response theory.
Pedophilia as a learned behavior is due to sexual abuse of the abuser as a child. The pedophile then begins to imitate this behavior later in life(Groth, Hobson, and Gary, 1982).
Social Skills Theory Social skills that have been underdeveloped or dysfunctional social skills have been suggested as a possible explanation for pedophilia, …show more content…
Compulsive behavior is the third stage, which is the sex act. The fourth and final stage is despair. This is when the addict realizes that there is a lack of control over the compulsive behaviors. Carnes suggested three separate levels of addiction within this model.
Level one addicts are associated with pornography, compulsive masturbation, repeatedly engaging in purely sexual relationships with no other meaning, and prostitution. Level two behaviors include illegal sexual acts with another person being victimized emotionally, but not physically(exhibition, voyeurism).
Level three behavior includes rape, incest, and pedophiliac behavior. Feminist Theory The feminist theory argues that children are easy targets for sexual abuse by mature males because of the emphasis that our society puts on the male being the dominant, powerful, and controlling partner in intimate relationships(Hite, 1981). Males, on the other hand tend to search out sexual partners who are "younger, smaller, and weaker than themselves"(Finkelhor and
Araji, 1986, p. 149). Child pornography and advertising have been targeted by some