A paradigm shift in attitudes toward pedophilia is happening now?
The old positions were entrenched and polarized; at one end were emotionally charged mob reactions like ‘he should be castrated’ or even ‘he should be hung’, while at the other end were observations such as those by academic Arne Frederiksen in Paedophilia, Science, and Self-deception: A Criticism of Sex Abuse Research that, “[v]oluntary sexual relations between children and adults do not cause any psychological harm other than the problems associated with discovery and intervention.”
These days, a moderate middle-ground position is also emerging? For example, the organization B4U-ACT is reaching out to both mental health professionals and also minor-attracted persons with a message “that persons who are sexually attracted to children can be contributing members of their communities and that they deserve to be treated with respect. All clients should be treated in a caring, non-judgmental, and respectful manner. We see minor-attracted people as whole human beings, not as dangerous criminals or “deviants.”” And that “[s]ome minor-attracted people seek services to help them deal with issues that result from society’s negative reactions to their sexual feelings. Others seek assistance and support in finding satisfying lives and relationships while living within the law.”
Similarly, articles have appeared recently on the German Zeit Online and English salon.com: “Der Getriebene” [“The Driven”] and “Meet pedophiles who mean well” presenting a moderate middle. The German article follows a pedophile “Jonas” and discusses a therapy center, Das Charité-Projekt, he attends; while the English article interviews “Devin and Edwards” about their project “Virtuous Pedophiles” (virped.org). Both of these ventures present a similar ideology, to quote virped, “We do not choose to be attracted to children, and we cannot make that attraction go away. But we can resist the temptation to abuse children sexually”.
This image of the courageous yet tragic helpless, morose and chaste pedophile will be understandable to the general public who are also self-loathing and auto-repressed. From Das Getriebene, “[h]e will not get any merit for it. He can not even expect a pat-on-the-back. No one must ever know of the fight, which he must wage, as long as he lives.” (my trans) This new middle-ground image of pedophilia may sell well to the masses who believe they are passive in the creation of their desires and must endure themselves? In the long run, to paraphrase Eckhart Tolle, ‘egoic consciousness is only an evolutionary stage’: very few people have insight into that they first lay down and accept goals and values, and then after punish and reward themselves emotionally for failing or meeting those objectives. Unlikely will most pedophiles or therapists or the general public gain enlightenment in the Noble Truths and the nature of Upādāna shortly, therefore egoic consciousness and it’s mode of expression: the patriarchy, with it’s sexual orientations and pedophilia-taboo, will yet continue for some time. The apparent paradigm-shift happening away from emotionally charged mob reactions and toward a tolerant, if depressive and repressive, middle-ground as expressed by new organizations like B4U-ACT, Das Charité-Projekt, and “Virtuous Pedophiles” can be understood as representing a progressive next-stage of evolution in the flowering of human consciousness.