Do you have any real-world or professional experience with people suffering from pedophilia?
I have been schooled on pedophilia in a professional context, during my undergrad and in a work-context. Yet I have not worked with pedophiles directly, nor have I had any contact to one, that I would be aware of.
Looking at the science both of our positions are reflected. As with so many things the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no".
It looked at both of our positions: FSM (Fantasy Sexual Material) leads to real sexual violence against children vs. FSM reduces the risk of said practice.
Here is their summary of my position (FSM leads to sexual violence against children):
When applying the motivation-facilitation model to the context of FSM use, it can be theorized as to why, for a subset of users, engaging with such material could become problematic and increase the likelihood of committing a child sexual offense (whether that be offline or online), while for others this is not the case. As pedohebephilia is thought to be a motivating factor towards sexual offending in Seto’s model [21], engaging with FSM relating to children could heighten sexual arousal and therefore act as a facilitator to increase offending likelihood. With abstinence from masturbation being self-reported as a risk-management technique by some people who are attracted to children [16], this is a recognized idea by some members of the community. Over time, engaging in CSEM (especially forms such as child-like sex dolls, which offer a more realistic sexual experience) may contribute to the development of offence-supportive beliefs and the adoption of implicit theories about the acceptability of engaging in sexual activity with children (or child-like targets). The combination of enhanced sexual arousal to children (a potential motivator of offending), coupled with the development of permission-giving beliefs (facilitators of offending), may subsequently increase the risk of abuse being committed by somebody with attractions to children.
Here they are summarising your position, as far as I understand it (FSM helps to prevent sexual child abuse):
Alternatively, FSM use could be seen as beneficial by the motivation-facilitation model and instead reduce the likelihood of offending. Rather than heightening arousal, FSM could act as a safe sexual outlet that allows for a feeling of release and sense of catharsis [84], which could reduce a motivation to seek out real children as a sexual partner. Engaging with FSM also avoids the problematic suppression of sexual interests, with such suppression being linked to increases in self-perceived risks for offending among those with attractions to children [15]. In contrast to Stevens and Wood [16], Houtepen and colleagues reported that engagement in masturbatory fantasies was a common coping mechanism used by some people experiencing attractions to children, avoiding the need to access CSEM due to an alternative outlet being identified [3•].
They conclude, basicly, that more research is needed:
Given the present lack of understanding of FSM and how they are used, it is important to identify the factors associated with use and whether they are risk-enhancing or risk-reducing (i.e., protective). This knowledge could be beneficial to clinicians in the search for more effective methods to support people who are attracted to children when they are seeking help to manage their sexual interests. Nonetheless, Seto’s motivation-facilitation model provides a theoretical framework for thinking about this topic in a more nuanced way [21].
So, there we are. A long post to say maybe.
I suppose both of our positions might be viable and it can't be said yet, under what circumstances each one of us might be right.
The "video games cause violence" argument is wrong, because the vast majority of gamers don't try to use games as a substitute action for violent behaviour.
But there are of cause at least some mass murderers and school shooters, that have played violent games in order to fulfill their violent phantasies, couldn't do so in a long term and murdered real people instead.
Same goes with pedophiles. They want to fuck a child, use fictional characters to fulfill the phanstasy, get used to it and then escalate to pictures of real children and eventually real children.
"Oh, sry, I am listening to something right now and would appreciate not to be interrupted while I do so. If it's nothing important that you need to talk about right now I am more than happy to chat with you later on."
It's how the law is in my country (Germany) and I wouldn't know of any loopholes here.
If you win something in a lottery or a quiz show here, as long as it's not job related, you don't have to pay taxes on it. If you win a million you get a million. But if you put that million into a bank or invest it in any way, you have to pay taxes on the money you earn trough that.
Or, and this is a wild one, or the law could give a devinition of "price" that doesn't open it up for abuse while not taking from people who won something.
Gothic was one of the games of my youth. I am realy looking forward to the remake, thanka for bringing it up.
Recently I have been playing Valheim with my wife again. After a year of more or less non stop caring for the twins we have finally arrived at the point were we can game again together and it makes for even shorter nights but is such a treat to have that back. We used to game and hike a lot together before the children were there. Looking forward to go on long hikes again too, but for now a shared boat ride into the mistlands will do just fine.
Yeah, it's a wild concept, I agree with you.
Aren't there denominations that think your soul goes into hell for a couple of hundert million years untill your sins are purged (the German word is Fegefeuer, no idea how that translates) and then you go to heaven? That sounds at least a bit more reasonable.
That is a very protestant view of the afterlife. Some Christians share it, some don't.
Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. ...whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.
Matthew 25:41–43 (NIV)
Be kind to others or burn forever. At least thats how I would read this.
Yes, but the message of the new testament has very little to do with the historical figure of jesus and is build around the ideas of Jesus that devolved in the years after his death. For the later church I would agree: The main message is love.
Gloomy @ Gloomy @mander.xyz Posts 2Comments 428Joined 2 yr. ago
I have been schooled on pedophilia in a professional context, during my undergrad and in a work-context. Yet I have not worked with pedophiles directly, nor have I had any contact to one, that I would be aware of.
Looking at the science both of our positions are reflected. As with so many things the answer is not a simple "yes" or "no".
If you want to take a bit of a deep dive, I recoment this study from 2023.
It looked at both of our positions: FSM (Fantasy Sexual Material) leads to real sexual violence against children vs. FSM reduces the risk of said practice.
Here is their summary of my position (FSM leads to sexual violence against children):
Here they are summarising your position, as far as I understand it (FSM helps to prevent sexual child abuse):
They conclude, basicly, that more research is needed:
So, there we are. A long post to say maybe.
I suppose both of our positions might be viable and it can't be said yet, under what circumstances each one of us might be right.