Study of 1038 pedophiles shows no link with adult homosexuality

Without going through to read it again, I'm fairly certain it included boys and girls who were molested. Actually, the study didn't directly include either, it was only focused on child molesters... the gender of the child abused was a secondary question. That said, there's still some degree of questioning about the bias in this fact - where a male pedophile who molested a boy may be more likely to have been reported and convicted than a male pedophile molesting a girl. But this may be inconsequential. However, it is believed that the reporting of pedophilia among women is highly underreported, as few boys would consider this a negative thing worth going to the authorities over.

 

"The 1038 men who molested boys reported a range of adult sexual preference. Contrary to popular beleif, only 8% reported they were exclusively homosexual in their adult preferences. The majority of the men who molested boys (51%) described themselves as exclusively heterosexual in their adult partner preferences. An additional 19 percent reported they were predominately hetersexual, while yet another 9 percent said they were equally heterosexual and homosexual in their adult sex life. As with other characteristics, the group of 1038 men who molest boys followed the general pattern of the U.S. male population in regard to their adult sexual preferences."

Says boys. This survey was focused on men who molest boys.

 

I stand corrected. If you look through the rest of the survey, you'll notice that it considered more pedophiles who molested boys OR girls, but you are absolutely correct that the section focusing on the sexual orientation of the pedophiles considered only men who molested boys, leaving out the men who molested ONLY girls.

There's another "bias" that I also didn't see before.... the section focusing on orientation included all cases of molestation, not just pedophilia. In other words, it includes those who molested post-pubescent boys, which obviously has a stronger link to adult homosexuality. Not including those who exclusively molested post-pubescent girls would skew the numbers EVEN MORE than only including those who molested pre-pubescent boys.

That does look to be a rather strange way for the researchers to look at the numbers... not that it's wrong, but it makes it even more difficult for comparison to other statistics than it already was. My guess is they were just trying to be as conservative in their estimates as possible, by only including men who molested boys.

The report does have a bit more to say on the subject, including those who molest girls:

I'm not sure what those numbers tell us... we know there are a lot more pedophiles molesting girls who prefer to stick with girls more than the pedophiles who molest boys prefer to stick with boys. And "preference" might not be the best word, as much of the "preference" may be strictly based on opportunity... i.e. if a pedophile has a boy son that he is going to molest, then a boy is the only option he has, not that it's a matter of preference.

And that's all in addition to attempting to consider the mindset of a person who's taking the survey (particularly the mindset of a known and self-admitted child molester).

But if I were to try, I'd consider a few likely facts:
1: A known, identified and self-admitted child molester is probably far more likely to be open and willing to consider and explore their same-sex attractions than a member of the general population. The general population, on the other hand, is more likely to report a more socially acceptable view, and a view more acceptable to themselves. As such, I'd not be surprised to see the ratings of pedophiles further down the homosexual side of the sexuality spectrum on average, representing a more open-minded attitude to bisexual attractions that exist in many, even if not acknowledged.
2: One might also ask what constitutes being "equally homosexual and heterosexual", or even "exclusively homosexual"? Does the person answering the question have to have had sex with both genders? Or more importantly, does the person answering the question know that they are answering a question about who they actually have sex with, or are they just expressing an opinion on who they are attracted to? There's likely a substantial portion of people identified in these two categories who never had sex with men, particularly among the bisexuals.
3: As has also been brought up, an individual taking a 2 hour test about their demographic and sexuality is likely to be far more thoughtful in their answers than someone taking a quick survey of how they identify as gay or straight.

Between only considering child molesters who abused boys among the other difficulties in comparing the mindset of a person answering this survey, the numbers are indeed rather difficult to compare to any other survey on population.

 

I take it back... the way the study was done does make sense, when you consider the question asked. The question was specifically if there was a link between the selection of child gender vs adult sexuality of pedophiles. So it makes some sense as to why they looked only at men who molested boys to see what correlation it showed with their sexual attraction to adults. It's a good way to form the study when attempting to answer that question, but it's a bad way if you are then going to try and extrapolate the percentages into the number of homosexual pedophiles.

The report said that of the 2050 pedophiles who molested girls, 21% molested boys, so 79% of 2050 = 1619 pedophiles who exclusively molested girls. That eclipses 1.5 times the number of molesters who molested boys. And let's be clear here, that's 1619 pedophiles who EXCLUSIVELY molested pre-pubescent girls vs the 1038 men who NON-EXCLUSIVELY molested pre-pubescent OR post pubescent boys. In other worlds, none of the 1619 girl molesters are part of the 1038 boy molesters, but some (~50%) of the 1038 boy molesters are in the 1619 girl molesters.

Still not sure what this tells us. I'll worry myself more about it when I have more time, but I've got to get to studying for my exam... Oh, how I've missed college.

 

the "study" proves nothing

it's bogus and flawed to try and draw conclusions either way

I'll tell you one study I'd like to see

how many people think male pedophiles should be castrated

 

The "study" is frequently cited, even among such institutions as the mayo clinic. Frankly, I'm willing to take their opinion on what may be a worthy source to consider above someone who's being critical of it because he thinks 8% = 100%. The criticism you've presented holds no ground.

Might be interesting, but it might not accomplish much since most molestation of boys doesn't involve penetration... what you need to do is remove their hands if you want to accomplish something

 

about the hands, but then we'd have to support them because they couldn't work. I say lop it off and tatoo their forehead

 

Your homosexuality is showing.

 

Dot dot dot...

Are you getting lazier with your responses Dixon?

 

If you didn't read it close enough, I was talking about the under-reporting of FEMALE pedophiles against male victims. This isn't exactly a controversial viewpoint among researchers or investigators. Research has been done on men who revealed that they were "abused" when they were children and didn't report it to anyone at the time, and found that the vast majority did not consider it a negative experience... thus it was not reported.

That does not make it right, just saying that's why it's not reported, and part of why the numbers are skewed so far against men.

 

It's unfortunate that not everyone shares your viewpoint. We have to deal with the accusations whether we like it or not.

And people who are homosexual are not just people who have sex differently. This different behavior implies a different impulse or desire. The study is meant to compare people to see how those impulses are distributed among pedophiles, to see if there's a link in those impulses. you can define homosexuality however you want (i.e. based on how they have sex), but that won't stop attempts to accuse those who have same sex impulses with those who abuse children, nor will it stop research on the subject. Your argument over the semantics of the word don't prove anything, unfortunately.

 

do you see where you have to go with that. it's what you're told to do; it's pounded into you.

Let me be perfectly clear

I could care who you sleep with as long as it's another consenting adult.

You walk on both legs like me, talk with your mouth like me and watch with 2 eyes, just like me as Wes Welker drops the frikkin ball .

we are alike with the exception of how we have sex. It does not make you special nor does it make me special

you are a man, I am a man. We don't need any more of a label than that.

 

Would getting rid of the label stop people from pointing figures and studying "men who like to have sex with men are likely child molesters and a danger to our children"? You can change the labels, but that doesn't change anything about the topic being discussed.... just changes the words that are used. Not because I don't think semantics have a profound impact on the way people think and draw their opinions, but we're way too far down this rabbit hole to back out now and start enforcing definitions.

 

YES

by trying to portray a group as being different naturally makes people want to study that "group", assess that "group", and even create false stories about that "group" be they positive or negative false stories as well as bogus and skewed studies.

 

Problem is "that group" has already been well identified in the minds of those who would create false stories or bogus studies. And like it or not, it is possible to find differences among "that group" that matter... for example, it helps to study behaviors of "that group" if we wish to correct the HIV epidemic. It's also possible that "that group" is subject to disproportional amounts of substance abuse among other things, which again would be useful to study and attempt to correct. Ironically, in both these cases, the identification of "that group" enables the stigma attached to it which may be the biggest cause of both the HIV epidemic and substance abuse, but it's not my choice to back out now and stop trying to label us... that's the choice of the majority.