📑Science of the mind: Pedophilia, an act of power - Project Milkbox 🥛

The Spanish Royal Academy distinguishes between the concepts of pedophilia and pederasty: the first is the sexual attraction that an adult feels towards children or adolescents; the second, the sexual abuse committed against them. This means that, apparently, not all pedophiles consider the act of perpetrating the sexual act against minors. In pedophilia an erotic attraction is experienced and in pedophilia the sexual act is carried out. Although the dictionary makes this distinction, at present it is considered that pedophile behavior, with abusive character and malefactor, enters the group of paraphilias.

However, pedophilia has not always been socially condemned. According to Sanvisens (2013), in civilizations such as Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, Arabic, Greek and Roman was extraordinarily widespread and, in some, socially accepted: "Socrates himself was condemned to death due to jealousy among several pedophiles." Currently, although it is rejected, pedophilia spreads rapidly, reflecting different types of perpetrators.

Dr. Humberto Duran, in his article "Thieves of innocence: pedophilia", points out the following types of pedophiles: impulsive, that is, occasional abusers, and pedophiles who experience constant sexual impulses towards children and are able to monitor them, manipulate them, kidnap them and keep them subject for years without being discovered.
According to Cacho (2012) the types of pedophiles are systematic, intermittent, casual and professionals who are dedicated to child pornography and child trafficking.

Certainly, one of the modalities that has spread rapidly nowadays is the kidnapping of minors for mercantilist purposes, turning the child and the adolescent into an object of consumption skillfully hooked by means of lies and kidnappings executed by people who are not necessarily the pedophiles, but who will serve them. The kidnappers are on the lookout, observing in schools, places of sports training or other complementary activities attended by children and adolescents, including social networks.

Cacho (2012) also refers to certain statistical data: most pedophiles, between 65 and 80%, are relatives or acquaintances of the child; there is a 15% of men that look for couples with children to abuse them; the incest ones give data of a 59.9%, especially of girls; most men are apparently abused by people who are not their family members; 20% of cases of incest are given by a father or stepfather to a girl; for each girl abused by her biological father, there are two girls abused by their stepfather; 65% of the cases are perpetrated by grandparents, uncles, cousins, brothers and step-siblings; 15% of these events correspond to non-relatives or strangers.

The historical and statistical data can generate unknowns in relation to the root of the pedophile problem. Some people consider that pedophilia is a psychological or psychiatric disorder ... Let's review what the specialists say about it: for his part, Vanier (2013) says that pedophilia is a problem of power, because it involves family and close friends the child who builds with him a relationship of trust at a deep level of psychological dependence that, later, translates into an abuse of confidence on the part of the person exercising power.

In keeping with the above, the Argentine clinical psychologist Jorge Garaventa, recognized specialist in child sexual abuse in Latin America, interviewed by Cacho (2012), states the following: "Child abuse and sexual abuse occur in an unequal situation in where an adult has the power and uses his superiority for the pleasure his victim provides him, annihilated and submitted ... The sexual abuse of an adult to a minor, as well as the violation, do not respond to a need or a sexual impulse, but rather to an act of power and submission that is formulated through an eroticized expression”.

Other psychologists and specialists interviewed by Cacho (2012) consider that pedophiles have inadequate genetic programming or ensure the difficulty of recovering them psychologically after they have structured their personality around gratifications they get from children. Some specialists believe that the pedophile must first treat their emotional self-control and then make the decision not to sexually abuse the children.

Cacho (2012), trying to reach a conclusion on the profile of the pedophile, was given the task of interviewing experts in psychology, criminologists, victimologists, lawyers, rapists and pedophiles themselves. The expected response was frustrating for the referred author: "a man, sometimes a woman, of adult age, of any race, educated or illiterate, of any socioeconomic situation and who may or may not have suffered from sexual abuse in childhood " This would be the profile of a pedophile.

The reality is that it has not been proven that psychiatric and psychological treatments work to treat pedophilia. The laws resort to jail, without success many times. In some countries chemical brain castration is examined to control the libidinal impulse; However, this does not ensure that this ends with pedophilia.

In conclusion, statistics and history seem to corroborate that pedophilia is not a disease; rather it conforms to a historically validated practice. It can be defined as a cultural problem, of public health, inherent in the laws, and an abuse of power that must be prevented and treated from the therapy of self-control, education, attention and social improvements.

By: Sofía Machacado.

Cacho, L. (2012) Con mi hij@ no: Manual para prevenir, entender y sanar el abuso sexual. Grupo Editorial México.
Dura, H. Ladrones de Inocencia: la pedofilia. https://patrizioramesses.firebaseapp.com
Vanier, J. (2013) Signos: Siete palabras de esperanza. Italia. Edizioni San Paolo.
Sanvisens, A. (2013) Diálogos sobre filosofía moral. Barcelona