Pedophiles should not be stigmatized as they are today.

The stigmatization of pedophiles is so bad, many are suicidal Many pedophiles want to die, because they have this attraction, 76% of pedophiles suffer from major depression[3] while only 6.7% of the adult population has major depression[4]. I believe the reason why the rates of depression among pedophiles is so much higher is probably because of how much stigma there is against pedophiles. It makes sense to believe that. Is it really fair that we, as society, cause a group of people to be depressed just because we dissaprove of something they can't even control? It's a fact that attractions are not controlled, and if my opponent challenges this, I'll offer some sources on that. When pedophiles are found out about, or exposed, the chances are high that they will commit suicide from all of the stigma and attitudes from other people towards them[5] This often occurs even when the pedophile has not done anything wrong. Pedophiles are likely afraid to seek help It would only make sense to conclude that pedophiles are afraid of seeking therapy or help from other people because of how much pedophilia is looked down upon. I argue we would be able to treat more pedophiles if we were more accepting of them. We don't need to accept it if they act on their attractions, but we should accept their attractions because it doesn't seem like there is anything wrong about just an attraction. The stigma is unfounded Now, I believe all of this stigma is unfounded because pedophiles rarely molest children. In a comprehensive study of 3,952 people who reported that they molested a child, 35% were not pedophiles [6] which means it is safe to conclude that about 35% of people who molest children are not pedophiles. It is estimated that 1 to 5 percent of men identify as a pedophile [6]. There have been 1.8 million children who have been victims of sexual assault in the United States [7], let's just assume each one had a different perpetrator, but that's not usually the case. That would be 1.8 million child molesters. There are 151,781,326 men in the United States[8], since 1-5% are estimated to be pedophiles, that means 1,517,813-7,589,066 men are pedophiles. If we go back to the 1.8 million number, 35% of them(as shown previously) are not pedophiles. That means 1,170,000 are pedophiles. However, given that this assumes that it's one perpetrator per victim, this is very over-estimated. In this study, it was found that half of child molesting pedophiles repeat their offense [10] therefore that 1.1 million number can be cut in half to 550,000, which is still an over-estimate since we also need to take into account how many times the offenders repeated. Let's just use the 550,000 number for now. That means that out of the 1.5 to 7.5 million pedophiles in the US, 550,000 actually molest children. In other words, around 33% to as low as 7.3% of pedophiles even molest children, and again, that is an over-estimate. Therefore, a vast majority of pedophiles never do a single thing wrong, yet society is the cause of much distress for the pedophile, as we stigmatize them, abuse them, etc. All of this happens to them just because they were unfortunate enough to be born with conditions that would allow them to develop an attraction to prepubescent children. Now, I'll address points made by my opponent, their quotes will be in italics: In regards to clear line definition between a pedophile who views child pornography V's a pedophile who actually engages in grooming and molestation, it is not defined properly for the recipients and is likely a mixed list of differing ideas of what pedophilia is. It sounds like in this paragraph you are skeptical of the study because of people perhaps mistaking pedophilia for something else, like the actions. However, it was made clear in the study that it would even be pedophiles who did not commit any illegal action(that includes viewing child porn, as that is illegal, as well as molesting children). 14-28% even said those pedophiles who did nothing illegal are essentially worthy of death. If we follow this line of thinking, essentially everyone who also ever had the thought come to mind of murdering someone is worthy of death. I guarantee you that would include everyone. I’m sure you’ve had the thought, even if you didn’t entertain the idea, enter your head of murdering someone. If not, it at least would have been in a dream and thus in your sub-conscious, I’m sure everyone naturally gets that thought enter their mind when it comes to someone you hate. That’s essentially all an attraction is: something in your sub-conscious that gives you thoughts and desires about someone or a group of people you’re attracted to. So, why do we hold pedophiles to such a high standard when probably everyone has had the thoughts enter their head of murdering a person? It’s not a crime to have that thought enter your head, and I feel no shame in admitting that I myself have had the thought cross my mind on occasion of murdering someone. Pedophiles just get the thoughts of being with children romantically/sexually. What determines whether you’re a terrible person is if you allow these thoughts to progress and entertain the ideas to the point where you decide to even do it. As I pointed out, a vast majority of pedophiles don’t get to that point though, just like a vast majority of people don’t get to the point of entertaining the thoughts of killing someone and then doing it. That is not to say that people are afraid of pedophiles, it is more likely due to a general dislike of anyone who harms children due to people having children of their own and an almost non existent education program leaving them with only hearsay to go off. But is it fair to murder someone who you suspect is a pedophile, even though there is no indication they have a desire to actually act out on their attraction? Given that such a large amount of pedophiles are distressed with depressive disorders, it’s likely because their attraction is causing their depression, in addition to perhaps the stigma society gives them. They don’t feel happy about being attracted to children. Is it not punishment enough that they are generally depressed? Re: opponent’s final paragraph I don’t see any reason to rebut what my opponent said here, as it doesn’t support reason for why the stigma should exist. But I do agree that the fact girls would get married at such young ages in the past could have contributed to why men today are much more likely to be pedophiles than women. I’ll leave this round at this, and turn this over to my opponent to continue. Sources: [3]https://www.vice.com... [4]https://www.nimh.nih.gov... [5]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... [6]http://www.childmolestationprevention.org... (see page 9) [7]https://www.nsopw.gov...(X(1)S(wfibniibqz121noenoddmm5b))/en-US/Education/FactsStatistics?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 [8]https://www.census.gov... [9]http://www.paedofiles.com...