From: shibumi@turbo.bio.net (Kenton A. Hoover)
Newsgroups: ba.politics
Subject: FAQ - Child Molesting
Date: 8 Apr 92 08:31:15 GMT
Article-I.D.: turbo.Apr.8.01.31.14.1992.2123
Reply-To: shibumi@turbo.bio.net
Distribution: ba
Organization: GenBank Computing Resource for Mol. Biology
Organizations: Pointless Facts, Inc.

(This is not a policy statement of my employers, nor the National Institutes
 of Health.  This posting was not funded by the US Government or the National
 Institutes of Health.)

From Groth, A. N. "Men who Rape: The Psychology of the Offender", Plenum Press,
1979

(these stats are created from a study of 148 convicted paedophiles at the
Connecticut Correctional Institution)

Myth 1: that child molesters are 'dirty old men'.  Most are under the age
of thirty-five, though they range in age from fourteen to seventy-three.  Ten
per cent of the sample first offended when they were younger than thirteen.

...

Myth 5: that the child molester is basically sexually frustrated.  In the
sample, 70 (47 per cent) of the child molesters were married.  Sexual
contact with children did not mean that paedophiles abstained from
sexual contact with adults.  Most of the child molesters interviewed
were motivated primarily by the need for intimacy, and a sense of being
admired.

...

Myth 7: that child molesters become increasingly violent as they grow
older.  Only 13 (9 per cent) of the subjects studied had used force when
sexually molesting children.  More usually, child molesters employ deception
and enticement in the sexual seduction of their victims.  They are largely
non-violent in the commission of a child molestation.

Myth 8: that homosexual paedophiles are more dangerous than heterosexual 
child molesters.  It is a mistake to assume that, if a child molester
selects a boy as his victim, he is automatically to be considered homosexual.
Furthermore, girls were molested almost twice as often as boys.  While 73
(49 per cent) of the sample claimed they were interested in sex with adults
75 (51 per cent) had turned to paedophillic activity when their adult sexual
relationships were under stress.  Of those who were attracted to both adults and
children, most were heterosexual, the remainder being bisexual.  Child molesters
are more likely to be heterosexual than homosexual.


From Ford, C. S. and Beach, F. A. "Patterns of Sexual Behavior"  Harper &
Row, 1951

The Keraki of New Guinea practise sodomy as a part of puberty rites, every
pubescent boy being subjected to anal intercourse by the older males.

The Siwans of North Africa feel that adult men who do not 'engage in 
anal intercourse with young boys are abnormal.


UCR data:
In 1987, about 55,000 sex offenders were convicted.  Of this, about 40% were
offenses involving partners under the legal age of consent.

From Choen, M. L., Seghorn, J. and Calnas, W. "Sociometric Study of the Sex
Offender", Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1969, 74 249-55

Types of child molesters:

The most usual type of offender is known as immature, feels emotionally
uncomfortable with adults and is more at ease with youngsters. ... He is likely
to seek employment which gives him access to children.  He befriends the
children and may actually 'fall in love' with a child; he is likely to 'court'
and then 'seduce' the child.

The regressed offender is thought to have developed some degree of 'normal'
inter-personal relationship with his peers.  While he may have been able to
develop some sexual relationships during adolescence, he is, as an adult
unable to cope with stress.  ... In almost all instances the paedophilic acts 
are precipitated by some direct confrontation of his sexual inadequacy by an
adult female or some direct threat to his masculine image by a male peer.
...

The aggressive paedophile acts out of aggression.  This thankfully far rarer
character is the child rapist, a sadist whose 'pleasure' is to penetrate
the child's vagina or anus with his penus or other object.  Usually, he is
sexually aroused by hurting the child.  The aggressive paedophile has no
developed conscience, is hostile, and the type most likely to attack a child
brutally.  Few paedophiles fall into this category.

Some information about NAMBLA and its predecessors can by found in 
"Bizarre Sex" by Roy Eskapa on pages 174-178.

The most popular theories for the causes of paedophila are 'weaning process'
'unresolved Oedipus complexes' and 'castration anxiety' (put forth by Freud);
in social learning theory, arguments of 'modeling', 'female phobia', and
incorrect sexual impressioning in childhood sociosexual play; and 'learned
helplessness' and low self-esteem.

There is something of a debate whether incest and child molesting are 
variations on a theme or two largely different acts.

Whether child molesters are heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual seems to
break down based on the general amounts of each in the population, if you
discount the choice of the sex of the child partner.

For more information (all of these are available at the UCSF library):
  Adult sexual interest in children / edited by Mark Cook and Kevin
    Howells.
  Academic Press, 1981.

  Child sexual abuse : new theory and research / David Finkelhor.
  Free Press, c1984.

  Child sexual abuse within the family / Ciba Foundation ; edited
    by Ruth Porter.
  Tavistock Publications, 1984.

| Kenton A. Hoover                                 |                          |
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