Pedophilia (Term Paper Sample)

Pedophilia




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Pedophilia is a psychiatric condition whereby older people or adults are attracted sexually to children of the age of 11 years or below (Seewald & Tharpe 2011). Over the years pedophilia has increased in the society with the number of children being abused increasing majorly. The people who are affected by pedophilia are referred to as pedophiles, who are the people with the disorder of getting attracted to children sexually. Pedophilia has a number of consequences to both the children and the society. In children, pedophilia has immediate and severe effects. For instance, it has a great psychological damage and effect to the child. One of the long term effects is that the child will grow with higher degrees of resilience, trauma and depression. The child feels withdrawn into themselves, dejected and plagued with doubt in them (Seewald & Tharpe 2011).
One of the societal consequences of pedophilia is societal disapproval (Seewald & Tharpe 2011). This is whereby the affected child feels that they are being rejected from the society. They feel victimized in the society whereby they feel they are majorly disadvantaged in the society. They shall also lose their confidence in the society because they shall be in fear of their security in the society. Under societal consequences of pedophilia, the family of the affected child shall also be affected in the society. Pedophilia also poses a great risk to the parents in the society for they have to ensure that they keep their children safe. This increases the security of the children in the society (Seewald & Tharpe 2011).
Pedophilia also has effects on the pedophiles who are the people who engage in sexual attractions or actions with the children (Seewald & Tharpe 2011). This is because the pedophiles engage in wide ranges of sexual acts such as exposing themselves to the children, undressing children, looking at the naked children or even masturbating in the presence of the children. By the pedophiles practicing the above, they end up molesting the children. This affects their mental functionality and also increases their urge in wanting to do the same to other children in the society. This will have the effect of affecting the children both physically and morally. The children will also make the children lose their confidence in the public places (Seewald & Tharpe 2011).
Pedophiles especially women tend to have poor coping skills and also they may meet criteria for the presence of a psychiatric disorder especially depression or even substance abuse such as drugs and also there might be some traces of personality disorder (Seewald & Tharpe 2011). This will also affect their productivity in the society because they shall be undermined and also they shall be left put in major of the society’s activities for fear of victimization. Pedophiles pose a potential danger to the children’s wellbeing in the society. This keeps the children living at risk of being attacked or even being kidnapped. This is the case whereby, in severe cases where pedophilia is a major challenge to the society, the pedophiles have gone to greater extends whereby they kidnap the children. This now poses a danger to the children because they are at danger of being kidnapped and sexually molested (Seewald & Tharpe 2011).
Pedophilia came about in the society of Britain in the 19th century. Researchers say that it emerged as a result of moral weakness and psychological impotence (Seewald & Tharpe 2011). However psychologists record that it is largely and majorly as a result of effects such as mental illness that is self-induced such as that brought about by excessive consumption of alcohol and also mental illness that is not self-induced. They also explain that apart from self-induced mental illness and also natural/medical illness, there are also some other factors that also cause pedophilia. Research shows that historically pedophilia was caused by academic difficulty which leads them to have lower levels of education and also employment (Seewald & Tharpe 2011).
Some of the factors that lead to pedophilia according to researchers are environmental stress which increases their desires and or urges to offend against children. One of the examples of environmental factors is whether the person was affected while they were a child (Seewald & Tharpe 2011). This will increase their chances of offending other children also when they are adults. This factor is majorly referred victim to abuser cycle or abused to abuser phenomenon because the offended child turns out to become a pedophile in future. However, this factor does not apply to all the pedophiles. It depends on the study conducted. People who engage in homosexual pedophilia are those who were abused homosexually while they were kids (Seewald & Tharpe 2011).
There are several societal theories as to why the abused abuser phenomenon occurs. They explain that the abused child tries to gain themselves a new identity by becoming an abuser (Seewald & Tharpe 2011). They also explain that there is an imprinted sexual arousal pattern established by the early abuse. This affects the sexual life of the child hence leading to the occurrence of abused abuser phenomenon. They also explain that during the process of the child being sexually molested, a learning process took place. This lead to the child adopting the case where they grow into adulthood they get attracted sexually to children. This can also lead to abused-abuser phenomenon (Reporters 2012).
It is also said that pedophilia can be caused by biological factors or social factors (Seewald & Tharpe 2011). The biological factor is fraternal birth order which is majorly in families where they have more male children. This leads to homosexual pedophilia. Biological factor can also be explained by older maternal age. Male birth order also facilitates the occurrence of pedophilia because it affects the sexual orientation which is the presence of anti-male maternal antibodies in multiparous women which affects neuropath way development in the fetus. This leads to male children growing up with feminine behavior which can lead to them being pedophiliac in their adulthood (Reporters 2012).
There are several surveillance mechanism put in place to curb the risk of pedophilia. There has been a method introduced by the government where by, the pedophiles are castrated physically (NY Daily News 2014). The bill provided for castration of the pedophiles. This had the effect of reducing the occurrence of pedophilia. This method was introduced in order to curb the risk because it was increasingly being reported in the nation. Since the introduction of the bill, the cases reported were radically reduced. The bill however does not support for female pedophiles. The bill faced opposition because most of the people in the society viewed castration as cruel and unusual punishment. In conclusion, castration helped in reduction of the risks’ occurrence (Reporters 2012).
Another surveillance means put in place to stop pedophilia is the snooping law which helped stopped pedophilia. The police were granted access to phone and email records in order to help stop child sex and pedophilia gangs grooming (Reporters 2012). In reference to the law, the police would have access to information that attempts to create fears that might result to the risk. The police with the help of the law would have access to record and look at the phone call and also the emails in the society. They will be able to catch the criminals that are involved in pedophilia hence ensuring that the children are also safe in the society. The advantage of this surveillance method is that it can also be incorporated in the curbing of other crimes and risks that may occur in the society (Reporters 2012).
Another method of surveillance put in place to curb pedophilia is ensuring that there are police patrols all around the residential areas. By employment of police patrols, they will be able to notice and check the occurrence of any suspicious activities of the children engaging themselves with adults (NY Daily News 2014). This can be utilized because pedophiles gain access to children in several ways. For instance, pedophiles put themselves in positions such as pretending to be babysitting, doing volunteer work, doing hobbies or coaching sports. By ensuring that there is police patrol, they will ensure that there is always the presence of a security officer in public places where they are in a position to detect the occurrence of suspicious activities between the children and the adults.
Another way to curb pedophilia is by educating the children. The parents should ensure that they educate their children to avoid themselves being in private places with adults. They should ensure that they detect any activities such as adults trying to persuade them to friendship and also other designed behaviors that are aimed at gaining their trust to the adults in suspicious ways (NY Daily News 2014). They should also ensure that they encourage their children to report any kind of engagement with adults that they are not comfortable with. Parents are also encouraged to report occurrence of any sexual molest that their children are exposed to (NY Daily News 2014). This will help the government and also the society to be able to ensure they are careful in future and also ensure that the child is subjected to immediate counseling to avoid both long term and short term effects of pedophilia to the children. The society should also be educated on the difference ways of pedophilia and also how it occurs. They should also be educated on the different factors that cause it. This will help in reduction of the risk in the societ...