What is a pedophile? A pedophile is a person who has a sustained sexual orientation toward children, generally aged 13 or younger, Blanchard says. Not all pedophiles are child molesters (or vice versa). “Child molesters are defined by their acts; pedophiles are defined by their desires,” Blanchard says. “Some pedophiles refrain from sexually approaching any child for their entire lives. ” But it’s not clear how common that is. Does the medical community consider pedophilia to be a mental disorder? Yes.
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) has included pedophilia in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders since 1968. In the DSM, which is updated periodically, pedophilia has been grouped with other paraphilias which the APA defines as “recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors that involve children, nonhuman subjects, or other non-consenting adults, or the suffering or humiliation of oneself or one’s partner. ” But the next edition of the DSM the DSM 5 may instead refer to “pedophilic disorder. [Pedophiles] would be diagnosed with pedophilic disorder either if their attractions toward children are causing them guilt, anxiety, alienation, or difficulty in pursuing other personal goals, or else if their urges cause them to approach children for sexual gratification in real life,” Blanchard says. Can pedophilia be treated? Yes. Although most experts do not think a person’s feelings of pedophilia are curable, therapy may help them manage those feelings and not act on them.
Some patients at high risk of committing sexual offenses may need medications to educe their sex drive, Blanchard says. Are pedophiles only attracted to children? Some pedophiles may be as attracted to adults as they are to children, but it’s hard to know how common that is. That’s because most pedophilia research is based on exaggerate their sexual interest in adults to seem more “normal,” Blanchard says. Is pedophilia more common among men or women? Pedophilic disorder is far more common among men than women, Blanchard says. Can pedophilia develop in an adult who had been attracted to adults?
That’s very unlikely, although some people may become adults “before they become fully aware that their strongest sexual attractions are still toward children and not toward their peers,” Blanchard says. Are pedophiles typically attracted to children of the opposite sex, same sex, or is there no particular pattern? Most pedophiles have a definite preference for one sex or the other. But it’s tough to estimate the percentage of pedophiles who are heterosexual, bisexual, and homosexual in their attraction to children, Blanchard says.
