Essay On Pedophile

Sexual abuse is one of the most devastating forms of child abuse. Sexual abuse is defined as the use, persuasion, or coercion of any child to engage in sexually explicit conduct (or a simulation of that conduct) for producing a visual depiction or for rape, molestation, prostitution or incest (Cinema House Films, 2008). Sexual abuse is an epidemic in the United States with 80,000 cases reported a year (Cinema House Films, 2008). Sexual abuse includes many types of maltreatment including incest, molestation, exhibitionism, child pornography, and child prostitution. This paper will focus on one’s personal bias against child molesters, its origin, and techniques to address the issue.
Origin of Personal Bias
Growing up as a young child, sexual

The term ‘‘child molester’’ is used for a person who has had sexual contact with children (Feelgood & Hoyer, 2008). Whereas, the term ‘‘pedophile’’ applies to people who have a sexual interest (or even preference) in prepubescent children independent of their actual behaviors, legal or otherwise (Feelgood & Hoyer, 2008). Although the concepts overlap, the terms are not interchangeable. For instance, a child molester can be a pedophile or vice versa. However, there are child molesters who do not have a strong, ongoing sexual interest in children (i.e. are not pedophilic) and there are also pedophiles who never molest (i.e. are not child molesters) (Feelgood & Hoyer, 2008). Despite the differential in terms, one remains prejudice toward the group. As a social worker, one refuses to aid this population due to their cognitive distortions, the inability to rehabilitate the person, and detrimental effects on the

The thought of sexually abusing a child or pursuing the act is despicable. What could an adult possibly find compelling about molesting a child? Just the thought of this scenario is absurd. In a study aimed to reveal whether child molesters held distorted beliefs (or cognitive distortions) that support their sexual offending, 38 child molesters were asked to read a description of child molestation (Gannon, Wright, & Williams, 2006). In return several child molesters proclaimed statements such as, “I’m not really sure why she told, it wasn’t because she didn’t like it. I mean she did as much as I did at the end of the day.” Particularly, this statement was made by a child molester convicted of sexual assault against a 13 year-old girl (Gannon, Wright, & Williams, 2006). Overall, the findings of this study revealed that sex offenders possess beliefs that children are sexual beings who enjoy, and even seek out, sexual relations with adults (Gannon, Wright, & Williams, 2006). In addition, child molesters also expressed the belief that sexual behavior, by itself, is rarely harmful, even if the recipient is a child (Gannon, Wright, & Williams,