Finkelhor's Model Of Pedophilia

Kelly and Lusk (2015), write about Finkelhor’s model that looks at pedophilia as coming from four factors: emotional congruence, sexual arousal, blockage, and disinhibition. Emotional congruencies refers to the questions of why a pedophile sexually relates to a child, sexual arousal asks how an adult is capable of sexual arousal by a child, Blockage asks how a pedophile is blocked in having a socially acceptable method of sexual activity (Kelly & Lusk, 2015). Setho (2012), article asks if pedophilia is a sexual orientation. The definition of sexual orientation is the age of sexual onset that was associated with the behavior (Setho, 2012). Pedophilia is considered a lifetime event with ages of the onset of desire varying (Setho, 2012). The importance of understanding the onset of sexual orientation based on empirical evidence is needed in anti-discrimination laws or policies that bring up “sexual orientation” as grounds for redress (Setho, 2012). Since pedophilia does deal with sex between an adult and a child who cannot give legal consent, many legal and social, implications can arise regarding age and sexual orientation (Setho, 2012). The answer to Setho’s study for public policy purposes can affect how society perceives pedophile and that may have implications for criminal civil law.

The study found that people with pedophilic desires frequently perceived the onset of sexual fascination in puberty that remained somewhat stable after some time (Houstepen, Slijsema, & Bogaerts, 2015). With regards concerning risk factors for pedophilia, many participants experienced early sexual conduct with different minors, which appeared to have influenced their perceptions concerning kids as sexual creatures (Houstepen, Slijsema, & Bogaerts,