Is there a cure for Paedophilia?

Jaycee Lee Dugard was found in August. After going missing for 18 years, Jaycee a 29 year old woman, was reunited with her family. Jaycee had been kidnapped when she was 11 years old and kept by a man and a woman. She had been raped and had mothered two children. Her rapist and captor was a convicted sex offender. No one can imagine what may have been going through the mind of the 11 year old girl. To survive Jaycee would have had to adapt to her captors needs. Jaycee has been learning for the last 18 years to adapt to someone else’s requirements and demands.

Do Paedophiles have a hard rap? Or is society too lenient on them.

There are special groups in the United States and a subterranean world that believes ‘sex before 8 is great’

Sex with young men was thought as acceptable in Rome and Greece. The love of children sexually was thought as the highest form of love.

Paedophiles have had many treatment programmes created for them.

What is interesting is that it is assumed there is a cure for paedophilia. Unfortunately there is no cure for paedophilia.

It can be managed but not cured. Even physical castration is not a cure. Chemical castration is not certain either. It makes sense that castration would be a cure but look at male dogs that have been castrated. They still have their old habits and learned behaviours within them. They still mount other dogs and play sexually with other dogs even after years of castration. Our sexual nature is very deep within us and our brain is our main sex organ. All sexual offenders should be monitored even more closely. Paedophiles, until we are completely sure should not be released into society. There is talk about rates of re-offending and recidivism but the truth is they really do not know.

The profile of the paedophile is usually male and of high intelligence. They are articulate and able to explain themselves with clarity. They easily learn how to manipulate the system and are able to sound like they are ‘cured’ and have changed. But our sexual preferences are very much fixed. When someone likes sex with a woman they like sex with a woman. Hence it follows when they like sex with a child they like sex with a child. We cannot just change our preferences. The experiments of John Money with gender in the 1960’s and his failure to change the sexual preferences of an individual based on surgical procedures was unsuccessful.

I will leave you with what one convicted paedophile told a group in therapy

‘I wish I were an alcoholic. At least as an alcoholic I could be more accepted. I would rather see bottles of alcohol. Instead I see children.’

© 2009 Yasmin Headley