STUDY GUIDE
Unit 3—Incest and Pedophilia
Overview
Sexual victimization of children is often thought of as the most heinous of sex crime. Terms to describe these offenders are often confusing, and the word pedophile is used inaccurately to generalize this population. We shall see that it is important to properly identify the specific type of sex offender of children, as this impacts the risk of harm in the future and the form of treatment that is prescribed.
The psychological impact of child sexual abuse varies, depending on the victim’s relationship to the person perpetrating the crime; the age of the child; the acts committed; and various other factors. Remarkably, a minority of abused children do not suffer measurable, durable negative effects from their victimization. We begin this review by looking specifically at incest—the sexual contact between family members and, usually, between a male adult and female child.
Society has propagated many myths about people who commit sexual offences against children. Most such perpetrators do not have a mental illness. However, pedophilia is considered a mental disorder by the mental health community, which views it as a treatable condition (although change in behaviour can be difficult to produce). Most pedophiles can be identified by definable traits, and research in this field has been able to cluster different types of child molesters using their offence characteristics. This unit explores in some depth these groupings.
Although it is difficult to imagine, there are a number of organizations around the world (although they likely do not represent a large population) that advocate for the repeal of any laws that prohibit sexual contact between children and adults. This is, of course, a self-serving mission that will never be acceptable in society.
STUDY GUIDE
Unit 3—Incest and Pedophilia
Reading Assignment
- T. Holmes and R. M. Holmes, Sex crimes: Patterns and behavior(3rd ed.), Chapters 5 and 6
STUDY GUIDE
Unit 3—Incest and Pedophilia
Key Terms and Concepts
- Incest
- Retaliation
- Entitlement
- Inter-generational
- Social isolates
- Emotionally dependent
- Genital mutilation
- Self-mutilation
- Amnesia
- Occultism
- Promiscuity
- Career development ladder
- Pedophilia
- Child molestation
- Pied piper
- Naïve offender
- Regressed offender
- Sadistic offender
- Fixated offender
- Mysoped
- Rene Guyon Society
- NAMBLA
- Childhood Sensuality Circle
- Pedophile Information Exchange
- Howard Nichols Society
- Megan’s Law
