Fawxy said:
Pedophiles who have raped children (and yes, no matter how you might wish to romanticize it IT IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE RAPE) do not deserve the light of day, and should be exterminated. They are a blight to society and by violating the basic human rights of children deserve none of their own.
HOWEVER, pedophiles who have not (and are of the moral fortitude to never do so) acted on their urges should by all means be encouraged to seek professional help in order ensure they do not harm anyone.
Romanticize? I'm not sure what the hell you mean by that, where did I say child rape wasn't child rape?
Anyway, I wouldn't argue that they are worthy human beings, but I consider the possibility that we like to differentiate ourselves from pedophiles by almost casting them out of humanity itself. In similar way to how people use the word 'evil', to suggest that this person wasn't a human being with choices who made a terrible choice that will damage somebody for life, but rather a monster who, as you say, should be exterminated.
I think this attitude is part of the problem, and I'm really not trying to romanticize the issue, I'm not really sure what that even means, but I'm mostly thinking about the victim's life hereafter anyway, with the rapist coming a distant second. But, is it really the case that these people are instrinsicly different from us? Not merely that they develop a perversion that is obviously unhealthy to them and others and, we assume from free choice but given the pressures and denials people face from pedophilia, as though developing this terrible but (and this might get me in trouble) natural inclination, which is indisputably unhealthy and, to use the common phrase 'sick', makes one totally different from the rest of humanity, such that they aren't really human but sub-human.
Aren't people who are treated like that, instead of being treated by what is in fact a perversion, MORE likely to consider acting as inhuman as they are labelled and thus feel? If so if we want to reduce the number of child rapes we should be more compassionate about the illness, and when and only when that situation has occurred in society can we truly condemn those that choose this sick act.
As for the now, I think purely on the victims/potential victims side, we should want to help the pedophiles, even the ones who commit these terrible crimes. By doing so, we would learn more about what causes it, and hopefully find a way to stop it from happening that doesn't involve extreme levels of guilt (which as any good psychologist will tell you is a great way to spur on a sexual deviancy rather than quell it). In the end, we want fewer children to be raped, that is the simple end to which we aspire, but bringing it about is literally impossible.
I don't think we could ever totally destroy it as a social phenomena, but it can almost definitely be reduced from what it is now, not by calling people monsters and punishing them until the end of time, but by treating the initial inclination as something natural but deeply, deeply unhealthy. That, and studying child rapists, what makes them better/worse, what situations are similar for those who commit this crime. Majorly I think, if you could
treat a child rapist, and it worked, it would look good for reducing the problem of child rape massively.
Anyway, this is only a side-issue to the actual topic, so I'll end by saying that I don't even consider child killers and child rapists deserving of death. I would rather we used them to find out more about why this happens, as I think it'd be a better means of stopping these things happening in the first place. Which is what is important after all.