Why is it that pedophiles are usually men?

I believe it has to do with a culture in which men grow up thinking (and this is nothing inherent) that they are to be powerful. When met with some failures, some seek (again, I don’t think pedophilia is hardwired for most people) power over those they deem as less resistant – this leads to a culture where rape and pedophilia are common.

The culture in which men are brought up has a lot to do with it ( a culture of violence), and the fact that men have testicles and women don’t, which produce much more testosterone for them and hence a much greater sex drive (lust) and a tendency for aggression and domination.

@MRSHINYSHOES But why do they need to take that out on children? I don’t know. I just don’t get it. In my book, child molestation is the nastiest thing a person could ever do.

@MRSHINYSHOES In terms of the relationship between testosterone and aggression, all meta-analysis studies I’ve come across show only a weak positive relationship with an emphasis on reminding people that there’s more to this entire entanglement that one would think. Furthermore, there is a lot of variation within the male sex as to levels of testosterone and one can not forget that other hormones have their say as well. Besides, like in this study it has been shown that levels of testosterone don’t differ in rapists/child molesters and those who are not such offenders. (though there is some kind of a relationship between sexual activity and testosterone in the offenders interviewed but n=7 will always be a weak starting point, in terms of how rigorous I consider a study to be).

I think it has more to do with more men being accused and prosecuted than women. There are women pedophiles out there, I just don’t think they get caught quite as often.

I also think some of it has to do with the relationships of those involved. When you look at statutory rape, it’s usually charged because a teenage girl’s parents didn’t like her older boyfriend. I think this happens less often when it’s the girl is the older one in those relationships.

I think the problem is of power and of self-centered gratification. The high of orgasim is brought on by social depravity and power over a helpless victim. Victimization seems an important aspect.
Men may have more ability/need to overpower physically when they are unhappy in their lives. I really do not know if it is XY linked but seems to be.

@Seaofclouds Why do you think women pedophiles don’t get caught quite as often? I do think there is something to the idea that many people don’t consider women as sexual predators (look at how many people think female on male rape is a joke, wrongfully). This makes it difficult to prosecute female pedophiles and, of course, I do think they exist, very much so. As far as statutory rape, the shades become grayer, yes.

I think that its because of anatomy… inney’s and outies… the inney’s can’t force an outies to work if it doesn’t want to… but there are female teachers who sleep with students they should be listed as sex offenders

@talljasperman Lol!! Exactly.

@talljasperman @MRSHINYSHOES Hardly do I think the situation is as simple as that.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I think it’s because a lot of society says boys are suppose to have sex, so the boys think this and don’t mention it to anyone. Also, because there are a lot of people that seem to think that a female can’t make a guy do something he doesn’t want to do in regards to having sex.

@Seaofclouds I do feel bad a little for the 18 year old guy that had sex with his 16 year old girlfriend and is labeled as a sexual predator for the next 10 years. I think there needs to maybe be some changes in the laws in that respect. I don’t always consider that as a sex crime.

@Seaofclouds Right, it definitely starts with an upbringing of boys learning that bodies of others are accessible to them. Just recently I was sexually harassed by 3 male tweens who couldn’t have been older than 11, I swear…one of them grabbed my ass and when I told him to never do that to anyone again, they called me a bitch and threw a cucumber at my back. I walked away fuming wondering how is it that we still continue to raise men to think that they’re so entitled.

@knitfroggy I agree that it needs to be looked at really closely. Some states have laws that it’s only statutory rape if it’s beyond a certain number of years (like 4 years or something) once the younger person reaches the legal age of consent. It just seems to me like parents are more likely to report it when their daughter is with an older guy than when their son is with an older girl (older as in within a few years).

@Seaofclouds I think that just has to do with the norm that it’s okay for older guys to be with younger girls and not so much the other way around.

I’m not entirely sure they are, I think it’s just much much more likely that men will be caught and charged and convicted.

@talljasperman You can drug a man with Viagra and he’ll get an erection regardless of if he wants one or not.

@Seaofclouds Yes, because more than likely the girl did want to have sex, but the parents didn’t want her to be in that relationship anyway. Or they broke up and the girl cried rape. I’m sure it happens. And it’s sad. But I’m sure too there are a lot of cases that are really actually rape. I guess the whole situation could be avoided if everyone kept their clothes on until they were old enough!

@knitfroggy Well, that‘s never going to happen.

@papayalily but its harder to do… like on desperate housewives it can be done…

@knitfroggy a reverse viagara pill for the underage… a modern chastity belt?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir No, that will never happen, but it would sure be nice! :)

@knitfroggy Sounds terrible, but I think a lot of us men are programmed, hard-wired in the brain, and the testicles of course, to dominate weaker individuals through sex. I read somewhere that genetically, for men and most all other male animals, our main goal is to get our penis inside a woman so that we can spread our “seed” as much as possible. A lot of literature has been written on the subject, that it’s a primeval thing. Sometimes this translates to children too, unfortunately and tragically.

@MRSHINYSHOES I guess I will just never be able to wrap my brain around it.

Because i wouldn’t have complained had a woman decided to have sex with me when i was 10.

this reminds me of the South Park episode in which Kyles baby brother (Ike) sleeps with the kindergarten teacher

@talljasperman Too funny!!!

There are many female pedophiles, I always see something new on the news about a female teacher, counselor or in another position of authority getting arrested for sleeping with younger males. Men do make the majority of the sexual offenders, I believe gender roles are responsible to some extent here, boys are brought up to be more aggressive than girls in everything they do and unfortunately this aggression can carry over to very bad behavior for many as well. Males are also expected to hold their feelings in more so than females so when something blows up a guy is more likely to turn those pent up feelings/emotions into aggression.

My wife was a probation officer for over ten years and she specialized in domestic abuse cases and pedophilia.

While it’s true that the majority of pedophiles she worked with were men, the “worst one” her words was a grandmother who molested her two grandchildren for years before being caught.

As for the men…many of them said the children were their property and could do with them as they wished. They were upset the State could interfere with this. Most of these men were from Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, etc. Lots of machismo.

Most of the American-born pedophiles (men) were the quiet, introverted types with a lot of inner rage.

of course, this is based on her experience here in Massachusetts and not meant as a scientific study

@cprevite As for the men…many of them said the children were their property and could do with them as they wished. They were upset the State could interfere with this. Most of these men were from Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, etc. Lots of machismo.

Fits with my mother’s eperiece as a high school teacher who specializes in teaching italian to immigrants, for what it’s worth.

@Thammuz: Yes. So there’s the cultural aspect also (with regards to their definition of “property” not the existence of pedophilia).

Have her students reported abuse to her?

@cprevite Some cases of domestic violence and spousal abuse, justified with the same reasoning you said. Even though, theoretically, i shouldn’t tell

@MRSHINYSHOES I’m sorry but even if it’s true that the male sex is wired to ‘spread the seed’, that does not imply ‘dominating through sex’ and many of us have evolved socially past our biology.

More men are CONVICTED pedophiles but we don’t know if more men are actually pedophiles.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir You’re not a man, obviously, so you will never understand the kind of drive we men feel on a regular basis when it comes to sex, one that often supercedes our evolved social consciences, and one that most women never experience. ;)