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I imagine I have more experience rooting around in the heads of both sex offenders and their victims than the average person on this board, and I feel the need to make a few comments.
First, what is a pedophile? Here are the criteria used to make the diagnosis according to the DSM-IV, which is the official “Bible” of the mental health disciplines:
A. Over a period of at least 6 months, recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children (generally age 13 years or younger).
B. The person has acted on these urges, or the sexual urges or fantasies cause marked distress or interpersonal difficulty.
C. The person is at least age 16 years and at least 5 years older than the child or children in Criterion A.
Note: Do not include an individual in late adolescence involved in an ongoing sexual relationship with a 12- or 13-year-old.
Specify if:
Sexually Attracted to Males
Sexually Attracted to Females
Sexually Attracted to Both
Specify if:
Limited to Incest
Specify type:
Exclusive Type (attracted only to children)
Nonexclusive Type
Now, on the etiology: Of the 200 or 300 pedophiles I have evaluated as a psychologist, I can think of very few who were not themselves subjected to sexual abuse, almost always in their prepubescent years.
HOWEVER
The vast majority of the survivers of pre-pubescent sexual abuse I have evaluated and treated over the years DID NOT themselves become pedophiles. I have never found a good way of explaining why some people became pedophiles and others did not.
Let me say, by the way, that sexual abuse, like most types of psychological trauma, is very treatable in most cases. Good therapy can reduce or even eliminate the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and other disorders of extreme stress. If you or anyone you know has experienced traumatic events--anything from an automobile accident to a year’s sabbatical at Guantanamo—please seek help from a good therapist. I personally use and strongly recommend a treatment approach called EMDR.
Did Foley have sex with an underage person? Depends on the laws in the relevant jurisdiction. Some say age 16, some say 18. Let us assume that either at least one of the victims was under 16 or the relevant law specifies 18 as the age of consent.
In any case, Foley is not a pedophile. He is a sex offender. It is unlawful and very wrong to use a position of power to entice or compel underage adolescents into sexual activity.
Let us take for the moment an instance of an older man who is attracted to a post-pubescent but underage girl. She has the body of a woman but the emotional maturity of a child. The older man is not abnormal for feeling an attraction to a female whose body appears sexually mature. He is, however, a criminal if he acts upon these urges.
Likewise, a gay man is not abnormal for feeling attracted to a post-pubescent adolescent male. However, if he acts upon these urges, he is, just like the heterosexual described in the paragraph above, a criminal.
Foley is a criminal. He is not, on the basis of the available evidence, a pedophile. His sexual orientation, and the gender of his victims, are irrelevant to his crime. Likewise, his own history of victimization is irrelevant to his crime. It will be necessary for him to deal with his victimization as he works toward his recovery, but the victimization is not in any way exculpatory.
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