When I hear people tell pedophiles to "Get Help"

Sex positivity
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Something I’ve noticed a lot of people say when they refer to people who are pedophilic or have pedophilic desires is the expression of a belief that they need to “get help”.

Get help for what? Their sexual desires/interests?
If they’re not at risk of committing a sex offense against a child or consuming child pornography, then I don’t think there’s any need for them to ‘get help’.
This idea that pedophiles can get their sexual interests or desires corrected stems from, what I believe, are two things.

The rationale that the sexual interest, in and of itself, which they believe is a disorder, and will lead a person to then ‘act on’ their desires in a way that will inevitably harm a real child.
I don’t believe this is the case, as evidence has repeatedly shown that pedophilia isn’t the cause of CSA.

Time and time again, clinicians and researchers who understand paraphilia will liken pedophilia (as opposed to pedophilic disorder) to a ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘sexual preference/interest’. This was first understood by the DSM-5, but the word “orientation” was later replaced with “interest” following backlash from politicians and the general public who took offense to the word, regardless of however accurate it may be.

You can’t ‘get help’ for your own sexual interests. That’s not possible. Such a suggestion is akin to the usage of conversion therapy for gay men and women. It wasn’t uncommon for bible belt christians to tell gay people or relatives that they’re “sick” and “unwell” and that they “need help”. Even pastors would often times keep ties with gay conversion therapists or camps, often run under very little, if any, oversight from qualified persons or therapists or psychologists.

It’s not possible to correct a pedophilic sexual orientation.
What is possible, though, is to correct and reduce the risk of them committing a sexual offense, should they already have some degree of predisposed risk, or should they feel insecure or guilty about their sexual preferences.

A pedophile who engages with their sexual interests and indulges them in a safe, harmless, and legal way that does not involve the sexual exploitation of real persons, is a healthy person with a grasp on their desires or wants.
For those with exclusive pedophilia, though, it can be a little harder for them to understand their predicament, unlike those who are non-exclusive.
This is why community and support matter the most, because it helps them come to terms with the truth that they cannot engage in their sexual desires with what they’re truly interested in, and for some acceptance of this can be much, much harder than one would like to assume.

Simply put, there is no reason for a non-offending pedophile/NOMAP to ‘get help’ for their sexual interests unless they feel that they are at risk of committing a sexual offense, or are experiencing emotional difficulty coming to terms with the fact that they are pedophilic.

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I’ve always interpreted “get help” is these situations as a slightly more cordial way of saying fuck off.

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Did they ever actually go through with this? Because I can’t find a copy of the DSM-5 that doesn’t say “orientation”.

Edit: I found one: http://repository.poltekkes-kaltim.ac.id/657/1/Diagnostic%20and%20statistical%20manual%20of%20mental%20disorders%20_%20DSM-5%20(%20PDFDrive.com%20).pdf

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Almost like they’re trying to appear as though they’re sensitive or knowledgeable of the situation, right?

Now, I can agree if that’s being said to someone who is expressing intent to have sex with a child or if someone is feeling upset or insecure over their desires, but claiming they’re at risk. But just seeing someone with a MAP pride flag on their Twitter with “NOMAP”, or to fans or creators of lolicon is not acceptable.

This is, in part, why I think NOMAP should be acknowledged and respected by the LGBT community, but that’s another issue entirely.

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It gets re-printed every so often.
If you find a more recent scan of a re-print, or just acquire one yourself, you might find one with “orientation” replaced with “interest”.

I feel like “orientation” was a better fit, since sexual interest is a more vague term, and I feel as though kowtowing to contemporary social politics is something that the sciences should never do, because it produces bad/inaccurate science.

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“get help” for social media MAPS tends to something along the lines of “get of my platform”.

It’s a sort of a catch all for people who wants MAPS and their pesky reasonable arguments to simply disappear.

Ex.

Person x makes an argument defending fictional cp and refuting the fallacious attacks on it.

Opponent - “get help”

An individual makes a post explaining that MAPS are not necessarily child molesters, and aren’t inherently deserving of ire and hatred.

Opponent - “get help”

I don’t think this is good faith advice to seek professional counseling as much as it’s a very convenient way of shutting down any dialogue.

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Precisely - it’s a shorter way of saying: “You are sick, so everything you say is the product of your sick and perverted brain, therefore has no merit and should be disregarded as the insane ramblings of a confused mind without even considering anything that was said.”

Which again basically is just another way of saying: “I have no arguments to refute what you have said, but I still want to be the winner of this discussion, and because I have the emotions of the majority on my side I can by reminding everyone that I am the ‘normal’ one here.”

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The phrase ‘‘get help’’ has never been used in a friendly way in any context ever. If you don’t believe me, try saying it to yourself as nicely as possible as it will always come off as malicious.

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Yeah. It’s a phrase that is at it’s best dismissive, and at worst, plain malicious.

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Antis are quite often ableist. I’m not shocked.

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As far as I’ve ever seen it used, it is issued as a general response to end discussion while maintaining a self-imposed position in the moral high ground.

Ironically, the phrase is not of much actual help and possibly counter-productive. It could lead to someone NOT seeking help who might actually be struggling.

Humans are their own worst enemies. So much will for conflict. So little will for resolution.

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Why do you think that I have so much camaraderie for vampires? The idiots telling us to “find a cure” tend to get more annoying than those who try to slay us to begin with, whether they claim that it’s for our own good or otherwise.

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I bet Corona will make everything worse. All these new regulations gonna be re-purposed for mass-surveillance and oppression. I doubt that a gov. is willing to give up their new gained powers “what if…” will make them stay and probably used to help children /s

New forms of therapy in the shape of total control will make the “get help” fade away, because you’ll be forced to anyways.

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Well, Psaki straight up said that the purpose is “compliance”. I always knew that medical mandates set a dangerous precedent. All in the name of “bettering society”, like Inquisitors wanting to “save people’s souls”. Against such “salvation”, I would gladly choose “eternal damnation”.

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But then when MAPs get professional help and the professional (rightfully) encourages self-acceptance, suddenly it has to be help from a therapist who hates MAPs. There’s always an extra requirement

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Like I said, every second that the vampire seeks a “cure” can be a second that the vampire learns how to hunt Hunters.

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People tell to pedos get help because they are just uncomfortable with their existence and it’s a more polite form of saying: “Fuck off you sick freak”, which makes them look good.

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Seems like some kind of badge of honor as to who can hate pedophiles more and think of the most horrible ways to kill them. Like they’re so much more morally righteous. When in reality, their likely much less than upstanding citizens. Moral degenerates in many other ways.

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I also hate it because they often don’t mean it seriously like actually worrying about the PDF harming the kid. They turned it into a way of saying that the person is sick and that their behaviors makes them uncomfortable. People seem to also assume that none of the pdfs who are here or other pro map positivity forums are getting help, which is not true as some people her actually have therapists.

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Every single time I’ve heard this phrasing it usually meant get yourself locked up or go die no one wants you sort of thing.

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