A survey found 1 in 6 men admit sexual feelings for children. So is paedophilia increasing? (2023, linked study is worth a read).

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com⁩ to ⁨news@aussie.zone⁩

https://theconversation.com/a-survey-found-1-in-6-men-admit-sexual-feelings-for-children-so-is-paedophilia-increasing-218124

I came across this after someone I know made some claims about pedophilia prevalence I found unbelievable. Leading me to the survey.

Surveys are hard, there’s always some percentage of people that say strange things, and self reports could be over or underestimates of prevalence.

I think that the way the results bundle 19 year old who watch a porn video that had a 17 year old in it, and 50 year old that watched a porn video of a 5 year old together is needlessly inflammatory. While neither is good I think culturally we are generally vastly more worried about what leads to the second, or even what makes the 50 year old look for 17 year olds (i.e. cases where the 19 year old didn’t grow out of it).

Still, some of these stats are extremely troubling to me, and I’m interested in what people make of it.

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captainlezbian@lemmy.world ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
I’m really curious how women’s numbers compare. I suspect it’s closer than most think

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- naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  At least one Australian expert says between 3% as likely as men to 25% as likely as men to offend. See below.
  
  You can just look stuff up you know.
  
  Joe Sullivan has spent 26 years counselling child sex offenders in the United Kingdom and is visiting Australia to attend an international police conference at Bond University on the Gold Coast.
  
  While experts agree the majority of paedophiles are men, Dr Sullivan says women are responsible for more offences than previously thought.
  
  “What I can say for certain is that it’s way more prevalent than people fully appreciate or understand,” he told the ABC.
  
  "There’s some research to suggest it could be as high as 25 per cent.
  
  “However, when you look at the representation within the criminal justice system it could be as low as 3 to 4 per cent of overall convictions.”
  
  source: www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-28/…/6428710^___^
  
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  - captainlezbian@lemmy.world ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    Ok, I meant as in identical study but on women because that’s one of the basic questions one should be asking from a place of scientific curiosity. In general when a study like this is gendered even with fair reason it’s good to be curious about what would happen the other way.
    
    Though fair enough I should’ve googled it
    
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blind3rdeye@aussie.zone ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
The researchers also found:

around one in ten (9.4%) Australian men has sexually offended against children

Does that figure accurately reflect the Australian population? Like, 1 in eleven men (roughly) have acted on some sexual impulse with a child. That sounds pretty high. I know a lot of adult males; so with that kind of statistic (and the follow-up about their typical backgrounds), it would be highly likely that I know a few sexual offenders without realising it.
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- naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Well it’s hard to say. Their sampling is pretty good, although mostly reflects the white population here as they discuss.
  
  We don’t really have better stats than self reports, and this is a good study of self reports. You could dive into the data to see exactly what are the major areas, they’re probably not assault and more likely to be pornography.
  
  Keep in mind it’s not uniform, the wierdos and freaks are amusingly less likely to. It’s more likely to be the well dressed guy with a family. So social elites. Depending on your crowd you might be pretty unlikely to know someone who does this.
  
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appetizer@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
Given the age of consent is 16, it’s a bit stupid to include 17 year olds as children.

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- naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  You should read the study if you want to know why it was done the way it was done. Scientists are very good at explaining why the criteria they selected are the criteria they selected.
  
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  - JasSmith@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    That is very different to the headline, which is about feelings, which is what the top comment is referring to.
    
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- eureka@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  
  Given the age of consent is 16
  
  Generally true for most states, a couple are 17 and there are various special cases. I didn’t realise how different it is between states and about authority rules (e.g. in some states, a person has a higher AoC for a guardian or teacher).
  
  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent_in_Oceania#A…
  
  I also didn’t know how recently some states passed anti-homosexuality laws, esp Tasmania.
  
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  - appetizer@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
    That’s interesting! I didn’t know that SA and TAS had separate ages.
    
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JasSmith@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
It is hardly surprising that 1 in 6 men have found someone under the age of 18 attractive. There are many attractive people aged 17 years and 11 months and 29 days. Nature made people attracted to secondary sexual characteristics like breasts and wide hips on women, and muscles and facial hair on men. If these develop earlier, it’s quite normal to be attracted to that. In Australia, the age of consent is 16, so it’s even legal to act on that.

To be honest I think the real percentage is much higher. Men are just afraid to admit that because they could be incorrectly labelled a pedophile.

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- Taleya@aussie.zone ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  that’s not pedophilia though. Pedophilia is being attracted to those with NO adult sexual characteristics eg: prepubescent.
  
  checking out a fully formed adult body on a 17 year old doesn’t make you a pedo, but you feel grody because you know legally, mentally and experience-wise they ain’t there yet.
  
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  - Nbard@aussie.zone ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    I have no idea why you are being downvoted for the literal definition
    
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  - naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    😬😬😬
    
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- naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  Did you take a look in the report though? Like 1 in 25 men surveyed saying they’d rape a 10 year old of nobody found out
  
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  - JasSmith@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    [deleted]
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jimmy90@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
pedophilia is a much bigger problem in (mostly men’s) sexuality than people realise

it needs to be tackled with education and healthcare in a much more proactive way. and children should never be left alone with single adults

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- naevaTheRat@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago
  It’s obviously more important to judge people on what they do but just the prevalence is wild.
  
  Some no doubt is power, given wealthy men are more likely. I think power destroys human minds and no amount is safe.
  
  Even so, when I look at like 20 year olds they look and act like, well, children. Definitely not people I’m attracted to. I’m only 35, and I would say healthy 45-30 ish is what seems hot to me. Although I will admit I’ve always been drawn to people based on if they’re clever (and how much they’re across RAAC ;p)
  
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