Is it true that pedophiles feel less empathy than most other people?

[pedo233]

A lot of people think that pedophiles are unable to feel empathy or compassion and therefore dont feel romance or emotional connection towards children like people do towards adults.

I dont know if that's true, but in my opinion, i have romantic feelings towards preteen girls. Usually what men feel for women, i feel for girls that age. I often fantasize about getting their attention by impressing them in some way or buying them gifts or flowers. I also fantasize about cuddling or kissing or hugging them or protecting them. Even just staring at them all day. I feel fascinated with girls that age. I feel interested in their hobbies, interests, or what they do in their free time. I feel attracted to their immature personality. I generally dont feel this way towards adult women unless they look childlike.

I dont fantasize about abusing or raping preteen girls but I do fantasize about doing perverted things to them in a playful way, such as chasing them around or peeping on them while they're changing or touchcing them inappropriately such as poking them.

I also have incest fantasies, like being a father or uncle or grandfather and having sex with my imaginary daughter or niece or granddaughter, but I dont imagine anything violent in these fantasies, its usually intimate. I imagine trying to make the girl feel comfortable or feel pleasure while we are having sex together.

Does this suggest I have antisocial traits? Personally i feel like this is what men fantasize about adult women, they fantasize about doing perverted or forceful things to women, but nobody suggests that most men dont feel empathy towards women, at least any more than pedophiles do towards children.

Outside of sexual attraction I do have problems feeling empathy. For instance, my mother died a few months ago and I dont feel any sadness about her death, even though I lived with her my whole life and my father wasn't around that much. Does this suggest I have antisocial traits and does it relate to being a MAP?

[OnionPetal]

Is it true that pedophiles feel less empathy than most other people?

Not at all. On the contrary, research indicates that MAPs actually have superior empathy to non-MAPs. For instance, see: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-23390-001

Most MAPs wouldn't even hurt a bug. Literally. I've run informal surveys on MAP sites about what to do when you find a bug inside your home. The majority trap it in a glass and release it outside, not wanting to harm the small creature. Most MAPs are just more sensitive and empathetic than normies.

Can you really entertain for one moment the ludicrous notion that the antis, who would judge and harm MAPs, are really the empathetic ones?? No way! MAPs are way more empathetic.

[Bluebird97]

It all depends on the individual. I'm sure there is sadistic maps out there just like there is sadistic " normal " people. I will say though the world does always distort any pedophile into a monster. If a man or woman has sex with a kid. The world makes out that they have raped them and the kid will forever be traumatised. Even if that kid has consented.

[Learning to undeny]

As OnionPetal said, there is a study suggesting pedophiles might feel more empathy towards children. [Edit: thanks for linking to it, I had forgotten the part about affective resonance while watching children being higher in both offending and non-offending pedophiles despite cognitive empathy being higher only in the non-offending group.] It could be wrong, but there's no reason to think the opposite would be true. I don't think the fantasies you describe suggest a lack of empathy either.

About your mom, I understand why you worry you might not feel enough sadness about her death. That might suggest you grieve differently from a lot of people. Feeling sad when you lose someone you love has its purpose. On top of that, social expectations to feel sad means other ways to grieve are invisible.

But to see if you're antisocial: I'm no psychiatrist, but the way you treat others is more of an indicator than the way you feel. How often do people complain about you being calluous, aggressive, manipulative? That's a better indicator. In the end, the purpose of these personality disorders is to group visible traits that affect people in tangible ways. On the other hand, inner feelings do not always line with what we ourselves (or society) believe we should feel, and that doesn't have to be pathological by itself.

Your language here seems direct. You want to communicate your feelings as objectively as you can, not manipulate us. This would remain true even if you felt like you left out some important detail. If you find out you actually have antisocial traits, it looks like you're on the right track if you're introspecting. But that's far from the only explanation to you feeling stuff differently from others.

[Bookshelf]

If MAPs do feel less empathy for most other people, I wouldn't be so sure to assume it's related to actually being a MAP.

You need to remember that we grow up being told from as early as we can understand that the world hates MAPs. That it's not considered too an extreme of a position to want us to be killed, and that the moderate position is essentially "We'll maybe accept you... kind of... as long as you hate yourself". And all that's without assuming you've ever offended. If you cross the line and look at a drawing, those moderates are likely to become violent.

Somewhat difficult to maintain a healthy amount of empathy for your fellow man under those kinds of conditions.

[weird.organisms]

Antisocial traits are more linked to violence, but antisocial has been confused for asocial.

Antisocial traits are violence, a high level of desire to manipulate for cruelty or personal gain at the other's expense, a lack of empathy for others (animals, humans, kids, etc). and a fondness for violence. Asocial personalities are just more pone to isolating and not wanting to be around others sans the attraction to violence and manipulative behavior.

A person can develop traits that RESEMBLE ASPD but are not intrinsically related through being mistreated by others. However much of a personality is inborn and not learned through how one is treated.

Having less empathy for someone doesn't indicate ASPD. People with autism can have less empathy for others, same with asocial types. One of the traits of schizotypal personality disorder also includes reduced empathy.

It also could be that you didn't have a good, meaningful relationship with her. Not feeling much empathy for someone who didn't treat you well or you didn't form strong bonds with is natural.

Your fantasies also do NOT sound like typical fantasies by those with ASPD who often try to act on those fantasies. ASPD types have extremely violent fantasies that involve all kinds of suffering, noncon elements on their victims and they generally do not care about others, seeing them as objects to exploit as opposed to living sentient creatures.

ASPD types also have narcissistic traits, entitlement, arrogance, high self esteem, a desire for hurting others, etc. But in our society anything deviant from the norm is pathologized as if it's psychopathy and unfortunately cruel people have taken advantage of that and weaponized it to use against innocent people.

[pedo233]

Is it true that pedophiles feel less empathy than most other people?

Not at all. On the contrary, research indicates that MAPs actually have superior empathy to non-MAPs. For instance, see: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-23390-001

Most MAPs wouldn't even hurt a bug. Literally. I've run informal surveys on MAP sites about what to do when you find a bug inside your home. The majority trap it in a glass and release it outside, not wanting to harm the small creature. Most MAPs are just more sensitive and empathetic than normies.

Can you really entertain for one moment the ludicrous notion that the antis, who would judge and harm MAPs, are really the empathetic ones?? No way! MAPs are way more empathetic.

Yeah I agree, although being a MAP personally I'm not an empathetic person. I often think about hurting people who threaten or insult me. I never really had any problem killing bugs either.

Even before I began feeling attracted to minors, I was sympathetic towards MAPs and pedophiles, I didn't hate them like most people do.