Sexual orientation or Mental illness?

[mrlolicon93]

Do you guys think being a map is a sexual orientation or a psychiatric disorder?

Personally i think it is a orientation and tbh i have never really liked the word pedophilia because the word is often associated with being an abnormal paraphilia.

Instead we should call ourselves pedosexual which i think is a way better term.

[Aurelian]

Michael Seto have 2 papers examining Minor Attraction as a sexual orientation. Don't forget paraphilia is pretty controversial construct (research on yesmap about Dr.Charles Moser) that resemble sexology of late nineteenth century. The only variable all paraphilias share in common is being controversial forms of sexuality

[PorcelainLark]

It kind of depends on the definition of mental illness. Like I wouldn't think of schizophrenia or autism as mental illnesses because people are born with them. However, there's some evidence that depression, typically considered a mental illness, has genetic factors.

I think usually what we mean when we say something is a mental illness, we mean something triggered by experiences, (e.g. PTSD caused by a particular trauma rather than something biological).

I think the evidence that pedophilia is environmental, i.e. the result of sexual trauma, is flimsy. James Cantor suggests it's something inborn like homosexuality, as opposed to the result of experiences. I think it's more that people that experience CSA become less inhibited towards children than them actually being pedophiles in the true sense.

I'm on the side of pedophilia being something inborn. I think true pedophiles are attracted to a certain body shape that children have. Like most pedophiles would be attracted to Shauna Rae despite her being an adult because her body is the shape of a child. Sexual attraction is just part of perception, there isn't a process by which we're trained into sexualizing children. Objectification and sexualization aren't as cultural as feminists have made them out to be. Sure, in the 19th century ankles were seen as sexual, and we in the 20th century see breasts as sexual despite other cultures not seeing them as sexual, but that doesn't mean everything sexual is purely cultural. Why is homosexuality present in every culture if sex is just culturally determined.

Pedophilia is found across cultures, classes, and religions. Occam's razor suggests it's something universal to human nature rather than the product of a culture that sexualizes children.

[Bookshelf]

The basic definition of a mental illness is a condition that causes 'disorder' in someone's way of thinking. In the past when homosexual behavior was considered disorderly, homosexuality was considered a mental illness. So from that point of view; whether you consider it a mental illness or not is dependent on whether or not you view pedophilic attractions as disorderly. If you believe there's nothing inherently dysfunctional about being a MAP then surely it's not a mental illness.

[Jim Burton]

Do you guys think being a map is a sexual orientation or a psychiatric disorder?

Personally i think it is a orientation and tbh i have never really liked the word pedophilia because the word is often associated with being an abnormal paraphilia.

Instead we should call ourselves pedosexual which i think is a way better term.

Pedosexual is too commonly used for sexual activity, and suggests an impulsive drive to have sex with children.

Childlover is better, but has the opposite problem of sounding like a creepy and deluded attempt to romanticise a set of sexual impulses as "pure" or "superior".

You are better using the term "MAP" and only confronting those outside of your bubble with "pedophile" when correcting its misuse.

[mrlolicon93]

Do you guys think being a map is a sexual orientation or a psychiatric disorder?

Personally i think it is a orientation and tbh i have never really liked the word pedophilia because the word is often associated with being an abnormal paraphilia.

Instead we should call ourselves pedosexual which i think is a way better term.

Pedosexual is too commonly used for sexual activity, and suggests an impulsive drive to have sex with children.

Childlover is better, but has the opposite problem of sounding like a creepy and deluded attempt to romanticise a set of sexual impulses as "pure" or "superior".

You are better using the term "MAP" and only confronting those outside of your bubble with "pedophile" when correcting its misuse.

Isn't pedosexual just the same as heterosexual or homosexual?

[thecrimsonarchives]

Personally it is a sexual orientation. I'm attracted to both minors and adults and I don't see age as a factor. For me it's all about consent. When I was 8 years old I had sexual relations with my science teacher but I am a prime example of a kid that understood and fully enjoyed the experience of having sex. Not all minors just like not all adults are the same or open sexually. Many of us are just born this way just like many of us are not born this way. Having sexual relations with an adult when I was a kid was perfectly normal in my eyes and I encouraged and enjoyed every moment of it with that science teacher. We both agreed to keep it a secret and I'm still talking to her today and this experience happened with many other adults when I was a child.

So, with that being said, it's definitely a sexual orientation for me and it's perfectly healthy and normal. If only society accepted this truth.

[Jim Burton]

Isn't pedosexual just the same as heterosexual or homosexual?

In theory, it is (including implications of behavior or inclination to behavior).

[Fragment]

Is illness something we can objectively define, or is it socially constructed?

If illness is objective, I can't think of a definition that would include pedophilia but exclude homosexuality.

If illness is subjective, then anything that society says is "sick" counts as "sick" and there's no real way to argue against it because we're in the land of social relativism.

[Jim Burton]

There is also this contradiction with "paraphilia", but in the other direction.

I am on good terms with a lot of people who self-identify as paraphiles, from a completely anti-psychiatry POV, despite the actual meaning and origins of the term. Half of them don't even believe fully they were "born this way". So there is this risk we confuse the validity of the concept with how it is being used and mobilized; that we ignore a social trend in our quest for pure theory.

Wheras "pedophilia" and "pedosexuality" should in theory be "pure" inclinations or patterns of attraction, mentioning them carries a far heavier burden of permanent, all-consuming, incurable sickness etc.