Monday 19 August 2002

This entry is not suited for children because of the subject matter. It is probably hard enough to read for common adults, because of the strong emotions involved.

Kill the pedophiles?

There was a rather dramatic episode in Denmark, which made the news today. Two men killed a convicted child molester on the street, in cold blood. One of them was the father of a 9-year-old girl, who the 63-year- old pedophile had taken an interest in. The father had warned the formerly convicted child molester to stay away from the girl, and had received an answer he didn't like. The way he understood it, the older man intended to continue his pursuit of the girl. So the father came back along with someone else and they killed the man in his car out in the street while his wife was watching. What do you think about that?

I think it was an understandable reaction. You protect your children at all costs, and this includes going to prison and if necessary Hell itself. I am kind of surprised that it doesn't happen much more often.

On the other hand, it is now quite impossible to ask the dead man his version of the story. We all know from everyday experience that misunderstandings are not just possible, but common. Perhaps he thought the other man was joking, or more likely just harassing him. He had committed a crime in the past and suffered the punishment meted out by society; he was a free man. This fellow coming up and threatening him over some imaginary offense, that would certainly be reason enough for harsh words. Harsh words that left him dead.

Back on the first hand again, death is pretty much the only cure for pedophilia. (Or indeed for any sexual orientation.) And once a man has broken through his inhibitions enough to actually molest a child, the risk of doing it again is quite high. Unlike murder, which actually is such a terrible experience that most murderers are less likely to kill someone again than the average person. In contrast it seems that child molesters tend to enjoy the experience and want to do it again at any cost. That's hardly surprising, since it's some kind of sex. People tend to enjoy sex, at least those who start late in life. Of course, there are other ways than outright murder to stop these people. Blinding them is fairly effective, as it gets much harder to locate your victims when you can't see them. Hands also come in useful if you want to rape someone, so smashing hands into bloody pulp would probably help too. But admittedly nothing stops a man as decisively as death...

***

As usual, the thing that upsets me is not the killing of a criminal. I don't have strong opinions on that. No, the thing that irritates me every time is the way broadcasting and newspapers continue to refer to the child molester as "pedophile". It's not that it isn't true; it is. But you don't refer to a rapist as "the 30-year-old heterophile". There are a lot of heterophile men who don't rape women, and there are a lot of pedophile men who don't rape children. I personally have known only two men who were regularly attracted to children sexually. Hurting anyone was the last thing they wanted. Yet there is no doubt in my mind that most people would have considered them monsters just for being what they were. That any act of friendliness towards a child would be interpreted as an attempt to destroy an innocent life. That, if worst came to worst, they might be killed for a misunderstanding.

No wonder most pedophiles hide their orientation from the world as long as they can. No wonder they don't seek professional help until it is too late. And of course the result of this again is that the only pedophiles we hear about are the child molesters. A vicious cycle. And you can't break this chain by shooting people. You just wind it tighter.

Before we can make any progress, we have to accept the fact that ca one in four adult men have at some point of their life been sexually aroused by a child; that for a few it is the dominant orientation, or even the only one. And that we cannot expect these people to kindly kill themselves so as to not offend our prejudices. (Though I'm sure that happens too.) As it is, they live among us and we don't know who they are. And if you did know, chances are you would shoot them just to be sure. They are saints, resisting temptations most of us cannot even imagine. Then again, was there ever a saint that wasn't persecuted?

(Incidentally, before you randomly go out and shoot celibate people, it bears repeating that this child molester was shot in front of his wife. So it isn't quite that easy. Some people just think pee bits are disgusting, you know. But that's a story for another day, as they say.)