MovieChat Forums > The Woodsman (2005) Discussion > Are paedophiles merely immature people?

Are paedophiles merely immature people?

posted 16 years ago by manofthedesert
16 replies | jump to latest

This theory has been floating about in my mind for some time. Most, if nto all, paedophiles share one common characteristic: They were never really successful with the opposite sex at a younger age.

Perhaps all human beings need to go through stages in the development of their sexuality. Normally, children start dating children, then when they become teens, they start dating other teens, and finally when they become adults, they are ready to date adults. But people who have never had the oppurtunity to date other teens when they were teens are probably still sexually immature. Therefore, they still have a residual attraction to teens, or children, because their sexuality has not developed beyond that point.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] SD_Revived 9 years ago

Years later ....

A psychiatrist concluded I am psycho-affective and psycho-sexually "very immature". This started showing early when I was in my teen years and avoided direct contact with girls. Shy, afraid to talk, never getting into a relationship with one as I grew older.

I don't know if this applies to all pedophiles. Many of them got married. Which doesn't mean there can't be something wrong of course.

[–] Philhelm (517) 3 years ago

I didn't date at all when I was younger, but I went to ten different schools from kindergarten to 12th grade so that probably had a huge impact (lack of long-term friends, connections, etc.). I only lost my virginity when I was 20. I was naturally good-looking but lacked confidence so I undermined myself. I think that maybe the side-effect of this is that I felt like I had something to prove, and my immaturity was more tied to the fact that I had superficial flings with a lot of women (once I figured things out and became more confident) rather than dating them long-term. I'm married now, but before that I had one 3-year relationship and nothing but flings and one night stands.

I do think that the lack of sexual success early in life can have some negative effects, but I don't think it's tied to pedophilia. That's my two cents.