Homosexuality and child sexual molestation

We have a larger list of definitions elsewhere in this web site.

Public perception:

Belief that gays frequently abuse children is believed to be responsible for widespread opposition to gay teachers in the public school system. A study found that in 1977, only 27% of adult Americans would want to allow gays to be teachers in elementary schools. This has risen to 41% by 1992, and continues to rise. ₁

The reality of pedophilia:

1. that homosexual abuse of children is widespread, and
2. that abuse of boys by gays is rare, and
3. that the abuse of girls by lesbians is rarer still.

However, if we define the phrase "abuse of boys by gays", and "abuse of girls by lesbians" to mean adult persons with a homosexual orientation abusing children of the same sex, then these statements 2 and 3 above are also true. Gays and lesbians rarely abuse children.

The fact behind these conflicting statements is that most pedophiles are not homosexuals! Or to put it another way, most homosexual molestation is not done by homosexuals.

Studies on the nature of pedophilia:

Sexual orientation is normally thought of in terms of an adult's sexual attraction to other adults, whether to members of the same gender, opposite gender or both genders. When we think of the term "lesbian" we normally visualize a women who has been sexually attracted to (or involved with) another woman. But there are adults who do not fit this definition. They may have never developed a sexual orientation towards other adults. Rather, they are primarily sexually attracted to children. Often, the gender of the child victim is immaterial. One researcher defines a "fixated child molesters" as any adult who is solely attracted to children. They also define the term "regressed child molester" as any adult who has developed a sexual orientation towards other adults, but is also attracted to children.

One study involved 175 male adults who had been convicted in Massachusetts of child sexual assault. They found that none of them were homosexuals; all of them would fit the description of a fixated child molester. They were sexually attracted only to children and not to other adults. ₂ Another researcher studied sexually abused children seen in a hospital. Only 2 perpetrators (less than 1% of the total) were homosexuals (i.e. were attracted to same-sex adults). 

The Massachusetts study includes a reference to a survey of literature of child sexual abuse by Paul Cameron in 1985. Cameron's conclusion was that (on a per-capita basis) homosexuals were more liable to abuse children than bisexuals, and that bisexuals were more apt to abuse than heterosexuals. The fatal flaw in this survey was that the articles that Cameron studied assumed that in any case where a male adult abused a male child, then the perpetrator was, by his definition, a homosexual.

Example of misinformation on pederasty

References

1. D. Colasanto, "Gay rights support has grown since 1982, Gallup poll finds", San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco CA, 1989-OCT-25, Page A21
2. Web page on various aspects of homosexuality by researcher Gregory M. Herek at: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/
3. Larry Burtoft, "Setting the record Straight: What Research Really Says About the Social Consequences of Homosexuality", Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO, (1994), Page 64-67

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Latest update: 2010-MAY-29
Author: B.A. Robinson

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