I think my point of view is more fluid than you seem to realise
That's another discussion. Again, I was responding to your point that fantasy invariably leads to action.
That's the key question really. I doubt it starts with fantasy, because it would be kinda weird for a mentally healthy and well-balanced individual to suddenly decide that fantasising about kids looks like a good idea. So I think it would be safer to assume that there's already something wrong in their heads. Which in turn, leads to the question of whether fantasy will encourage more people to act than it will prevent. I don't feel comfortable forming an opinion on that one, because it seems to me that it's impossible to know without evidence.
From personal experience of people who've been abused, I'd say the extent and nature of the problem is truly horrific. It's hard to know whether it's actually on the increase though, since it's now easier and more acceptable to report abuse - so the figures may be rising because of that.
Oh come on. You've argued everything else so well in this thread I'm surprised you've posted this it's so ill-thought out.
Indeed, judging from just personal experiences of people I've known the problem seems to be far more common than anybody would like to admit.
Which is where we are on the exact same page, to solve the problem we need to understand it.
Most of the women (and I'm not suggesting the problem is limited to women) I know have been either raped, assaulted or abused. One of the main problems I've encountered is the number of people who end up blaming themselves for the abuse, so never report it. It's very common for people to feel that they're in some way responsible for what happened to them.
Totally. It's easy to be self-righteous and to rage against the abusers, but what's really needed is a cold, calm look at what we can do to deal with the problem in a way that actually works. And if protecting children is what we truly care about, then that's all that should really matter.
"Seemingly" being the key word. What do you really know about them? About their mental health, their biology, their personal history? It seems to me much more likely that either they were damaged to begin with, or something happened to damage them. In fact it's pretty much self-evident. If you or I feel no desire to develop a fetish for kiddie porn, then why would anyone else? There must be something different about them, surely?
But that's just an uninformed opinion. You have no factual, evidence-based reasoning to support that point of view. So again, it seems to me that it's futile to even speculate. What we need is more research, so we can form educated and rational opinions on these issues. Simples.
Indeed, it's truly depressing the apparent extent of the problem.
Very much so.
No, I'm not making a claim. I'm speculating.
Quite. I've seen those patterns manifest on a lesser scale in terms of the self-destructive and emotionally abusive behaviour that's common in survivors. Even at that end of the sperctrum, the damage caused by abuse is pretty appalling.
Annoying, isn't it? I honestly think a lot of the time the mindless rage is more about self-validation.
Sad that the blindingly obvious should even need stating, but yeah.
My girlfriend's mother came from a family where abuse was prevalent in at least two generations. The mother was incredibly lucky - she was the only one out of her siblings who wasn't abused. So yeah, it's never been exactly rare. Just less talked about.
I'm sorry to hear that a family member has gone through that.
Indeed, it's a problem which transcendences generations & will require a long term solution.
Self validation most certainly, in a very few specific cases it wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't a case of reaction formation going on - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_formation (interesting concept, something you see allot).
We would hope so, but as you say - sadly not.
It seems like it's a fairly common pattern of abuse that abusers will try and make their victims feel responsible. In some cases this is no doubt conscious, to reduce the chance of them reporting it, but also I suspect in many cases subconscious, where the abusers will feel guilt that they instinctively try to project onto the victim to try and mitigate some of their own deep-rooted feelings of responsibility.
Deterrence doesn't generally work with crimes of this type though. Detterence works against people who behave in a rational manner. When you're dealing with compulsive behaviour perpetrated by damaged people, they either don't connect the consequences with their actions, or else they can't exercise enough self-control to prevent those actions.
