1.

Quoting the article:

The study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, challenges the commonly held belief that pedophilia is brought on by childhood trauma or abuse. This finding is the strongest evidence yet that pedophilia is instead the result of a problem in brain development.

I don’t see why problematic brain development should be considered separately from childhood trauma: abuse. Are our brains completely hard wired? I think not. So I stand by the cycle of family violence and abuse as the root cause of sadism in adult life. If pedophilia and the like can be cured after the fact, it raises questions as to the cure’s application. Will the law allow for invasive surgery on offenders? What is the difference between that and plain old castration for rapists and the like?

2.

I think to a certain degree that yes, our brains ARE completely hard wired and react in almost identical ways from person to person. A minute chemical imbalance created by environmental stimuli (FAS in the womb, abuse during critical developmental periods, what have you) can have immense psychological repercussions seen in the adult mind and body. Perhaps childhood trauma is the catalyst, but if we can pinpoint the effects of that trauma – the exact chemical damage – then we could in essence “fix” that person and they could live a life outside of prison doors.

I would intuitively argue against the castration metaphor, but maybe that’s because I cannot empathize with the joy afforded to the pedophile by BEING a pedophile, as I can with the person being able to fully enjoy his/her reproductive organs. Maybe they don’t want to be “fixed”? I think THAT is where the controversy will arise, instead of regarding the science behind the cure.

3.

I agree that fetal and childhood traumas create some of the imbalances within the brain that are undesirable, and underlie destructive actions. By saying that the brain is not hard wired, I meant that imbalances do occur from outside stimuli, emotional (trauma) and physical (concussions) and cause an individual’s brain undergo operations that are unique. I may have misused the term “hard-wired.”

If there is a drug, or even an invasive procedure that can cure a pedophile of his or her ONE affliction ONLY, than there can be no argument in the world against it. But especially in the case of invasive surgery, I am wary of performing anything less than an entirely proven procedure on anyone, even a pedophile.

Psychologists, interestingly enough, consider human sexuality itself i.e., desire, the outcome of a rooted trauma. So, by the way, does the first three books of Genesis. So we are dealing with some of the most essential structures of our humanity when we deal with the wiring of our brain, and the traumas that make us human. I am simply cautious, and in no way uncaring.

4.

Very interesting. Makes one wonder what inflictions will be classified as “destructive” and in need of a cure. Pedophilia is quite obvious, but what about nail-biting? pot smoking? lying? sexuality? I can see the government forcing one to cure pedophilia tendencies, but where is the line drawn on the others?

5.

If I were to venture an opinion on where the line may be drawn, I would have to revert to an essentially religious text, William Blake. The line is drawn when we inhibit the life of the other. It is when the tyrant, priest, or king chooses to lay his prohibitions on the fairest leaf. What damages the self is the story of ourselves. What damages the other is the nightmare from which we are trying to awake.

6.

History.