Introduction

Sexual exploitation. The Every writer of this zine

concept seems unthinkable to
many. Something that only
happens very rarely, or happens
mostly in the movies. But that
wouldnt be very true. Sexual
exploitation is still a very real
and prominent problem in our
world. We just dont pay it that
much notice because it has been,
and continues to be, normalized
in many ways.
would highly encourage you to
continue to do more research on
your own of any topic that grabs
your attention. As well as
participate in any forms of
activism you can to fight against
sexual exploitation. This is
something that affects women,
men, and anyone in between, and
of all ages.

This zine was created to

start a conversation about the
fact that sexual exploitation isnt
as uncommon as one may wish it
were. This zine will cover topics
ranging from rape culture to
human trafficking. The goal is to
touch on topics to raise
awareness of the fact that sexual
exploitation is far more
widespread than many would
have you believe, and sometimes
even condoned in certain groups
of people.
https://unsplash.com/search/sad?photo=wESKMSgZJDo
 Rape Culture is
Present
By: Kelly Morrison

Rape culture is present when

girls are told to cover up or that their
outfits are distracting. These
comments have been normalized in our
culture. We ask what the victim might
have done to provoke her own assault;
what was she wearing, was she
drinking, were they flirting? It has been
normalized to blame the victim of
sexual violence instead of holding the
attacker accountable for their actions.

Rape culture is present when

media reports of rape often include
that the victim was drinking or
wearing provocative clothing, implying
that she was to blame for her own
assault. This turns the blame from the
rapist to the act of drinking
(Armstrong). This turn of blame
http://roseaposey.tumblr.com/post/39795409283/judgments
silences the victims and makes them
feel powerless. It turns their own
actions against themselves and excuses the work place and who have gone through
act of violence against them. hours of sexual harassment training still
make these comments.
Rape culture
is present in the Rape culture is
comments made present when survivors of
comparing situations sexual violence see their
to rape. I had never rapists on campus after no
heard someone make action was taken against
a comment like this them. Even when students
until I started my are found guilty in cases of
first job at a movie sexual assault, they are
theater. Weekends usually not expelled for
are always busy, and their acts. In only about
my male coworkers http://worldtribune.com/life/who-created-the-rape- one third of assault cases
often say were culture-the-left-deserves-credit/ was the attacker expelled,
getting raped out and less than half of the
there. Even members of my management students found guilty of assault were
team make comments like this. The people suspended (OConnor).
who are supposed to be our leaders in the
 By showing victims of sexual accountable for their behavior while
violence that excusing men
college campuses from theirs
wont take action (Armstrong).
against their
attackers, it In order
makes them less to change our
likely to report cultures
their assaults. It perception of
is estimated that rape culture,
fewer than 5% of there needs to be
rape cases of direct action
women in college against it.
are reported Instead of
(OConnor). The silencing the
low reporting survivors of
rate is due in part sexual violence
to lack of and turning the
discipline to blame on them,
rapists. If little or we should be
no action is taken educating
by the school people on how
against the https://twitter.com/SarahKSilverman to stop violence.
attacker, then It is estimated
what benefit is there to reporting the that one in five women in college will be a
assault? victim of sexual assault or rape. This
number could be even higher since an
Women learn how to prevent their estimated 63% of sexual assaults are never
own attacks: we use the buddy system, reported (OConnor). These numbers could
carry a rape whistle, keep track of our drink, be reduced if we change our attitude
and dont drink too much. We train women towards sexual violence. We need teach
on how not to be victims instead of training people not to rape rather than dont get
men not to be attackers. This holds women raped.

Sources:

Armstrong, Cory L.; Mahone, Jessica. Its On Us. The Role of Social Media and rape Culture

in Individual Willingness to Mobilize Against Sexual Assault. Mass Communication

and Society. Vol. 20, no. 1, 17 Jun 2016. Web. 25 Feb 2017.

OConnor, Lydia; Kingkade, Tyler. If You Dont Get Why Campus Rape is A National

Problem, Read This. The Huffington Post. Web. 24 June 2016.

 Rape Culture
By: Chris Watson
Rape Culture at its core is rooted in
misogyny; the belief that masculinity is
superior to femininity. Men in power are
both the primary benefactors of the
consequences of rape culture as well as the
ones most responsible for its continued
perpetuation. The origins of rape culture
could potentially be traced to biological
differences in strength between men and
women. However, on the way to the 21st
century, we have moved past simple biology
and where formerly as animals forced sexual
acts were relatively common, they are now
frowned upon and actively discouraged.
Unfortunately, such things still exist as an
expression of power over another to
subjugate their will to yours.
In the movie An Open Secret, the
producers discuss the rampant abuse of
child actors within Hollywood. This occurs
with such regularity, that everyone shrugs it
off as normal. The
perpetrators are
always directors,
producers, managers,
and other roles that
have power over the
actors and have the
power to give them
acting jobs or cause
them to be
blacklisted and never be http://bit.ly/2lPKaYu
able to find acting work
again. These predators rape child-actors
under the threat that they could kill their
careers. Even outside journalists have had
stories killed and buried for threatening to
go public. The perpetrators abuse their
positions of power to silence
whistleblowers and control the careers of
their victims.
http://bit.ly/2mJ5Mdj
Even our current president, Donald
Trump, has admitted to abusing his
positions of power to perpetuate rape
culture. He has openly talked about groping
and assaulting women, And when youre a
star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
Grab em by the pussy. You can do
anything, (Times 2016) without any
consequences because
he has the power (and
money) to just silence
all dissent. Now that
he is president, this
type of action is
starting to become
normalized and
considered acceptable.
Rape culture as
an expression of power
must be understood to be an extension of
misogyny. It is a way of asserting ones self
as having power. If you want power, go out
and rape someone. Powerful producers rape
young boys, and they have power. Famous
actors-turned-future-presidential-
candidates force themselves on women, and were just trying to become a man!) Why do
they have power. The message becomes: If we participate in victim blaming? (Oh
you want power, go out and rape someone. he/she really wanted it.) Why do we mock
Subjugate their will to yours; show them male rape-victims? (He got hard, he must
who is in charge. have wanted it!) These
Why is it like actions can and should
this? Well, no longer be excused
according to rape with appeals to
culture, men are traditional gender roles.
the more They should be
powerful ones. universally condemned
They can take and punished. No
what they want. victim, male or female,
Women are ever wants to be a
weaker and you victim. We need to
can just take force accountability
from them. In the upon these rapists and
http://bit.ly/2mJ2bM4
commission of continue to reach out
rape, the rapist to show that these
masculinizes themselves by taking control actions are not OK and will not ever be
and feminizes their victim by subjugating acceptable. We need to show these
them and taking control from them. perpetrators that their positions of power
do not excuse them from the same laws and
As members in this society, why do
we continue to let these vile acts take place? consequences everyone else faces.
Why do we apologize for rapists? (They

Sources:

An Open Secret . Dir. Amy Berg. Perf. Evan Henzi, Michael Egan III, and Mark Ryan.

Youtube.com. N.p., 11 Sept. 2016. Web. 25 Feb. 2017.

Bullock, Penn. "Transcript: Donald Trump's Taped Comments About Women." The New York

Times. N.p., 08 Oct. 2016. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.

<https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/us/donald-trump-tape-transcript.html?_r=0 >.
 Purity Culture
By: David Bushnell

In the feminist fight there are many There are several clear citadels of purity
nebulous topics. Equal pay, rape culture, culture. The first is chastity clubs. Chastity
domestic abuse, etc. However since the clubs, as the name suggests, are clubs
1980s there has been a disturbing dedicated to womens chastity. These clubs
resurgence of an archaic trend. Conservative are either aimed at young teens or young
organizations are once again popularizing adult women. The idea is to recruit women
the myth of the hymen and purity. So in this to remain pure until marriage. At which
article we ask: Purity Culture, why is this point they give their purity to their
still a thing? husbands. Organizations such as Focus on
the Family argue that this fosters a closer
Purity culture is an ideology bond with ones husband and that this will
perpetuated by Evangelicals and similar ultimately make them love you more.
religious groups in essence saying that Beyond the gender essentialism this
purity, typically aimed at but not exclusive ideology is seriously problematic. Purity
to women, is culture is almost
tantamount to always coupled
Godliness. with abstinence
Purity in this only sex
context has education. The
several loose argument here is
definitions. that STD/STI
First purity transmission,
refers to the sexual abuse,
myth of the and unwanted
Intact hymen pregnancy can
essentially all be avoided by
definitively not having sex
proving that a until marriage.
women has This has three
had no significant
penetrative problems. The
vaginal sex. first is that
http://bit.ly/2lMEgqr
Purity in men all three of
is similar, but these issues
also includes men's thoughts. Essentially are not limited to unmarried sex. A piece of
just having impure thoughts is just as bad paper will not protect you from contracting
as having sex; however, it is the duty of the STD/STI, married sexual abuse happens,
woman to dress in a manner that keeps the and unwanted pregnancies can still occur
man's thoughts at bay. within a marriage. The second is that
abstinence only education significantly
Purity culture is not relegated to under prepares individuals for sex.
small pockets of individuals, but has Abstinence only sex education does not
popularity amongst many kinds of people. teach effective condom use, consent, or
anything else one would see in a more
comprehensive curriculum. Thus those
individuals who decide to have sex outside
of marriage are woefully underprepared and
at greater risk of the issues defended by
Focus on the Family. Third, is the fact that
this ideology further entrenches the myth of
the female hymen. Essentially this myth
defines the hymen as a seal of freshness
and can only be broken through penetrative
sex. It conflates the status of a woman's
hymen with her morality. If the hymen is
broken before she is married she is
considered immoral. The problem with this
myth is that not a single part of it is true.
The hymen is a thin band of skin
circumnavigating the vaginal opening. It can
be ripped through nearly any strenuous
activity. Finally, the idea that a woman's
morality is intertwined with the status of
her hymen is simply a myth created by men
in order to control what women do with
their body.
Another harm of purity culture is its
effect on men and boys. I am uniquely
qualified to talk about this as I am a male
person who grew up steeped in the legalism
of purity culture. The ideology of purity
culture differs between men and women. I
should add that these are not the only two
genders that exist, but in the context of
purity culture all relations are assumed to be
heterosexual. The ideology for men is two-
fold. First that they must keep their minds
pure. Essentially even thinking about sex
and sexual acts is just as bad as having sex.
To this end, leaders will often tell women
that they have to be mindful of what they
Sources:
Fahs, Breanne. "Daddys Little Girls On the Perils of Chastity Clubs, Purity Balls, and Ritualized
Abstinence." Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 31.3 (2010): 116-142. print.
Focus on the Family. Why Wait for Sex Series. http://www.focusonthefamily.com/marriage/
preparing-for-marriage/why-wait-for-sex/why-wait-for-sex. Focus on the Family, 2009.
Web. 2 Feb. 2017
wear in order to protect the minds of men.
This propagates the myth that men are sex-
obsessed brutes incapable of controlling
their minds or themselves. Once you get fed
this myth for so long, you begin to actually
believe it. This creates a positive feedback
loop because once you start believing the
myth and accept it, it becomes your male
performance.
So what is the appropriate response
to purity culture? The proper response, like
so many other social issues, is proper
education. This can be achieved through
several ways. Sex education in the United
States is far from standardized. One of the
best actions to undermine purity culture
would be through a federal mandate
standardizing sex education. The problem
with this is the fact that many policy
makers would rather talk about nearly
anything else than sex. Therefore, as
feminists we must destigmatize
conversations surrounding sex. We must be
willing to freely talk about our experiences
in order to facilitate public discourse around
the topic. As there is no way as of yet to
generate this sweeping policy change, it is
up to us to begin the discourse of proper sex
education. This can mean simply talking
with a friend who never received proper sex
education. It may also mean hosting
workshops at your local school or
university. But beyond all this, we must first
be willing to name the institutionalization
of purity culture in many different circles
and be willing to fight it wherever it
appears.
 Interviewing Women Who Have Left Purity Culture
By: David Bushnell
Alaska
Q: Would you mind giving me a brief
definition of purity culture in your own
words.
A: I tend not to really consciously think of
purity culture in those terms these days, its
more of a lived experience. Probably a
definition would be the view that discussion
and partaking in any sexual acts outside of
heterosexual marriage is off the table
Q: As a purity culture Survivor for lack
of a better term, how do you see this as
having shaped your human experience?
A: I think a lot of my experience comes
more from Catholic guilt than purity culture
shit to be honest, but both have had an
impact on me. I think the way its shaped me
is still feeling a significant amount of
guilt/shame when it comes to sex. Not
necessarily during but before/after? If that
makes sense? I struggle a lot with doing any
kind of talking about sex even in a playful
way because of how I grew up, and seeing it
as a taboo topic. Which is something I hate
and really have to struggle to try to change.
http://bit.ly/2lQfwhS
Q: What was your sex-ed experience like,
and do you feel like it was complete?
A: (Laughter) I didnt have a sex-ed
experience. All the instruction I got was
from Tumblr.
Q: Follow up to that, how do you feel
about abstinence education specifically
abstinence only sex education.
A: Fucking stupid, is how I feel about
abstinence Education. When you live in a
community where talking about sex is taboo
and at best the most sex Ed is abstinence sex
Ed, youre basically asking teenagers to
figure it out for themselves. Which is
extremely easy, with the power of google.
But then you wonder why those same kids
get pregnant extremely young and
are then judged by the same community. Its
truly mind boggling.
Q: Do you see Purity Culture as a method
of patriarchal control?
A: God its been awhile since Ive been in
the throes of purity culture and I tend not to
think about it much so thats a hard question.
I guess yeah, it would be a type of control,
because the point is to literally bottle up
feelings, emotions, etc. that are key to an
individual's upbringing and personal
experience.
Q: How can we respond to purity culture
with our peers? Those that have grown
up in it, or those that still advocate its
use? Is it something we should get
involved in?
A: Im a big believer in letting people do
their own thing. I personally think purity
culture is harmful, and Ill voice that opinion
even to those who propose its a good
system, and Ill encourage them to think it
through further. But apart from that I dont
think it's my place to like, actively fight it,
or anything. Just giving my two cents gained
from my own life experience is enough.
Catherine
Q: Would you mind giving me a brief
definition of purity
culture in your own
words?
A: Yall better not be
fucking! But for real,
how I understood it is
not how whoever
explained it to me
meant it. For me it
made me fear my own
sexuality. Dating,
holding hands, and
even hugging my http://bit.ly/2mVbZzy
friends was a sin. I
was always in fear of getting in trouble with
my parents. Any contact with a guy I felt
could be bad. I was always good friends
with guys, but it put me in a weird spot
when I hit middle school, and then all of a
sudden my parents were saying Boys
were a sin. I felt like I could not talk to my
parents about my feelings towards guys.
Q: You said it made you fear your own
sexuality can you go into that a bit more?
A: A lot of romantic and physical contact
between two different genders I felt was
wrong. People of two genders, hugging, or
even holding hands was just wrong. So the
thought of kissing was just sinful. To this
day I still feel uncomfortable with people
touching me. For the two boyfriends I have
had the first kiss in both instances was one
of the hardest things I have ever done.
but also some engage in high risk activities.
Q: What was your sex-ed experience like,
and do you feel like it was complete?
A: Dr. James Dobson of focus on the family
taught me how to have sex. All I knew was
that there was a penis and something
between my legs and that they go together in
order to make babies. It wasnt until I got a
tumblr that I got a little more detail. When I
was 15 I asked my doctor about birth control
and she had a really good talk with me and
that's when It really
congealed for me.
Q: What do you
think about
abstinence
education
specifically
abstinence only
education?
A: Its so harmful for
teenagers. It's like
telling a 5 year old
not to eat a big bag
of marshmallows because they will get a
tummy ache. So when you get two teenagers
who have had abstinence only education
you're going to have a bad time because they
are not going to listen, and not know how to
protect themselves.
Q: Do you see purity culture as a means
of patriarchal control?
A: Oh yeah! Who made these social
constructs? It's a form of patriarchal control
because it goes back to human evolution and
biology that men are able to have a lot more
babies than women (biologically speaking)
no man wants to raise another person's child
so it has to do with that kind of
heteronormative monogamous mindset of
prehistoric days.
Margo
Q: In your own words can you define
purity culture?
A: Bullshit, honestly. Worst thing to happen
to the church/humans. Complete and utter
bullshit.
Q: Do you find that the rhetoric of purity
culture helps normalize sexual abuse?
A: That's really tricky. On one side I would
say yes, because girls get trained that if they
get abused then it is their fault, but sons
don't get taught to protect women. It also
teaches that once you are raped you are less
of a person because of it. I wouldnt say it
Normalizes it as it Ingrains it in an
incredibly subtle and horrible manner.
Q: Was ending up in a position to be
abused a culmination of purity culture?
A: I was with a guy and I wanted to break
out of purity culture. He promised that he
would go slow and stop if I asked. He did
neither.
Q: What was your sex-ed experience
A: I did my own sex ed. My parents
explained it to me in the most cop out way.
My dad was going to be a nurse years ago,
so he had a ton of old medical books. So I
learned about venereal diseases and shit
through that. Then I was googling what
guanaria looked like and found porn.
Q: How do you feel about abstinence only
sex education
A: Its idiotic and unrealistic. When you
teach kids not to have sex, you set them up
for failure. They have no defense against
venereal diseases, unwanted pregnancy,
alternative sexual orientations, and that just
having sexual thoughts is wrong. It also
alienates people from being able to talking
about it.
Q: So, what do you think the activist
response to purity culture should be? And
how?
A: Burn it to the ground by dismantling
ideas that purity is something with an
innately high value to it. Teach kids that
their body is their own, and whatever they
do with their own bodies is their own
choice.
 Sex Trafficking
By: Javier Cordova
Sex trafficking is more prevalent in
societies than people think and yet it is an
issue that remains in the shadow. According
to Crawford, It is difficult to know just how
prevalent it is since it is an illegal act and
goes largely unreported (104). Sex
trafficking is when someone forces another
person to perform a sexual act for profit.
The victims of sex trafficking are lured in by
the promise of protection, money, and love.
According to Shared Hope International,
Sex trafficking goes unnoticed because the
victims either feel ashamed to report what's
actually
going on
or it goes
unnoticed
many
people
mistake
the issues
that result
from sex
trafficking
as being
the
problem
itself
(What is
http://sharedhope.org/the-problem/what-is-sex-trafficking/
Sex
Trafficking). As a result, the victims get
treated for drug abuse, alcohol abuse,
delinquency, etc. The fact that some victims
do not report because they are ashamed
shows that there is a stigmatization with sex
trafficking that must go away if we are to
get rid of sex trafficking. The victims are
labeled as whores or sluts and so they
feel responsible for what has happen to
them. Our schools also seem to make sex
trafficking an even bigger problem, because
teachers are trained to detect signs of abuse
and are required to contact the police if they
see these signs, but teachers are not trained
nor required to report sex trafficking if they
suspect a student is a victim of it (Magee).
Unfortunately, there is not a whole
lot of research on the long terms effect of
sex trafficking. The very little research that
has been done says that two-thirds of
victims continue to experience physical
symptoms, such as chronic headaches,
fatigue, back pain, etc. (Crawford, 108).
Tuberculosis and STIs are also common
among victims according to Crawford (109).
Young girls
are
particularly
vulnerable
to STIs,
since
sexually
inexperienced girls are very valuable and in
many parts of the world, it is believed that
sex with a virgin can cure STIs such as HIV.
What needs to be done is first we
must get rid of the stigma of sex trafficking
and make a safe environment where people
feel comfortable reporting it. We must also
educate people, especially teachers, on the
signs of sex trafficking and make it so that
teachers are required to report sex
trafficking if they suspect it. Many anti-
trafficking organizations, such as Shared
Hope
International, are already doing these things.
Shared Hope International educate
professionals on the warning signs, they
teach minors the tactics traffickers use so
they can avoid it. They also provide shelter
for those who may need it.
Sex trafficking is only possible by
dehumanizing Women. In a patriarchal
society such as the United States, Women
are not seen as people, they are merely
object for Men to take and control. Teaching
the warning signs of sex trafficking is not
enough. We must also teach our children
that Women are people that have the right to
do whatever they want with their own
bodies. A Woman's body belongs to no one
except her and no one has the right to buy or
sell it.

Sources:

Crawford, Mary. "International Sex Trafficking." Women & Therapy 40.1/2 (2017): 101-

122. Academic Search Complete. Web.

Magee, Maureen. "Schools Take on Sex Trafficking." Sandiegouniontribune.com. San Diego

Union Tribune, 04 Feb. 2017. Web.

 Marrying Children
By: Jared Slattery

Most people in repercussions of such

America would practices endanger the
probably be confused health of these women, as
when child marriage well limiting their
is brought up, educational opportunities
wondering if that was and economic freedom,
a serious issue and if and damaging the
it still exists in the potential of the societies
world. According to in which they live.
Girls Not Brides, Premature marriage has
though, 1 in 3 girls in high health consequences
the developing world for the girls involved,
are married before the including being the
age of 18, and over number two reason
700 million women globally for pregnancy
alive today were complications and
married as children. childbirth difficulties,
(Girls Not Brides, with a 50% chance for
Where Does It stillbirth or premature
Happen?) Girls are infant death. Child
often forced into marriage also greatly
marriages at young increases the chance of a
ages for multiple women to be infected
reasons, such as high with HIV/AIDS, with 1
levels of poverty in in 7 new infections
society, lack of affecting adolescents.
education about Girls married before
sexual health, and maturity are also
cultural tradition that frequently uneducated,
says women are and lack of education
inferior to men and correlates strongly with
http://bit.ly/2mcq25i
less valuable as early marriage. Higher
people in general. The education, as well, is
effects of these early marriages on women something rarely pursued by child brides, as
are numerous and harmful, exacerbated by they lack the freedom to seek it, and are
numerous social institutions. often discouraged by their spouses so as to
maintain an unequal power dynamic
Twenty-eight girls are married
between the two. With this lack of
before the age of 18 every minute, and the
education, girls are rarely able to obtain
economic freedom, enslaving them to the structures. The WHO is seeking to increase
whims of their husbands and locking them the education available about sexuality, and
into this oppressive system. Societies are attempting to expand the ability of women
also impacted by this trend of child to seek educational opportunities in
marriage, with a large portion of the developing countries. (Butchart and Hillis,
population unable to contribute to the 26) Other organizations such as Girls Not
advancement of the society due to lack of Brides are attempting to empower young
education, lack of economic opportunities,
and lack of proper health to support them.
(Girls Not Brides, What Is The Impact?)
There are many institutions that
support the act of child marriage, with the
most pervasive and powerful being the
cultural traditions of the societies in which it
is most frequently practiced. In many
communities, predominantly in the Global
South, girls become women when they start
to menstruate, and because it has always
been done this way, they are generally
married soon after, resulting in a large
proportion of very young girls being given
away by their families to ease financial
burdens and establish ties between families.
Poverty is a large driving factor in these
arrangements, as well as the established
belief in many communities that women are
less valuable than men, so they are
frequently gotten rid to relieve a perceived
resource drain. Since they are less
valuable, marrying them off early is seen as
a valid practice to put that burden onto
another family, while also increasing the
likelihood of male, and therefore valuable,
members of the family. (Girls Not Brides,
Why Does It Happen?)
Despite all these negative factors,
there is a large amount of activism being
done to end this practice of child marriage.
The World Health Organization as well as
many independent organizations are pushing
for more laws to regulate the exploitation of
http://bit.ly/2mcxTzV
minors both sexually and within family
women through safe space programs, as well
as expanding knowledge bases to teach
people about the dangers of premature
marriage. (Girls Not Brides, How Can We
End Child Marriage?)
Child marriage is a practice that
endangers women, damages societies, and as
a whole should be discarded for the
betterment of the human race. Ending it will
help our global community prosper as more
women are free to seek economic
opportunities and contribute to the well-
being of our species.

Sources:

Brides, Girls Not. Girls Not Brides. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2017.

<http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/>.

Butchart, Alexander, and Susan Hillis. INSPIRE: seven strategies for ending violence against

children. Swizterland: World Health Organization (WHO), 2016. Print.

 Is the Dehumanization of Pedophiles Dangerous?
By: Brynley McGough

Pedophilia (the desire to commit article is going to treat it as such (Maln,

sexual acts or participate in intimate Agustin).] However, people who begin to
behavior with a child who has not yet started notice symptoms of this disorder in their self
puberty) is cannot access
widely help. Although
acknowledged there is
as treatment,
contemptuous. there is no cure
Nobody for this reviled
defends these ailment.
acts, or the However,
people who treatment can
commit them. help prevent
In fact, the most enacting of the
common thoughts and
reaction desires that
towards even https://unsplash.com/search/child?photo=W9ULJJwG2fA
manifest.
the topic of
Why cant
pedophilia is often aggression and pure
people receive treatment? Because seeking
disgust. And this seems right to us, such vile
behavior should be treated in a way that help means they must admit to others they
leaves no room for misunderstanding just may have what is considered to be the most
how much it is despised. abhorrent disorder of all. This quickly costs
them their jobs, friends, family, etc. Even if
Even writing the title for the article theyve never committed an illegal act.
somehow felt wrong to me. It felt as if I was (Kaplan, Margo)
breaking the unwritten code of conduct
stating that only the harshest language and Pedophiles who receive treatment are
actions should be used for this topic. But the ones who have been convicted of child
perhaps that isnt always the most helpful molestation, which means at least one child
way of dealing with such an emotionally has to be harmed before a pedophile is
charged subject. discovered. No matter how much we detest
pedophilia, we should detest that system
Pedophilia is considered a mental equally, if not more.
disorder. [There are people that would
If we hate pedophilia for the danger
contend this statement, but since pedophilia
can be diagnosed with The Diagnostic and it poses to children, then we should aim to
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, this
change the system that isnt protecting them
as well as we imagine it to.
Pedophiles can live without ever
harming a child. In fact, there is a support
group online entitled Virtuous Pedophiles,
this is a group of pedophiles who
acknowledge and agree that acting upon
their thoughts would be morally wrong.
(Kaplan, Margo) They live in fear of seeking
psychological or medical help due to the
isolating tendencies our culture tends to
employ when discovering a pedophile, and
thus seek advice from each other.
The point of this article is not to say
that we should condone pedophilia, this
article isnt even to say that you shouldnt be
outraged and disgusted when you read an
article about an arrested child molester. This
article is merely pointing out an
institutionalized flaw within our society and
legal system and suggesting we make a
change.
In an effort to prevent the
unthinkable from occurring, psychiatric
treatment should be available and
encouraged to pedophiles who recognize
their disorder for what it is, a disorder.
Preventative care is always preferable to
reactive care medically. This should also be
true when dealing with pedophiles.
Especially when considering just what the
implications of reactive treatment means for
children in this scenario.

Sources:

Kaplan, Margo. "Pedophilia: A Disorder, Not a Crime." The New York Times. The New York

Times, 05 Oct. 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2017.

<https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/opinion/pedophilia-a-
disorder-not-a-crime.html?_r=0>. Web.

Maln, Agustin. "Pedophilia: A Diagnosis in Search of a Disorder." Archives of Sexual

Behavior 41.5 (2012): 1083-097. Springer Link. Web. 28 Feb. 2017. Journal.
 Pedophilic Desires are Being Institutionalized
By: Nikki Khorram
Pedophiles are attracted to the
thought of being dominant to this innocent
child who cannot fight back for themselves,
in most cases it is not exactly that they are
sexually attracted to this childs features, just
their submissiveness. People who have
never felt power in life, tend to try to gain it
in any way possible- including taking
advantage of children. Pedophiles have been
affected by the societal norm that a man
should have power, and when that power is
threatened, their fragile egos dont know
what to do or where to turn, so they turn to
the easiest way to exert power- on innocent
and unaware children. One famous example
is the serial killer rapist, Arthur Shawcross.
He tried to excuse his actions in court with
the fact that his mother sexually abused him.
He then went on to begin hurting women
and children by raping and killing them
because he wanted to feel the power that he
felt was stripped away from him as a child.
This story along with many others proves
that societal gender roles and expectations of
patriarchy are harmful to both sides.
High
school is an
institution I
saw this in. I
quickly
learned how
cool it was
for the
freshman girl
to date the
senior, and
how her
popularity https://saboteur365.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/pedophile.jpg
status shot up
as being an older mans. Nobody judged
these 18 year olds for preying after these 14
year-old girls, instead they were praised for
catching the fresh meat. Meanwhile when
a girl dated someone younger than her even
by a year, everybody was confused and
pretty much disgusted calling her a
cougar, wondering how could she be
attracted to him his balls havent even
dropped yet.
In order to put an end to this sexual
abuse that is practiced all over the world, we
must learn how to understand these peoples
psyches, in order to treat these people before
they hurt anyone else.
In a study conducted at Ghent University,
they found that the sexually abused do not
improve in externalizing problems such as
anger and sexual problems, while they do
improve on internalizing them. An
experiment where they interview
adolescents post sexual abuse shows that
throughout the course of six months, there is
no improvement to their damaged self-
esteems, and depression symptoms. It has
been proven that crisis support that is all
about teaching these children coping
strategies, has
been helping
them with
dealing and
coming to
terms with
what had
happened.
After
reassessing a
group of
adolescents,
where 35/100
refused to be
reassessed, the remaining 65 had troubling
feedback. The negative evaluations were
about their own character and sexuality, as
well as being very critical of others, and a power, while children and women are
loss of trust in society. These norms that we powerless. How we define men is the reason
institutionalize every day are adding to this that some men are produced into abusers.
problem that we are trying to get rid of.
Every day we dont realize that we add to
this, we add to the fact that men carry

Sources
Jan H. Kamphulis, Corine De Ruiter, Bas Janssen, Mark Spiering. Preliminary evidence for an
Automatic Link between Sex and Power among men who molest children. Journal of
Interpersonal violence. Volume 20, Number 11. Sage publications. November 1st 2005.
University of Amsterdam.

Sarah Bal, Ilse de Bourdeaudhuij, Geert Crombez, Paulette van Oost. Predictors of Trauma
Symptomatology in sexually abused adolescents. Journal of interpersonal violence.
Volume 20, number 11. Sage publications. November 1st 2005. Ghent University.