pedophilia and asperger syndrome

## pedophilia and asperger syndrome

#### 7 September 2014
from celibate pedophiles

### ethan edwards

| I've occasionally heard the accusation that pedophiles are attracted to children because they can't make it with grown women. The implication is that they have a sense of entitlement that they deserve partners, and they abuse children because they can. Perhaps the criminal justice system has encountered... Ethan Edwards is the co-founder of Virtuous Pedophiles. Blog posts reflect his personal views, and are not statements from the organization. I've occasionally heard the accusation that pedophiles are attracted to children because they can't make it with grown women. The implication is that they have a sense of entitlement that they deserve partners, and they abuse children because they can. Perhaps the criminal justice system has encountered such people. It's no great surprise that I haven't, since entitled child abusers rarely contact us at Virtuous Pedophiles.Yet I do see a version of this basic claim that might be true. One observation at Virtuous Pedophiles is that far more people report having Asperger Syndrome than I would expect in a group of that size. Science has found that pedophiles are on average shorter, less intelligent, and far more likely to be left-handed than the general population. Asperger Syndrome could be taken as another characteristic in the list of those resulting at least in part from prenatal stress, though to my knowledge its relationship to pedophilia has not been systematically studied. But I think there may be more to it than that. As I've noted previously, many pedophiles are non-exclusive. They are attracted to children but also have some attraction to adults. Let's consider for the sake of argument someone who is equally attracted to adult women and to prepubescent girls. The large majority of adult men are attracted to adult women (teleiophiles). One would expect that small deviations from that pattern will be more common than large deviations. So we would expect non-exclusive pedophiles to be more common than exclusives. I expect that the socially well-adjusted person with this attraction pattern would be inclined to date women, sleep with women, and possibly marry women. They are free to think of their attraction to children as a curiosity and downplay its significance — and they have a strong motivation to do so if they do not want to feel like they are keeping an important secret from their partners. But a person with Asperger Syndrome has trouble with subtle social clues and is likely to have difficulty successfully dating women. He might find women not just unresponsive to his attentions but actually puzzling in a way that would get in the way of the romantic attraction itself. The social rules that govern interactions among children are quite a bit simpler. A pedophile might find himself attracted to girls because he understands them and feels more confident interacting with them socially. This does not mean he will become a child molester, but it means he will be more aware of his pedophilic attraction than a man who dates, sleeps with, and marries women. Since most people are teleiophiles, we should assume that most people with Asperger Syndrome are teleiophiles too. They may still have difficulty with relationships with women but the syndrome will not cause them to be fascinated with children in a romantic or sexual way. If I'm correct, we will see a disproportionate number of Asperger Syndrome men self-identifying as pedophiles. But it's not because of any cynical desire to score with someone if they can't score with women. It's just that with an underlying attraction to both adult women and girls, their thoughts will focus on the ones they understand and can communicate with better. I think this also may apply to men who are socially awkward but don't merit a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome. Negotiating romantic relationships is one of the most demanding social tasks I can think of, one that ordinary people expend a lot of time agonizing over. We should assume until proven otherwise that most of them will not sexually abuse children, just as we assume for pedophiles as a whole. About the author: Ethan Edwards is a pseudonym. I am a pedophile, always celibate, and I have never seen child pornography. My attraction is strongest to girls around 4 years old, but I am also attracted to girls and women up through their 30s or beyond. Now in my late 60s, I'm divorced and living alone. I was married for over 10 years and was heavily involved with raising my 3 daughters. For most of my career I was a successful software engineer. I am very unusual for a pedophile in that I didn't realize that I was one until I was in my 50s—but it was there all along. I am angry that we all must remain silent or risk losing everything. That was my mindset when I co-founded Virtuous Pedophiles in 2012. I soon learned of the the terror of the typical pedophile who realizes as a teenager that his attraction isn't going to go away, who has nowhere to turn for help. The injustice I am most passionate about is the harsh legal penalties imposed on pedophiles who passively view illegal images of children. I stepped down from my role as a director of Virtuous Pedophiles early in 2024 and am delighted to pass the mantle on to a younger generation. This content was taken from Ethan's longstanding blog, Celibate Pedophiles. Some of the titles and taglines have been edited for their inclusion at thepword. You can see an earlier version of the blog at the wayback machine. |

tags for this item

tags for this item

neurodiversity4

other relevant items

other relevant items

crackle and burn |  | civil libertarians must accept celibate pedophilia |  | does this link point to cp?
james peak Review of The Pedophile, a novel by Robin Murarka |  | ethan edwards What evidence could anyone possibly marshal to conclude that all the members of a group — one defined by their thoughts and not their actions — are sex offenders if they are undetected by anyone? |  | ethan edwards Someone recently sent me an email saying that they had been a victim in CP, that someone was trying to make those pictures available on the clear web (not just the dark web) and they wanted my help in getting rid of them. They then included several links.

crackle and burn james peak Review of The Pedophile, a novel by Robin Murarka
civil libertarians must accept celibate pedophilia ethan edwards What evidence could anyone possibly marshal to conclude that all the members of a group — one defined by their thoughts and not their actions — are sex offenders if they are undetected by anyone?
does this link point to cp? ethan edwards Someone recently sent me an email saying that they had been a victim in CP, that someone was trying to make those pictures available on the clear web (not just the dark web) and they wanted my help in getting rid of them. They then included several links.