Although the DVD is not readily available, one of the best documentaries about pedophilia is...
(The JPG is a link to the IMDB info on the documentary.)
I've been trying to find a reliable source for the movie for a while, but the Just, Melvin, Just Evil website doesn't even offer it for sale.
It is about Melvin Just. He molested his daughters when they were all very young. The son of one of the now adult daughters is the director. His mother was suicidal and he was interested in why. He starts digging up the family dirt and uncovers a monster. He interviews the grown daughters and the stories they tell are graphic and horrendous. (Including the murder of a social worker checking on reports of molestation.)
The damage this one man did is written all over the drug addicted and alcoholic lives of the grown daughters. They're barely functional, and yet psychologically struggle for what little sunshine they can find in their day-to-day existence.
The documentary is a fascinating study in the long term mental health problems resulting from selfish predators stealing the innocence from their prey.
The title says it all: Just Evil.
It isn’t a mental illness. It is a choice to predate and selfishly take whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want, from whomever they want.
We have had this in our extended family, so I have done research. Pedophilia is an inborn sexual preference for children only. It is relatively rare. Child molestation is a case of opportunity and the perpetrators can be of any preference, including heterosexual adult partners. Often they are sexual addicts whose lives revolve around their sexual organs. Family members are the most likely victims just because of proximity and opportunity. It is way too common.
These are manipulators and liars. They lie to themselves, as well. Most psychiatrists doubt they can be changed, although some can maybe learn some control. First, they have to learn empathy, which they lack. There is even disagreement about whether having been abused causes abuse.
It is closest to sociopathy.
It sounds like those who want to condition acceptance are trying to differentiate between those perpetrators who have been caught and those who have managed to not be caught. There are hundreds of thousands in prison for molestation and only a few are actual pedophiles. No telling how many are out there still predating on children, who are usually young girls.
It is devastating, not only to the primary victims, but to the families of all concerned. Those who have had it happen in their families and close friendship circles know what I mean.
The entire *trend* towards dressing young girls in a provocative manner and encouraging a very young self-presentation among teenaged and adult women exacerbates the problem, IMO. Everyone has noticed how Hollywood and the fashion industry encourages an androgynous look while promoting near-anorexia among girls. An entire generation is adverse to adult female body hair, which I cannot recall being the case in earlier generations.
Personally, I think it can also begin with *regular* adult pornography. Like any addiction, overuse vitiates the response and the practitioners keep looking for more potent images.