Khorven, in another thread, raised some noteworthy evidence, but did not make a clear claim as far as I could tell.
I will raise the same evidence and try to make an explicit claim.
Evidence:
http://theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/22SxSo/PnSx/Knsy/ReismnAPAPedo.htm
Claim:
The American Psychiatric Association is taking actions that will make it more likely that American children will have sexual contact with adults.
Terminology note:
Some people make a point of the distinction between the sexual attraction to children (called pedophilia) and sexual contact of adults with children (called child molestation). Other people deny this terminology difference.
Primary Evidence:
In a step critics charge could result in decriminalizing
sexual contact between adults and children, the American Psychiatric
Association (APA) recently sponsored a symposium in which participants
discussed the removal of pedophilia from an upcoming edition of the
psychiatric manual of mental disorders.
Psychiatrists attending an annual APA convention May 19 in San Francisco
proposed removing several long-recognized categories of mental illness -
including pedophilia ... - from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM). ...
Psychiatrist Charles Moser of San Francisco's Institute for the Advanced
Study of Human Sexuality and co-author Peggy Kleinplatz of the University of
Ottawa presented conferees with a paper entitled "DSM-IV-TR and the
Paraphilias: An Argument for Removal."
Secondary Evidence:
In a fact sheet on pedophilia, the APA calls the behavior "criminal and
immoral."
"An adult who engages in sexual activity with a child is performing a
criminal and immoral act that never can be considered normal or socially
acceptable behavior," the APA said.
However, the APA failed to address whether it considers a person with a
pedophile orientation to have a mental disorder.
"That is the question that is being actively debated at this time within the
APA, and that is the question they have not answered when they respond that
such relationships are 'immoral and illegal,'" Nicolosi said.
Dr. Darrel A. Regier, director of research for the APA, said there were "no
plans and there is no process set up that would lead to the removal of the
paraphilias from their consideration as legitimate mental disorders."
Some years ago, the APA considered the question of whether a person who had
such attractions but did not act on them should still be labeled with a
disorder.
"We clarified in the DSM-IV-TR...that if a person acted on those urges, we
considered it a disorder," Regier said.
Additional point: In order for a paper to be accepted at a conference, several academics have to read the paper carefully and agree to it. Therefore appearance at a conference indicates that an idea has several supporters.
Argument:
1. The APA has a faction that encourages adults who are sexually attracted to children to see themselves to be just as normal as homosexuals.
2. After American psychiatrists advocated homosexuality and derided traditional inhibitions against homosexuality, homosexual behavior in America became more extensive. This cultural change is celebrated in movies such as "Kinsey."
3. It is likely that a pedophile-pride movement will publicly invoke the authority of APA members to agitate for rights, even though, as Regier says, there is no official APA plan to support those rights.
4. Pedophile adults who believe themselves to have the right to live out their sexual identities are likelier to have sexual contact with children.
5. Simply by approving of a conference paper, the APA is taking action.
Conclusion: The APA is taking actions that will make it more likely that American children will have sexual contact with adults. |
