Pedophilia, a word that anybody thinks badly of when heard. People with pedophilia are seen as crooks rather than an ordinary person who has a mental illness. Pedophiles should be in mental health facilities rather than in stripped of their privileges when they come out to the world and ask for help. The article “Pedophilia: A Disorder, Not a Crime,” written by Margo Kaplan, expresses these horrible incidences that these people face while struggling with pedophilia. The article expresses ideas that are common to agree with, but there are some skeptical ideas presented and some that are even untrusting. There are a few themes and the most notable theme of this article is how they are just people who are coping with a mental illness like, for
…show more content…
The first of which is that pedophilia is a mental disease rather that some criminal decision. The passage “The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines pedophilia as an intense and recurrent sexual interest in prepubescent children, and a disorder if it causes a person ‘marked distress or interpersonal difficulty’ or if the person acts on his interests,” shows that this is actually a mental illness and not a choice. Pedophiles all around the world are being treated poorly just because of a disease they have. They are treated so poorly that they could be prohibited from different types of job opportunities and even educational opportunities. An example given in the article is about HIV and AIDS. Why is it that people who have these physical diseases can work at places such as fast food places where they can spread easily if something happened and the affected person didn’t know about it, but the person with only a mental disease can’t work as a teacher, or professor? It just doesn’t make any sense. Congress doesn’t even acknowledge pedophilia as a mental disease. “The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibit discrimination against otherwise qualified individuals with mental disabilities, in areas such as employment, education and medical care. Congress, however, explicitly excluded pedophilia from protection under these two crucial laws.” If/when pedophilia is treated as a mental illness, Congress is saying that people coping with this are being discriminated against, which is not fair to them at this point in
The first of which is that pedophilia is a mental disease rather that some criminal decision. The passage “The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders defines pedophilia as an intense and recurrent sexual interest in prepubescent children, and a disorder if it causes a person ‘marked distress or interpersonal difficulty’ or if the person acts on his interests,” shows that this is actually a mental illness and not a choice. Pedophiles all around the world are being treated poorly just because of a disease they have. They are treated so poorly that they could be prohibited from different types of job opportunities and even educational opportunities. An example given in the article is about HIV and AIDS. Why is it that people who have these physical diseases can work at places such as fast food places where they can spread easily if something happened and the affected person didn’t know about it, but the person with only a mental disease can’t work as a teacher, or professor? It just doesn’t make any sense. Congress doesn’t even acknowledge pedophilia as a mental disease. “The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibit discrimination against otherwise qualified individuals with mental disabilities, in areas such as employment, education and medical care. Congress, however, explicitly excluded pedophilia from protection under these two crucial laws.” If/when pedophilia is treated as a mental illness, Congress is saying that people coping with this are being discriminated against, which is not fair to them at this point in