MovieChat Forums > The Woodsman (2005) Discussion > What percentage of the world's populatio...

What percentage of the world's population are pedophiles?

posted 8 years ago by Zombie55
11 replies | jump to latest

Does anyone know, what percentage of people of the world's population are pedophiles and how can we ever spot them and thus stop them?

[–] creatorof2002 8 years ago

How Orwellian or Minority Reportish would it be if in the future brain scanning could pinpoint pedophiles. You could in theory end up as a registered sex offender even if you had not yet committed any crime, hell the scan might even work when the person is a child themself. If the machine malfunctions or is wrong you might have someone labeled a pedo who is not.

I do not know the exact number but it has to be higher than the number of registered high risk sex offenders. Not all criminals are caught or can be convicted due to lack of proof or getting acquitted or statutes of limitations so the number of people who have abused children is greater than the number convicted of it. Also, not all pedophiles actually abuse children. Some suppress their urges knowing its a crime or for moral reasons.

Also, would you count someone who has sex with a TEENAGER as a pedophile? Even if they are below an arbitrary "age of consent" a teenager is VERY different from a small child. A person who has sex with a 16 year old is VERY different from a person who has sex with a 6 year old for example.

[–] Zombie55 8 years ago

The reason I asked this btw was because this movie invited us to look at the problem with more intelligence and less knee-jerk emotions i.e. to know the enemy in order to effectively defeat it, and hence I wanted to look at how much and in what form it exists in reality beyond the simple - "look - these are the good guys and those are the bad guys" mottos as if the world, including but not limited to THIS case, is that simple (despite seeming so on the surface).

[–] creatorof2002 8 years ago

I was never able to hate the guy in this movie. This myth that all pedophiles are amoral monsters. Kill them all, cut their balls off etc. Making a pedophile the PROTAGONIST in a story is something I had never seen before though there was a 1985 tv movie called RAGE where the main protagonist was a convicted rapist.

Some people even say pedophiles are worse than murderers. Maybe some of them but the character in this movie was way better than a murderer.

[–] Zombie55 8 years ago

In Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) the lead protagonist was a rapist and a murderer and we were meant to sympathize with him. And that movie is considered by many among the greatest of all time.

Back to your point - you do make an interesting case.

But, simultaneously, however, don't you think there's a reason as to why society sees them the way it does?

And if we lived in a better world where society put intelligence naturally above emotions, would it REALLY see them differently? Wouldn't it STILL at least advocate for it to be illegal?

Come to think of it, does such phenomena exist in the non-human ANIMAL KINGDOM and how do animals THEMSELVES deal with it? And do you think they are rational in their emotions or rather easily judgmental?

[–] creatorof2002 8 years ago

Well I know homosexuality exists in all mammal species.

My guess is animals would not have specific laws like "age of consent" but having sex with a member of the species who is way below "puberty" or whatever age range sexual maturity is for that species would likely be shunned by the other animals or the parent of the animal he is trying to have sex with might angrily chase him off?

[–] Zombie55 8 years ago

2 creatorof2002 (btw - why choose THIS username if you don't mind me ask, how was the year 2002 special to you?) - may I ask, do you believe "good" and "evil" in humanity are 100% stone cold ABSOLUTES or that they are, REGARDLESS of existence of morals, laws and various humans emotions that suggest a consensus on it all exists, actually RELATIVE and not completely official as we may believe them, with regards to ANYTHING?

Is morality absolute or relative, in humanity? Thanks!

The greatest trick the Devil has ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist!

[–] SD_Revived 8 years ago

These are just speculations, based on the numbers that we do know about.
But apparently no less than 25% of the females encounter sexual abuse before the age of 18. If 1 out of 4 girls (not sure about boys) is abused, the number of pedophiles in society must be a LOT bigger than everyone is thinking.

I have met a lot of pedophiles, online and in real life. I can assure you that they not all look like pedophiles (if there ever was such a look) and that they come from all kinds of backgrounds, shapes sizes religions and ages.
They estimate that in a country such as The Netherlands there should be about 200.000 pedophiles, but I believe that number is way too low.

We'll never know for sure, because most pedophiles won't come out of the closet.
And if they never abuse a child, or did abuse but are never caught, then they'll never make it into any statistics.

[–] creatorof2002 8 years ago

This is not medically pedophiilia but in most places its illegal to have sexual relations with someone below 18. However, I suspect this is VERY common. An awful lot of boys and girls do NOT wait until they are 18 to have their first sexual experience. My guess is if statutory rape laws were enforced perfectly there would be so many registered sex offenders that Megan's Law database would crash. There would be so many that it would become jibberish and the prisons would not have enough room.

[–] Zombie55 8 years ago

2 creatorof2002, thanks for the reply, but to be honest, I can't help but still have some questions.

But do you think life would be FAIR if such laws were "perfectly enforced", why can't law enforcers create the kind of laws that universally satisfy everyone FOR the greater good of humanity?

Also, say someone below 18 committed a sexual act against someone older forcefully, who will be charged THEN if such laws were enforced like that, the offender or the victim? And again, would it be fair, or do you believe that "fairness" here is somewhat subjective and that there are grey areas as well?

(Remember the scene on the train in Lars von Trier's "Nymphomaniac Volume 1" (2013) which has been interpreted as gender reversal rape where a young girl who in that scene is supposed to be 17 took a man sexually when he said "no" - oh, and then there's that OTHER aspect to it BESIDES people wondering if that scene even WAS that - though many seem to agree it is?)

And also creator2002 - even if you DO enjoy, but that's a different matter altogether I suppose, rape and revenge films where perpetrators get to suffer and die, mostly male as such, if they get away with it, do you agree with applying such philosophies in real life and it making the world a better place? Do you think their views are fair or a little biased and one-sided?

And have you seen Thomas Vinterberg's "The Hunt" (2012), a Danish drama starring Mads Mikkelsen where a man got to face dire consequences from society around him after being accused of being a child molester - falsely? Yet he STILL got to suffer despite being COMPLETELY innocent in that film, whereas many actual abusers get away and have no problem living with themselves later, what an unfortunate paradox.

I guess what can be sort of said - creating harmonious and perfect laws in such cases that justifiably satisfy everyone who is good is impossible even in theory, correct?

But the world WOULDN'T be better off if they just didn't exist like that, would it?

The greatest trick the Devil has ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist!

[–] lazarillo 8 years ago

I think people greatly overestimate the percentage of pedophiles and there is a lot of IRRATIONAL fear and hatred surrounding this whole subject. On this website, for instance, I have seen in 12 years maybe 1 or 2 people that I really thought were genuine pedophiles--as in a person attracted to prepubescent CHILDREN. There are many more that seemed to have kind of an unhealthy interest in teenage girls, but teenage girls can often take care of themselves more than they're given credit for. And I've heard people called "pedos" for simply saying a 17-year-old actress is pretty! That isn't even close to "pedophilia".

They did a study once where straight men were asked to watch gay pornography and their response was monitored. They found that strongly homophobic men were much more aroused by the gay pornography than the less homophobic men were. They can't duplicate this kind of study--for obvious reasons--with child pornography, but I think they would find similar results. The people who see pedophiles everywhere and want to lynch and burn child molesters without a trial are often the SAME people who castigate themselves because they find a 17-year-old girl a little bit enticing. People often hate in others what they can't accept in themselves.

I'm not saying people should tolerate pedophiles and child molesters like they tolerate homosexuals, but it would be nice if we dialed back the hysteria about 200 percent and looked at things rationally. People should have more of "there but for the grace of God go I" attitude and show some mercy--which doesn't mean failing to acknowledge that many of these people are genuinely dangerous. Irrational hysteria simply doesn't help anything. And fighting the deadly sin of lust by wallowing in the equally deadly sin of wrath certainly doesn't help.

"Let be be finale of seem/ The only emperor is the Emperor of Ice Cream"

[–] Zombie55 8 years ago

By the way lazarillo, can I ask, I know this is a bit off topic and whatnot and sorry for any inconvenience, but I checked many of your posts and film reviews you've made here for over the decade and may I ask...

How DO you actually know SO much not ONLY about FILMS, but REAL LIFE generally ITSELF, including the very MANY topics on human sexuality, sexual laws, views, human nature and plenty of other stuff as well? I bet your IQ in general is at least 150 maybe even more.

And may I ask, how old are you? (I would guess you're in the late 40s but am I right?)

Also, how come you nearly ALWAYS have a lot to say on sexual topics in real life, like, where do you manage to get THIS much knowledge from?

And how come you have this ability in you to remain astonishingly calm and even crack a bit of humour here and there on often very provocative topics, without ever falling into panic, were you raised like this by your parents or? (I never saw you panic ONCE for instance when the question of "was the train scene in "Nymphomaniac volume 1" (2013) really an example of female rape and you kept on going on calmly without fear about how it isn't although a lot of people disagreed etc. Or are you past your age and stage to get all worked up and emotional about stuff like that discussed online?)

(By the way, for your information, and there have been plenty of FILMS to show it as well, it isn't just men that can get raped by men (whether like in "Deliverance" or "Pulp Fiction" or the harrowing British 1979 prison drama "Scum" by Alan Clarke), in some cases, they can be victims of women too. Ever seen films like "Thursday" (1998) by Skip Woods? Or "The Book of Revelation" (2006)? Or "Wanda - The Sadistic Hypnotist" (1969)? Or several others as such?

AND HOW DO YOU KNOW SO MUCH about what kind of such stuff does or doesn't happen in real life "outside of fantasy"? What if I say I DOUBT it or not fully agree with you, would you get angry at me and/or try to prove me wrong?)

(Thursday (1998) by the way is a very good film though, a very Tarantino-esque late 90s black comedy crime thriller, and not just due to "that scene" in it.)

And do you actually work and have you studied in similar fields out there?

(By the way, home come you ALSO have knowledge on stuff like politics and religion so much?)

Also, how do you get a grip on the fact, and boy you DO manage to get a grip here alright, that the world is NOT perfect and how often good and evil may be blurred here and there including law-wise and whatnot, as well as the fact that life in general isn't like it is in an action movie etc etc etc.

Maybe I just don't have enough life experience although I often do think about those subjects and whatnot, but you seem to act with full confidence like you have answers to almost every provocative question in the world, and your film knowledge seems to practically correspond a lot with your life knowledge.

By the way, it would be kinda cool if you could participate on several "I Spit on Your Grave" related threads and also talk about if you think revenge for rape is totally justified and should be considered 100% acceptable in all cases, but then given how films like "A Clockwork Orange" (1971) have showed that it may be somewhat possible to not always hate such individuals totally, as in that movie for example, we were somehow supposed to feel sympathy for Alex De Large who was essentially a rapist AND a murderer, primarily due to that unfair experiment he endured in an attempt to be cured. (Now THERE'S thoughts to be provoked). And we all know how that film is considered by many to be among the greatest films of all time.

I may also have some other questions for you but I may not be ready to ask them yet. Of course, you are entitled to your opinions and whatnot, as well as your own ways of expressing them.

P.S. I dare say, although I do at times so briefly and objectively, a LOT of times in life, for all this stuff, I don't actually give it too much thoughts hence why I at times or overall have not much knowledge, then again - on the internet, a lot of such discussions I tend to find emotionally confusing and I can't often get a proper grip on it all and say what I REALLY think. I wish we often had just ONE correct and DEFINITE opinions overall, even if life may not work like that and there'll be always double standards, difference of opinions etc. I seem to see it doesn't really apply to you much lazarillo and it seems like you had the ability to get a healthy grip on it for all your 40+ years of human existence.

P.P.S. Lazarillo, do you often worry about your relatives having their own opinions on these things here and there and if they are different to yours, how do you get on with your mother and father for instance by the way? Thanks.