I think they need help. I don't think they deserve to have their deviancy re-classified as an orientation. That is a slippery slope to acceptance.
But we're not talking about this here. We're talking precisely about the "needing help" part. Yes, they need help - and in order to provide the help they need, we need to treat them as human beings and remember that it must be incredibly difficult to cope with a problem like that.
Let me say this...It might help you understand where I am coming from. My niece was molested when she was six years old. The boy was 19, and somewhat "slow", meaning he had a very low IQ. He was given a slap on the wrist and tons of sympathy. No one cared that he had the mental capacity to threaten my niece and the other little girls he molested.
Yes, but that's someone who has actually acted on their desires. I can't comment on the appropriateness or otherwise of the way that he was treated. I am sorry that your niece suffered that. But I don't see what bearing that has on paedophiles who have never harmed a child.
I would like to see a case of a pedophile who has never acted upon the deviancy. If they say that they haven't they are lying. They may not ever touch a real live child, but it is likely they are using child porn to feed their deviancy. Someone, somewhere took advantage of a child.
I just do not believe that there are pedophiles who do not act upon their deviancy and I refuse to call it an orientation.
Well, I will ask you this: how do you know when someone's a paedophile? By what they
do. Someone downloads child pornography - they're a paedophile. Someone molests a child - they might also be a paedophile. You only know of paedophiles who have done something wrong. Paedophiles who never act on their desires in any abusive way will probably never be discovered. I mean, it's not like they're going to talk about it, is it?
What makes you think that there aren't paedophiles who never act on their deviancy? How do you know? Do you ask everyone you meet if they're sexually attracted to children? Do you think they would tell you if they were? The fact is that the disgust that most people express not only (quite legitimately) at the sexual abuse of children and the production and use of child pornography, but also (less legitimately) at unconsummated sexual attraction to children, causes people to be unsurprisingly worried about talking about it or seeking help.
Everyone has sexual desires they don't act on. I have fantasies that I would never want played out in reality, often for ethical reasons. That's the way of the world, and the way of sexuality. A paedophile is no different from anyone else who has sexual fantasies which are ethically beyond their reach to consummate.
Imagine someone who, for one reason or another, is unable to attract a sexual partner. (Perhaps they have really awful B.O., or some sort of facial disfigurement, or whatever - something that puts people off.) Do you think that the fact that they are sexually attracted to unobtainable people means that they'll rape if they have to in order to get what they want? Or do you think at least some people in that situation are perfectly capable of curbing their sexual desires because of their higher ideals? I don't see why someone sexually attracted to children couldn't do exactly the same thing. Frankly, I think your assertion that all paedophiles can't help but abuse children is born of prejudice and nothing else.