MessyONE:

Pedophilia has nothing to do with power or pain. Pedophiles have a sexual preference for children. It is no different from being gay or straight. They are specific in what they want, too - kids have to be a certain sex, age, build, etc.

It cannot be "cured", any more than gay can be cured. It is the way pedophiles are born. Most will tell you that the kids they rape want it, that they were "seduced", and as sick as that sounds to us, they truly believe that.

While I would never say "never" - that there has never been an example of someone having always had a sexual preference for children with an otherwise healthy mental state - you are wrong to say that pedophilia is not about power. It most certainly is, *especially* for those who then turn around and say that the child seduced them. Think about it - a young person is abused in whatever way, grows up hating himself, then starts acting out by abusing a vulnerable child and says, yeah this kid seduced me. What does this do? It helps the offender tell himself that when he was abused he wasn't a victim; it also rationalises his later behaviour. One of the many sick things people do to justify themselves (see also: she was asking for it).

Don't mistake some pedophiles' preference for a certain physical type for a belief that this is all about sex. The sexual preference for a physical type comes after, as part of the rationalisation the offender attempts: they probably won't be able to tell the difference to themselves.