No, it's not presented as a mental illness, but as a natural occurrence, same as homosexuality.
A matter of "wiring".
Brain wiring, correct. Pedophilia is a natural occurrence the way schizophrenia is a natural occurrence.
Sexual preference is not something that shows up on an MRI, and your conflating it with pedophilia is a common mistake among the misinformed.
Oh? So which is it? A preference or a natural drive?
Pedophilia, as the article indicates, is a result of a glitch in the brain wiring. The phenomenon itself is a natural occurrence the way schizophrenia is a natural occurrence. Acknowledging the accuracy of the medical imagery is not an endorsement of the behavior.
Sexual preference, OTOH, is not something that shows up on an MRI, and your conflating it with pedophilia is a common mistake among the misinformed.
Or, to put it in simpler words: Homosexual =/= pedophile.
Got it yet?
I get what you are trying to say, but it is not being presented as a glitch, anymore than hardwired homosexuality was presented as a glitch.
And I have not said there is an endorsement. There was not in the early stages of presenting homosexuality as normative either.
Then you have to separate societal norms (loosely described as "we've always done it this way") from, in my view, biochemistry. The article mentions maternal malnutrition as one possible cause for pedophilia. It could be many things.
As I see it, if we can figure out what causes it and prevent it (pedophilia, I mean; I'm a stickler for letting consenting adults be - well - consenting), that would be a good thing - both in terms of fewer potential victims, and in terms of the life of misery a pedophile who doesn't act on his proclivity would lead.
Another thing is that, historically, we're not that many centuries removed from child brides (or, in the case of countries like India, marrying children to other children), so that's bred into our ancestral memory as well.
Complicated stuff.
For centuries schizophrenics and even epileptics were tortured and even killed because they "harbored demons." The more we understand the biochemical reasons for many of our behaviors, the better off we'll all be.
And, yes, I'm aware that the APA didn't change its attitude toward homosexuality until the 1970s, but I put that down to, again, societal expectations and inexact science.
