Disclaimer: like most pedophiles, I have never approached a child with anything sexual or otherwise inapporpriate, and I don’t plan ever to do so. I recognize the harm in such actions, and I don’t want to hurt the very people I love. If you expect AMA with a child molester, this ain’t it.
The account is a throwaway, hope you’ll understand this decision given the sensitivity of the topic.
Edit: Thank you for keeping civil and genuine in your questions. I did envision hostility, yet here you are, amazing as always. Lemmy is a wonderful place to be, thanks to you all!
Edit 2: Apparently we have another brave pedophile here in the comments, and he came with a good note I should include in the post: if you find yourself attracted to minors, that’s okay. Acting on your desires is dangerous, but having them isn’t. If you’d like to have some support and/or community that would help you get your bearings or just listen without any prejudice (we’re all in the same boat), there are places that can help you. removed
Did you experience any childhood sexual trauma? Do you think any life experiences influenced your feelings or do you feel you were born this way?
Not OP, but also a pedophile. I never experienced any sexual anything in my childhood, not even porn. I started masturbating a few weeks shy of 17 and realized I liked to think about boys while I did it. I thought I was “just” gay, and that was already really bad because I was religious. As time went on, I realized it was so much worse. At least that’s how I thought at the time. I’m pretty sure I was genetically predisposed to develop this way. It’s a sexuality just like other sexualities. It’s just one that can’t ethically be acted on the same as other sexualities.
I was not sexually abused as a child, although I had some early near-sexual experiences (around 7yo) with peers. But I don’t know what to make of it. Generally, I think I was just born this way.