Why are pedophiles considered mentally ill?

I know that is a weird title, But recently one of my older brother's friends admitted he was a pedophile, and it got me thinking about the subject. When you think about it, what is the biological difference between homosexual people and pedobhiles? They are both people with sexual preferences that are not considered normal. But homosexuals are receiving a lot of support in society today, while pedophiles are hated by people before they ever meet them. Thoughts?

Because people don't make the distinction between attraction to children and child molestation. Even thought crimes when it comes to kids is seen as obscene. Molestation as a whole is generally considered a mental illness, homosexuals are starting to receive support because generally speaking both are consenting adults, pedophiles on the other hand are attracted to those that can't give consent, so there are very few legal avenues for them to release sexual tension, pedophiles who don't molest children end up hiding their feelings since even mentioning it can ruin their lives. I feel that our culture needs to be more open towards them, and while I don't believe allowing relationships with children in any form is acceptable, I feel that finding ways to help those people cope and live healthy non-abusive lifestyles is much more beneficial than the average human mindset of killing these people. We can't punish thought crimes with death, unless you view killing off essentially our entire species as a solution.

Didnt people marry off their daughters at like age 9-12 back in the day? Its a modern thing :P

I mean seriously, how can anyone blame another person for their preferences or desires, when they can't control them :O Shouldn't we judge people by their actual actions, which they can control to a much larger extend? If a person functions completely fine in the daily life, why judge him by what turns him on, since he probably can't control it himself. And also, back the the main question of the topic "why are they considered mentally ill?" illness is biological, and i don't see any real biologic difference between pedophiles and most other people besides their sexual preferences. So why is it considered an "illness" when it is basically just not socially acceptable. Seen from natures point of perspective it seems more productive than homosexuality, since pedophiles could (but probably shouldn't) let their DNA reach a new generation, where as homosexuals couldn't. And please don't misunderstnd me, i have nothing against homosexuality, my uncle is gay, and he and his partner are great xD

Children do not knowingly consent to sex. What a pedophile knowingly does is take advantage or fantasise about taking advantage of the young and naive. A child does not know better where as an adult should.

Yes, Jean, they did, and they still do in some countries. Though honestly speaking Hebephilia and Ephebophilia makes sense from a reproductive standpoint (Hebephilia - 11-14 years old, Ephebophilia - 15-19 years old), since the male would be essentially capitalizing on a female's fertility. Under that is what's considered to be true pedophilia, which doesn't serve much of a reproductive purpose (and in many cases can be harmful or lethal if attempted). However, we're starting to realize that brain development stops in the early 20's, so we have these laws to protect those who aren't mentally developed enough to make an informed choice. klausiboy, the problem with terms like illness is they're malleable enough to fit anything that isn't socially accepted. Actually, language in general is like that, just look at the term "Gender" now, where basically we took what was viewed upon as a more human term for "sex" and took it from the scientific distinction of chromosome pairs and formed it to basically be a word for "whatever I want to call myself". You could say your gender is female without a single effort to act or appear feminine, and that would fit its current definition just fine. yaashat, technically speaking that's a child molester. Think of it this way, all child molesters are pedophiles, but not all pedophiles are child molesters. Pedophilia is merely an attraction, and they don't all necessarily take advantage or fantasize about taking advantage of children, maybe being with children, but not necessarily doing it against their will. Some have actually spoken about wanting consensual sex, which of course isn't possible, but the fact that not all fantasize about actively harming them should show that not all pedophiles are going to harm children, and that's a trait that we should focus on. People can't control what they're attracted to, they can however control their actions.

In my opinion society really is weird xD But yeah, it was just a random thought i had, and thinking about it, it just seemed unfair towards people who have that attraction, especially those who know that the actual act of sleeping with children is wrong. It's just that i play soccer with my older brother's pedophile friend, so I know him quite well, and he is a great guy beyond the part of his sexual preference, so I just felt bad for him. After it became publicly know he decided to move away and cut all ties to his friends, and that just didn't seem fair. I feel like society pressured him into living a life where he believes he is worth less than other people.

That's the type of place we live in, and I understand feeling disgust towards it, just like many people find disgust towards homosexuality (and that's fine, if you don't like something, you don't like it). What I'm personally tired of is the lack of tolerance towards people with a problem that they can't control. On the same note I'm tired of everyone who complains about people feeling repulsed by things like homosexuality. Tolerance towards things isn't the same thing as liking and supporting it, so you shouldn't get upset at people when they don't like something. For example, I dislike smokers with a passion, however I am tolerant of them and fully believe that they have every right to make that choice, even if I don't like it personally.

Saya, I couldn't have said it better myself :D