Educate yourself about paraphilic disorders this disability pride month!
[PT: Educate yourself about paraphilic disorders this disability pride month! /End PT]
This disability pride month, I urge you to educate yourself about paraphilic disorders, and learn to stop misusing paraphilic language.
To start - what is a paraphilia vs a paraphilic disorder?
[PT: To start - what is a paraphilia vs a paraphilic disorder? /End PT]
Paraphilia: Arousal or attraction to something/someone that is considered atypical. This could be sexual, romantic, or nonrose (ie; queerplatonic, alterous, sensual, etc) [link].
All kinks & fetishes fall under the paraphilia umbrella - yes, all. BDSM, foot fetishes, urine kinks, whatever "benign" kink/fetish you can think of, it is a paraphilia.
Paraphilic Disorder (Para Disorder): A paraphilia that causes a person distress (unrelated to guilt from purity culture). Oftentimes (but not every time), this paraphilia becomes obsessive-compulsive, and extremely difficult to ignore.
Most para disorders would inflict serious harm upon oneself or others if fully explored, however, generally "benign" kinks/fetishes can also turn into paraphilic disorders (for example, if a person obsessively compulsively thinks about their attraction to feet, that is a paraphilic disorder.)
If you want to read more detail on what paraphilias are, see here [link.]
Now, let's get into the most demonized of paraphilic disorders - pedophilia, hebephilia, ephebophilia, zoophilia, necrophilia, biastophilia, violence paraphilias, and incestophilia.
Pedophilia: Adults or older minors who are attracted to/aroused by prepubescent children. This usually refers to children who are under the age of 12-13 (though may range, as some children hit puberty sooner or later than this.) Infantophilia is a subset of pedophilia describing attraction/arousal towards infants/toddlers.
Hebephilia: Adults or older minors who are attracted to/aroused by to early pubescent kids, usually ranging in the ages of 12-15. Pedophebephilia refers to a combination of pedophilia and hebephilia.
Ephebophilia: Adults (usually in their older 20s+) who are attracted to/aroused by late pubescent minors (or very early adults), usually ranging in the ages of 15-19.
MAP (minor attracted/aroused person/people): An umbrella term for pedophiles, hebephiles, and ephebophiles. "MAP" is not a term for "child predators trying to infiltrate the LGBTQIA+ community." That is a myth [link.]
Zoophilia: A person attracted to/aroused by animals, often animals of a specific subtype.
Necrophilia: A person attracted to/aroused by corpses, often at specific stages of decay.
Biastophilia/Raptophilia: A person attracted to/aroused by the idea of raping someone.
Violence Paraphilias: A person attracted to/aroused by the idea of some form of violence (ie; abuse, murder, etc.)
Incestophilia: A person attracted to/aroused by the idea of engaging in non-familial acts of intimacy with a family member.
From here on out, when I say "demonized para disorders", I am referring to the ones listed above.
Paraphilic disorders do not turn someone into a predator. There is no such thing as a "crime disorder" or "thought crimes."
[PT: Paraphilic disorders do not turn someone into a predator. There is no such thing as a "crime disorder" or "thought crimes." /End PT]
Firstly, attraction/arousal is not enough to turn someone into a criminal.
Attraction/arousal can be a *motivator* to someone who selfishly gives into power, but it is never the sole or primary reason as to why someone rapes.
Example: Most child rapists are not pedophiles, just as most men who rape men are not queer [link].
For example, a serial rapist who targets brunettes may have a specific attraction for brunettes, sure, but the preference isn't the motivator to be a rapist. That makes no sense. Most people who are primarily attracted to brunettes aren't going to rape them. There is something beyond attraction that leads a person to rape. They'd have to have an underlying sense of entitlement to the other person's body to do such a thing.
And even so, maybe they don't have a preference for brunettes. Maybe they *hate* brunettes, and are trying to punish them. Rape can be done out of hate, too.
If you (general you) frame attraction as the cause of rape, you not only demonize entire groups of people (ie; people with demonized paraphilias, etc), but you also invalidate victims whose perpetrators were not attracted to them.
You're essentially telling them "your experience isn't real", or "it's because of how pretty/handsome you are, you're attractive, thats why you were raped", when thats not the case.
Secondly, not all people with demonized para disorders are exclusively paraphilic. For example, a zoophile may also be attracted to humans, a hebephile may also be attracted to adults, etc.
And even if they are exclusively paraphilic, they may choose to be single or celibate, or choose to engage in their paraphilia through acts of roleplay, consuming fiction, or creating fiction.
Attraction =/= harmful action. Roleplay & fiction are harmless actions a person can take.
(This is one of the reasons why censorship is harmful. It actively strips demonized paraphiles from coping methods, and silences people from fictional explorations. Instead of censoring people, child-friendly spaces and proper tagging should be the primary goal. Read more about that here [link] and here [link.])
Say what you actually mean - child predator, animal rapist, corpse desecrator, etc.
Stop misusing the terms pedophile, zoophile, and necrophile.
Conflating these terms makes you sound no less ableist than people who misuse the terms sociopath, psychopath, psychotic, narcissist, etc.
[PT: Say what you actually mean - child predator, animal rapist, corpse desecrator, etc.
Stop misusing the terms pedophile, zoophile, and necrophile.
Conflating these terms makes you sound no less ableist than people who misuse the terms sociopath, psychopath, psychotic, narcissist, etc. /End PT]
Put what you truly mean on your DNIs. If you don't want predators interacting, say "DNI pro contacts."
If you don't want to see adult x minor fantasies on your timeline, say "DNI if you post adult x minor content." If you don't want to see ageplay (age difference roleplay) fantasies on your timeline, say "DNI if you post ageplay content." (Not all MAPs post adult x minor or ageplay content, the same way that not all foot fetishists post foot fetish content, not all schizospecs post their delusions, etc.)
If you don't want to see animal x human fantasies on your timeline, say "DNI if you post non-sapient animal x human content." (Same as the previous point, not all zoophiles post human x feral animal content.)
If you don't want to see corpse desecration fantasies on your timeline, say "DNI if you post corpse desecration fantasies." (Same point as prior.)
If you don't want to see rape fantasies on your timeline, say "DNI if you post noncon/dubcon." (Same point as prior.)
Importantly, when looking at statistics, remember this:
The general public avoids diagnosis due to stigma and ostracization. People with demonized paraphilias are often kicked out of their homes, institutionalized, or shoved into conversion therapy (which does not work.)
This means that demonized paraphilias are usually only tested in criminals and abusers. This is also true for cluster B personality disorders (primarily ASPD, but also NPD, HPD, & BPD).
If autism was only tested in criminals, it would be known as a "crime disorder" too.
[PT: The general public avoids diagnosis due to stigma and ostracization. People with demonized paraphilias are often kicked out of their homes, institutionalized, or shoved into conversion therapy (which does not work.)
This means that demonized paraphilias are usually only tested in criminals and abusers. This is also true for cluster B personality disorders (primarily ASPD, but also NPD, HPD, & BPD).
If autism was only tested in criminals, it would be known as a "crime disorder" too. /End PT]
Demonizing paraphilic disorders benefits nobody, and actively hinders disability rights.
[PT: Demonizing paraphilic disorders benefits nobody, and actively hinders disability rights.]
Here are some other posts I recommend looking over for further education:
Children can be paraphiles [link]
OCD vs Paraphilia [link]
Why "paraphiles who don't act on it are fine" is still a paramisic statement [link.]
Red flags that someone isn't safe to come out to as a stigmatized paraphile! 🚩🚩🚩[link]
^
(Make sure you don't harbor any of these red flags, if you truly want to be a disability advocate!)
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