Conference aims to normalize pedophilia
By John Rossomando - The Daily Caller Published: 10:00 AM 08/15
http://dailycaller.com/2011/08/15/confe ... edophilia/
The Conference' brochure:If a small group of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals have their way at a conference this week, pedophiles themselves could play a role in removing pedophilia from the American Psychiatric Association’s bible of mental illnesses — the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), set to undergo a significant revision by 2013. Critics warn that their success could lead to the decriminalization of pedophilia.
The August 17 Baltimore conference is sponsored by B4U-ACT, a group of pro-pedophile mental health professionals and sympathetic activists. According to the conference brochure, the event will examine “ways in which minor-attracted persons [pedophiles] can be involved in the DSM 5 revision process” and how the popular perceptions of pedophiles can be reframed to encourage tolerance.
Researchers from Harvard University, the Johns Hopkins University, the University of Louisville, and the University of Illinois will be among the panelists at the conference.
B4U-ACT has been active attacking the APA’s definition of pedophilia in the run up to the conference, denouncing its description of “minor-attracted persons” as “inaccurate” and “misleading” because the current DSM links pedophilia with criminality.
“It is based on data from prison studies, which completely ignore the existence of those who are law-abiding,” said Howard Kline, science director of B4U-ACT, in a July 25, 2011 press release. “The proposed new diagnostic criteria specify ages and frequencies with no scientific basis whatsoever.”
The press release announced a letter the group sent to the APA criticizing its approach, and inviting its leaders to participate in the August 17 conference. “The DSM should meet a higher standard than that,” Kline continued. “We can help them, because we are the people they are writing about.”
APA spokeswoman Erin Connors told The Daily Caller in an emailed statement that her organization was not participating in the conference and would not comment on its aims.
Child advocate Dr. Judith Reisman, a visiting professor at Liberty University’s School of Law, said the conference is part of a strategy to condition people into accepting pedophiles.
“The first thing they do is to get the public to divest from thinking of what the offender does criminally, to thinking of the offender’s emotional state, to think of him as thinking of his emotional state, [and] to empathize and sympathize,” Reisman said. “You don’t change the nation in one fell swoop; you have to change it by conditioning. The aim is to get them [pedophiles] out of prison.”
According to Reisman, empirical data show that pedophiles typically molest many children before finally being caught.
Rationalizing sexual assault of children?2011 Symposium
Pedophilia, Minor-Attracted Persons, and the DSM:
Issues and Controversies
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Baltimore, MD
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Featured Speaker: Fred Berlin, M.D., Ph.D., founder, National Institute for the Study, Prevention and Treatment of Sexual Trauma; founder, Johns Hopkins Sexual Disorders Clinic
This day-long symposium will facilitate the exchange of ideas among researchers, scholars, mental health practitioners, and minor-attracted persons who have an interest in critical issues surrounding the entry for pedophilia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. The symposium will address critical issues in the following areas:
Scientific and philosophical issues related to the DSM entry on pedophilia and/or hebephilia
Effects of the DSM entry on stigma, availability of mental health services, and research
Ways in which minor-attracted persons can be involved in the DSM 5 revision process
It is crucial that the DSM be based on the most accurate and complete scientific information available, and on careful consideration of effects on the welfare of patients and society. This is especially true for the DSM entry on pedophilia; it has an enormous impact on the beliefs and practices of mental health professionals, the criminal justice system, the media, and the public. It also has a profound effect on adults and teenagers who are emotionally and sexually attracted to children or adolescents, on the availability of mental health services for them, and on relevant research.
The revision of DSM currently underway provides both the opportunity and the necessity to address fundamental issues surrounding the DSM entry for pedophilia. Numerous unresolved issues have been raised by scholars, researchers, and minor-attracted people. Controversy has arisen over scientific issues (e.g., the setting of diagnostic threshholds, the representativeness of forensic samples), philosophical issues (e.g., the definition of paraphilia, the nature of disorder, and whether hebephilia should be considered a disorder), and consequences of the DSM entry (e.g., its use in civil commitment hearings, its effects on stigma).
This symposium faciliates the interaction necessary for these issues to be addressed. The APA emphasizes that DSM revisions should involve the interaction of researchers from "diverse perspectives, disciplines, and areas of expertise" and be "sensitive to the needs of clinicians and their patients." Representatives from all of these groups will play important roles at this symposium.
Social workers and psychologists who attend will receive 6.0 continuting education units (CEUs).
If you have any questions, please contact science@b4uact.org or (443) 244-9920.
