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Does pedophilia count as sexual abuse?

Questions and discussion about sexual or other abuse or assault, and support and help for survivors.
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This area of the boards is expressly for support and help for those who are currently in or have survived abuse or assault. It is also for those seeking information or discussion about abuse or assault. Please make every effort in this space to be supportive and sensitive. Posts in this area may or do describe abuse or assault explicitly.

This area of the boards is also not an area where those who are themselves abusing anyone or who have abused or assaulted someone may post about doing that or seek support. We are not qualified to provide that kind of help, and that also would make a space like this feel profoundly unsafe for those who are being or who have been abused. If you have both been abused and are abusing, we can only discuss harm done to you: we cannot discuss you yourself doing harm to others. If you are someone engaging in abuse who would like help, you can start by seeking out a mental healthcare provider.
IAmScared
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Does pedophilia count as sexual abuse?

Unread post by IAmScared »

Hello.How are you?

My question is in the title.
Heather
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Re: Does pedophilia count as sexual abuse?

Unread post by Heather »

Pedophilia is a term that describes a feeling, not an action. It describes a feeling of sexual attraction to a pre-pubescent child on the part of an adult. It does NOT describe anyone doing anything with those feelings. So, no.

Feelings can't be abuses, because feelings are what is just inside one person, and aren't about anything someone does: abuses are about actions, about things that can have impact on other people.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead
IAmScared
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Age: 30
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Location: Croatia

Re: Does pedophilia count as sexual abuse?

Unread post by IAmScared »

What about pedophilia when an adult man has sex with a child? Is that then sexual abuse?
Sam W
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Re: Does pedophilia count as sexual abuse?

Unread post by Sam W »

If an adult engages in sexual behavior with someone under the legal age of consent, that is considered sexual assault, which is a sexual abuse. Pedophilia, again, is a word that only describes feelings, not actions.
And you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow/with smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go/turn to and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain/and like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
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