1. Pedophilia: an anti-social mental disturb. Globalization has brought several consequences and changes in society, some of them extremely negative. Thanks to the media, which often has given great prominence to domestic abuse and prostitution cases, and helped the distribution of pedo-pornographic material, pedophilia has become a well-known phenomenon for the scandalous episodes occurred in many settings, religious ones too. Society always had difficulties in accepting that people can have this mental disorder, causing large-scale denial phenomena. In the past, following the discovery of an abuse perpetrated on a child, what the organization in question would do was a radical relocation of the offender resulting in abnegation to the media. Nowadays, pedophilia has become a relevant and discussed phenomenon in various social fields. The Internet is a place where the spread of information, knowledge and communication is easier as much as the spread of child pornography material. The cyberspace gave a new life to pedophilia, mostly for three reasons: anonymity, the ease at finding child pornography and the possibility to find new victims via chats or groups. What is pedophilia, though? This disorder is diagnosed after a psychologist or psychiatrist’s examination. According to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, V Edition ( DSM V), the diagnostic criteria of the pedophilic disorder (302.2 [F 65.4]), place within the paraphilias, describes the pedophile as an individual who fantasizes about, becomes sexually aroused by, or experiences sexual desire toward a child preteen (usually younger than 13) for a period of at least 6 months. Normally, pedophiles affirm that their attraction towards children shows up during puberty or adolescence, but sexual desire can develop also later. From a clinical point of view it is important to underline that some pedophiles limit their desires only to imagination, while others commit abuses because their fantasy is not enough to satisfy their sexual needs. A further description must be made for hebephilia, a disorder in which the individuals are involved in sexual activities with adolescents below the legal age of consent (between 13-16 years). Pedophiles may engage in a variety of sexual acts toward children: from exhibitionism (exhibit of themselves), through voyeurism (undressing and observation of the naked body), to the masturbation and intrusive physical contact. Pedophiles, usually, tend to minimize these actions by claiming its educational value or blaming the child for provoking their reactions. Habitually, they are attracted to a specific group of children, depending on sex and age; they are categorized from researchers by their sexual orientation (male, female or both). It’s difficult to present a “classic” portrait of the disturbed individual because there are many typologies and every case is unique. A distinguishing feature of this pathology is its ego-syntonic disposition: the behavior doesn’t cause discomfort, but rather gives pleasure to the individual. This is why the pedophile is not aware of having a mental disorder, has no feelings of guilt towards the victims, and frequently presents a series of wrong thoughts that lead him to justify his actions and consider the victim as consenting. There are two types of pedophiles: sadistic ones and playful ones. The sadistic pedophile experiences maximum pleasure brutalizing his victim, which can occur both through physical or psychological violence (by humiliating them). The playful pedophile tends to play with the children and rarely traumatize them. The game has the dual purpose of winning the trust of the parents and the child and setting up with the latter an attitude of omertà, proposed as part of the game itself. The psychological profile of a pedophile is characterized by a series of thinking errors (or cognitive bias): the person tends to deny (“it wasn’t me”), minimize (“I didn’t do anything wrong”, “the victim said no, but wanted to say yes”), justify or rationalize his behavior (citing evidence in favor of its alleged educational value). The symptoms are associated with significant distress and impairment of the individual's psychosocial functioning. The individual affected by this disorder does not, however, show embarrassment for his clinical condition, which as mentioned above, represents a source of pleasure and develops in tune with its needs. To the individual the real source of embarrassment are the consequences of his behavior, that can lead to removal from home, loss of their job, social ostracism, isolation and detention. In the rare cases in which the individual asks for psychological help, it is usually functional in solving these problems. Usually the pedophile figure is linked to male figures. Despite this, also women can have harassing behaviors towards children or adolescents. Because they take care of the children from a very early age, often cases involving women are underestimated or not reported. Moreover, women who are usually involved in sexual acts with adolescents generally are not seen as abuse but as a rite of passage or good fortune. The question that arises is: are these people born with this disorder or choose to be like this? There are many factors that may be considered, but some scientific researches show that often pedophiles themselves have suffered abuse in their childhood; although there are still several debates about it. In studying the impact of abuse on children, it is noted that that is bigger when perpetuated by a father figure or it involves force and/or a genital contact. Long-term consequences are hard to define, and may differ from the resilience and ability to adapt of the person. Those who have suffered an abuse are more prone to disturbs such as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, substance abuse, personality disorders, and suicide. In Italy, even though does not exist an official register, the phenomenon seems to be on the rise, as Linkiesta reported in June 2016 by : “According to the 2016 dossier compiled by Telefono Azzurro based on complaint calls received at 19696, 114 Childhood Emergency and in chat rooms, in 2015 cases of sexual abuse and pedophilia handled increased from 3.4 to 5 percent. Specifically, calls arriving at 114 increased from 5.4 percent in 2014 to 6.7 percent in 2015”. Il Sole 24 Ore, an Italian newspaper, report that “In 2017, on average, a case of child sexual abuse occurred every 3 days. In 4 out of 10 cases the victim is under 10 years old, with a prevalence of girls (71.7%). 70% of abuse consists of actual sexual violence, touching (21.7%), rape (8.6%), and coercion to witness sexual acts (4.4%).” |
2. Introduction to national and international legislation on pedophilia, child pornography and sex tourism.
The World Tourism Organization (WTO) estimates that 3 million people travel each year to have sex with minors. Child sex tourism is a phenomenon increasing everywhere, from Thailand to Brazil, among men and women. It is a crime which generates huge quantities of money to the organized criminality, and the selected destinations are developing countries, where poverty and corruption make it easy to commit this crime.
Italy enjoys a sad record: to be among the top six countries from which the “clients” of sex tourism depart. Other countries are France, Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Japan.
On January 16, 2019 in the Italian Senate was presented “Stop Sexual Tourism”, an international campaign with the aim of protecting the rights of children around the world and patronized from Enac (which stands for Ente Nazionale per l'Aviazione Civile). The initiative consists in posting an informational poster in 57 Italian airports, both to point out an increasingly rampant situation and to stimulate an awareness in those whose ultimate purpose of travel is the abuse of a child’s body.
Italian sex tourists are 80 thousand c.a., with a majority of men (90%). As stated in an Ecpat study (International, formerly End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) in the last few years in Italy the age of sex tourists has decreased and is between 20 and 40 years old.
Main destination countries are Brazil, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Thailand and Cambodia.
In line with this study the number of women traveling in developing countries for child sex tourism is increasing, representing 10% of the total tourists. While men tend to prefer younger children (between 12 and 14 years) and to change partners every night, women look for adolescents, boys that can become a sort of partner lasting their entire journey. This happens mostly in Kenya and the Caribbean.
To regulate this type of illegal activity in our country there is Law 269/1998 “Regulations against exploitation of prostitution, pornography and sex tourism to the detriment of child victims as new forms of enslavement”, updated then by Law 38/2006, “Provisions on the fight against sexual exploitation of children and child pornography also through the Internet”.
We list here some excerpts from the most important articles:
Art. 1, c. 1, “Provided that the act constitutes a severe crime, anyone who engages in sexual acts with a minor between the ages of fourteen and eighteen years, in exchange for money or other economic benefit, shall be punished by imprisonment of six months to three years and a fine of not Less than 5,164 euros.” c. 2, “Where the act referred to in the second paragraph is committed against a person who has not attained the age of sixteen years, the punishment of imprisonment from two to five years shall apply.”, c.3 “If the perpetrator of the act referred to in the second paragraph is a person under eighteen years of age, the punishment of imprisonment or fine shall be reduced from one third to two thirds”.
Art. 2, c.1, “Whoever, using minors under the age of eighteen years, performs pornographic performances or produces pornographic material or induces minors under eighteen years of age to participate in exhibitions pornographic performances is punished with imprisonment from six to twelve years and with a a fine from 25,822 euros to 258,228 euros”; c.2, “Whoever, outside the cases referred to in the first, second and third paragraphs, offers or gives to others, even free of charge, the pornographic material referred to in the first paragraph, shall be punished by imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of 1,549 to 5,164 euros”;
Art. 3 “rt. 600-quater. - (Possession of pornographic material). - Whoever, outside the cases provided for in Article 600-ter, knowingly procures or possesses pornographic material made using minors under the age of eighteen years, shall be punished by imprisonment and with a fine of not less than 1,549 euros''.
Art. 6, “Outside of the cases provided for in Article 609-bis, an ascendant, parent, including an adoptive parent, or his or her cohabitant, or guardian who, with the abuse of the powers connected with his or her position, engages in sexual acts with a person who is a minor who has reached the age of sixteen years, shall be punished by imprisonment from three to six years.”
The Italian legislation is considered highly advanced and has been translated in many languages because it was among the first to consider the principle of extraterritoriality: Italians who engage in sex tourism could be investigated in the foreign state, upon complaint by the victims, and then in Italy, ex officio, by the judiciary.
On an International level, so far, the definition of “sexual and commercial exploitation of minors” was the only one formulated during the First World Congress, which was about this topic and was held in Stockholm in 1996. In the Declaration and Agenda for Action refers to “fundamental violation of children's rights that includes sexual abuse by the adult and a payment, in goods or money, by the child and/or a third party. The child is treated as both a sex object and a commercial object. The commercial sexual exploitation of children represents a form of coercion and violence exercised against children and is equivalent to forced labor and a form of contemporary slavery.” Directive 2011/92/EU, adopted by the Parliament of the European Union in 2011 and entitled “[...] on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA,” creates a new legal framework regulating the investigation and prosecution of crimes in this area, assistance to victims and their protection, transposed by Italy through Legislative Decree in 2014.
3. The role of therapy in cases of child sexual abuse (CSA).
The number of cases of behaviors related to pedophilia and child sexual abuse (CSA) allow us to understand how much important is to find mechanisms to prevent and treat these disordes. An efficient prevention should be organized on three levels: the first is the Primary Prevention, which consists in attracting the interest of the general public about this problem through initiatives, such as sex education in schools, and that in general permit to think critically about the issue. The second level, Secondary Prevention, concerns a more precisive prevention via targeted guidelines towards those who are more likely to commit abuses against minors and children. The third level, Tertiary Prevention, is chosen when the act has already been done, and it has the aim of preventing recidivism.
Looking at the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSMV, reference tool for the study of the dynamics involved), two statements in particular that characterize the edition considered: Pedophilia represents a sexual orientation and therefore cannot be changed. Treatment must thus aim to enable one to resist sexual impulses; no intervention in itself can be effective but requires patient predisposition through good motivation and must be combined with psychotherapy and medicine.
The individuals who have desires or behaviors connected with pedophilia can have different characteristics and for this reason they need different specialized treatments. These peculiarities, which define what a pedophile is, are strictly connected with the way they express their sexuality. Some may have interacted directly with children, while others may have seen pedo-porpnographic material; still others may have never done anything, but having thoughts on it (and shaming and despising themselves for it), they try to find a solution. A distinction is also made in science between those individuals who are physically attracted to minors (Minor Attracted People, MAP) and those who aren’t (non-MAP). Although sexual orientation, developed while growing up, is not a person's responsibility, still the individual has to control the impulse. This doesn't mean he or she will always be able to do it.
In the psychoanalytic field, in addition to the obvious inability to withstand an adult loving relationship, a narcissistic component is also noted, which would be manifested in the pedophile's tendency to love, in the child, himself in the period of his own childhood, adopting the same treatment suffered or its oppos
In the psychodynamic theories, pedophilia is considered as a consequence of motions and internal conflicts arising directly from the subject's childhood. For this reason, one of the visions which inspired a possible remedy for this psychological condition, consists in facing the “primal” causes, with the aim to allow the individual to return within the social context. The conversion therapy has been one of the most useful therapy to change the erotic attraction toward children into attraction toward adults (even with the combination of negative stimuli). The critical part of this process is to try to impress in the psyche the new orientation, and not to “learn” it, otherwise it will be impossible to have a real conversion. This has subsequently shifted the focus to the control of instincts and not their total suppression.
The cognitive-behavioral therapy is the most common treatment used with these patients.
Behavioral techniques help the patient reduce deviant behaviors, substituting them with more adaptive behaviors. The cognitive intervention aims to reorganize the cognitive distortions connected with the problem, such as the minimization, denial, sexualization of the victim, absence of guilt. Other goal of the therapy is to improve the empathy of the individual as much as its social skills in order to be able to develop a relational capacity not strictly connected with the sexual aspects. And this is possible if working on self-esteem, on managing negative emotional states, and on improving a problem-solving ability.
Group therapy, sometimes combined with an administration of antiandrogens, is aimed at inhibiting male sex hormones. Over the meetings, the patient is now able to comprehend what he or she can do to control those impulses connected with pedophilia. In this fragile period of adjustment to control, social contest and relationship, is predictable a recovery for the patient in great stress times. Another type of treatment is the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), which consists in the acceptance by the individual of his disorder and its aim is reducing the internal pain of the patient, provoking a better rationalization of the prob
The reduction of Testosterone, an androgen group steroid hormone, is another example of applicable treatment. The therapy in question aims to decrease behaviors related to sexually motivated action. In the past the reduction of Testosterone was done through surgery, but nowadays it is possible to have the same result through medicine (such as depo-Provera and Depo-Lupron, used in uu.ss.). These medications seem to guarantee lower possibilities of relapse in the long run, still allowing the individual the chance of having a sexual life with more age-appropriate partners.The administration of Serotonin (SSRIs) is also being considered by some clinics as a possible treatment. Generally, therefore, therapies that aim to decrease sexual impulse in actions are directed toward attempting to increase the capacity for self-control.
Pedophilia, as a psychiatric disorder, definitely is a complex phenomenon that should be addressed through strategies that prevent the relapse in the incriminated behaviors. It is noted, by the way, that according to research conducted in the state of New York, the calculated recidivism rate for this type of disorder amounts to 14%, much lower than for other crimes committed such as theft (84%) and violence (79%), measured over a 9-year time frame. Data on recidivism rates are difficult to retrieve precisely because of the lack of uniform monitoring of the issue. Based on Professor Mark Oliver, of the University of Saskatchewan, recidivism possibilities for individuals who have ended their therapy is less than one-third. Ultimately, the attempt that therapy is trying to advance is related to decreasing if not almost completely excluding the possibility of relapse.A deeper integration in the psychiatric and criminal system is fundamental to guarantee a greater understanding of the matter and more comprehensive action toward the disorder. Moreover, the treatment employed should be specific, referring to the need to identify which type of disorder the patient belongs to. Collaboration on the part of the media in the objective treatment of issues concerning these matters becomes an integral part of an overall strategy directed at addressing the root of these problems.
This analysis was conducted in collaboration between Mondo Internazionale and the SiCura Association
Curated by
Stefano Sartorio, Mondo Internazionale
Silvia Passoni, Mondo Internazionale
Fabio Di Gioia, Mondo Internazionale
Federica Leva, psicoterapeuta SiCura
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Translated by Anna Toninelli
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