ABSTRACT
This chapter presents information from a sample of fifty-six self-defined paedophiles, who have all volunteered information on their everyday lives and their views and experiences on how it feels to live as an adult sexually attracted to children. Some participants were so enthusiastic about this project that they wrote
questionnaire responses running into many thousands of words: 15,000 words was probably the longest response but several others were of similar length. In addition, a number stayed in contact for weeks, months or even years, writing innumerable and lengthy emails detailing their experiences, thoughts and the intimate details of their sexual feelings. A number of correspondents sent a dozen or more emails: one, who was a key player in the research, sent over 120 emails over the course of the project, almost all of them thoughtful and intellectually engaged and all of them unfailingly courteous. (At times these made a refreshing contrast to the emails I received from more ‘mainstream’ sources.) Two lengthy taped interviews were also conducted. By the end of the research I felt somewhat overwhelmed by the volume and depth of information.
