ABSTRACT
The term "pedophilia," from a psychodiagnostic perspective, refers to "recurrent intense sexual urges and sexually arousing fantasies involving sexual activity with a prepubescent child or children" (DSM-IIIR; American Psychiatric Association, 1987, p. 285). In attempting to understand how and why pedophilia occurs, clinicians, researchers, and theoreticians have tried to make sense of an emotionally charged phenomenon that is alien to the sexual proclivities of most adult human beings. The two quotations at the beginning of this chapter represent two extreme views of pedophilia. Many people seem comfortable holding on to the notion of a pedophile as a recognizably deviant, dirty old man similar to Jethro Tull's Aqualung character. More recently, a growing number of pedophiles have become more active in asserting the belief, summarized by Plummer's quotation, that pedophilia is more accurately understood as simply an alternative, and, yet, acceptable manifestation of sexual desire (Plummer, 1981).
