http://myemail.constantcontact.com/MaleSurvivor-s-Dr--Howard-Fradkin-issues-statement-as--how-to--e-book-for-pedophiles-makes-headlines.html?soid=1102872218941&aid=FK7J1j1fU10Los Angeles, Calif., (November 11, 2010) - After reading the recent CNN report about Phillip Greaves' e-book being boycotted by thousands of Amazon.com users, Dr. Howard Fradkin, founding board member of MaleSurvivor, wants people to understand the reality of children who have been sexually victimized by pedophiles. Researchers have found that one in six boys are sexually abused by the age of eighteen, with an average age of ten for the first incident. Most boyhood sexual abuse occurs between the ages of two and fifteen at the hands of adults commonly referred to as pedophiles.
"While I have not read the book, I have read Phillip Greaves' comments from his interview with CNN. Here is what I would like people to understand:
"True love does not include hurting children, and any time a child is violated sexually, either through penetration, sexual kissing or fondling, it hurts the child. Children do not have the capacity to give informed consent; even if a child perceives some pleasure in the attention received from a pedophile, in my experience it is always harmful to the child, not just in the moment, but for a very long time.
"From my perspective, loving a child commits an adult to protect the child from the demands of adult sexual needs and desires. Pedophiles are unable to see their behavior as harmful to a child which is why they describe it as being a loving way to introduce sexuality to a child.
"It may only be much later in adulthood that children experience the ill effects of the abuse, which often includes problems with emotional and sexual intimacy stemming from an inability to trust, substance abuse, sexual addiction, confusion in sexual orientation, depression, and suicide.
"The imposition of adult sexuality and emotional needs on a child is a developmental catastrophe, even when it is done with the 'best of intentions', the sort of good intentions I suspect Philip Greaves may argue for in his book.
"Most survivors of childhood sexual abuse do not become pedophiles, although it is believed most pedophiles were themselves victims of sexual abuse in childhood. Pedophiles often lack true empathy for the negative effects of their own childhood experiences of abuse and similarly lack true empathy for the negative effects of their sexual behavior with children.
"I would hope that instead of a book being written to help pedophiles engage in their behavior with less shame and guilt, a book should be written to help pedophiles identify the ways in which they mistake their own adult sexual desires toward children as an act of love, rather than as an act of self-gratification."
Today, Dr. Fradkin will appear on The Oprah Winfrey show alongside Tyler Perry and 200 brave men to lift the veil of shame from male sexual abuse. The first segment of this two-part series aired last Friday, November 5, and has been touted as one of Oprah's most groundbreaking, "game changing" shows in her twenty-five year talk show career.
