'Paedophilia Is an Illness' ...
By Daily Mail
[with video] Paedophilia is an illness and is linked to abnormalities in the brain’s white matter, according to one leading expert. Clinical psychologist James Cantor, studied MRI scans to look at the brains of paedophiles and believes that there is a literal ‘cross-wiring’ of the sexual response system and parental, nurturing system, in paedophiles' brains. He also noticed that people who are sexually drawn to children are more likely to be left-handed, less intelligent and shorter than average men. Dr Cantor, of the University of Toronto, Canada, was surprised to find ‘huge differences’ in the white matter of paedophiles’ brains when compared to those of typical men. Talking on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, he explained he had expected to find differences in the brain’s grey matter, where major variations are often found. More...
Dr Cantor said that when men find women sexually attractive, they unconsciously lower their voices and widen their stance, whereas when they talk to children their voices become higher. He explained that instead of evoking the typical responses that men exhibit when seeing a child, ‘it’s as if [paedophiles’] responses are cross-wired’ so that when they see a child, their brain ‘triggers the sex response system instead of the parental, nurturing system’. While the implications of his study are unclear and Dr Cantor does not suggest the cross-wiring could be fixed by an operation, he said his research adds to evidence that no man is in control of what he is sexually interested in. Dr Cantor also said that paedophiles tend to be between 10 and 15 IQ points lower than average and are typically 2.5cm shorter than a typical male. ‘Two-and-a-half centimetres in physiological terms in very, very large – double the effect we would see if a woman smoked when she was pregnant,’ he said. Interestingly, Dr Cantor also discovered that while 10 to 12 per cent of the Canadian population is left-handed, 30 to 35 per cent of paedophiles are left-handed. The only other groups that have similar left-handed rates are people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, he said. He came to these conclusions by giving paedophiles different tasks from verbal and non-verbal tests to spelling exercises. Dr Cantor acknowledges that some people do exist who are evil and need to be kept out of society, but controversially thinks that this approach will not solve the problem of paedophiles attacking children. He believes mental health professionals should create situations where paedophiles can see a professional but stay anonymous, so that they can be treated with sex-reducing medication, counselling, group therapy, or any other appropriate treatments. He said that people’s gut reaction of immediately removing paedophiles from society is ‘making things worse rather than better’. ‘We need to be able to be dispassionate and clinical and think rationally about the situation, rather than give in to our instinct,’ he said.
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