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An Internet Study of Men Sexually Attracted to Children: Sexual Attraction Patterns

Authors:
J. Michael Bailey at Northwestern University
J. Michael Bailey
Kevin J Hsu at Pennsylvania State University
Kevin J Hsu
Paula A. Bernhard
Paula A. Bernhard
Paula A. Bernhard
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Abstract

To our knowledge, this is the first large study of the attractions of child-attracted men recruited in any manner other than their being charged with legal offenses. We recruited 1,189 men from websites for adults attracted to children. Men in our sample were highly attracted to children, and they were much less attracted to adults, especially to adult men. However, men varied with respect to which combination of gender and age they found most attractive. Men in our sample were especially attracted to pubescent boys and prepubescent girls. Their self-reported attraction patterns closely tracked the age/gender gradient of sexual arousal established in prior research. Consistent with the gradient, men most attracted to prepubescent children were especially likely to have bisexual attractions to children. Pedohebephilia—attraction to sexually immature children—is best considered a collection of related if distinct sexual orientations, which vary in the particular combination of gender and sexual maturity that elicits greatest sexual attraction. Finally, our study reveals the potential power and efficiency of studying highly cooperative child-attracted men recruited via the Internet.
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An Internet Study of Men Sexually Attracted to Children:
Sexual Attraction Patterns
J. Michael Bailey and Kevin J. Hsu
Northwestern University
Paula A. Bernhard
Sam Houston State University
To our knowledge, this is the first large study of the attractions of child-attracted men recruited in any
manner other than their being charged with legal offenses. We recruited 1,189 men from websites for
adults attracted to children. Men in our sample were highly attracted to children, and they were much less
attracted to adults, especially to adult men. However, men varied with respect to which combination of
gender and age they found most attractive. Men in our sample were especially attracted to pubescent boys
and prepubescent girls. Their self-reported attraction patterns closely tracked the age/gender gradient of
sexual arousal established in prior research. Consistent with the gradient, men most attracted to
prepubescent children were especially likely to have bisexual attractions to children. Pedohebephilia—
attraction to sexually immature children—is best considered a collection of related if distinct sexual
orientations, which vary in the particular combination of gender and sexual maturity that elicits greatest
sexual attraction. Finally, our study reveals the potential power and efficiency of studying highly
cooperative child-attracted men recruited via the Internet.
General Scientific Summary
This study assessed the attraction patterns of men sexually attracted to children with respect to
specific combinations of age and gender. Notably, this sample consisted of men recruited via Internet
sources, in contrast to most prior research, which recruited men via the legal system. In general,
men’s attraction patterns were quite similar to those from legal samples, with much stronger
attraction to children than to adults.
Keywords: pedophilia, hebephilia, ephebophilia, sexual arousal, sexual orientation, bisexuality
Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/abn0000212.supp
Understanding men who are sexually attracted to children is
important for social, clinical, and scientific reasons. Such men are
at increased risk for sexually molesting children, although the
proportion that acts on their feelings is unknown. Even those
determined not to molest children are apt to experience extreme
social intolerance and shame about their feelings. Furthermore, if
they have low sexual attraction to adults, they face a life of sexual
nonfulfillment. It is possible that addressing these social and
clinical issues among men attracted to children could both improve
the men’s lives and reduce the likelihood of their sexual offending.
Scientifically, understanding the origins, development, and expres-
sion of sexual attraction to children will increase understanding of
all sexual preferences.
It is more difficult to study sexual attraction to children than
other erotic preferences, because such attraction is usually hidden.
Even for men who have been accused or convicted of relevant
sexual offenses (e.g., consumption of child pornography or sexual
abuse of children), valid self-report cannot be assumed. It is often
not in men’s legal interests to be forthcoming about attraction to
children.
The most systematic research of such preferences, conducted at
the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH; formerly the
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has
relied on criminal samples. Researchers there have assessed genital
arousal patterns of a large number of men, most referred for
assessment subsequent to criminal accusations of sexual offending.
The assessment battery stimuli included nude photographs of
males and females varying in stage of sexual maturity.
1
A man
viewing the nude images heard audio narratives of sexual interac-
tions involving himself and the individual depicted in each slide. In
1
Photographs were taken of consenting adults and their children re-
cruited at a nudist organization in Canada by renowned sex researcher Kurt
Freund during a time when such photographs were not illegal. The stimuli
remain legal in Canada for the purposes of studying or assessing sex
offenders.
J. Michael Bailey and Kevin J. Hsu, Department of Psychology, North-
western University; Paula A. Bernhard, Department of Psychology, Sam
Houston State University.
We thank Nick Devin, Ethan Edwards, Richard Kramer, and Tom
O’Carroll for their advice and help in recruiting participants.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to J. Mi-
chael Bailey, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029
Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208. E-mail: jm-bailey@northwestern.edu
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology © 2016 American Psychological Association
2016, Vol. 125, No. 7, 976–988 0021-843X/16/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/abn0000212
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... Very little empirical research has been conducted on sexual fantasies specifically among MAP samples. One of these studies was conducted by Bailey et al. (2016), with a sample of 1189 men recruited from websites dedicated to adults attracted to minors. Their results revealed that individuals with limited sexual attraction towards women were prone to imagining themselves engaging in sexual intercourse with a minor as a strategy to enhance their performance during sexual activity with an adult (Bailey et al., 2016). ...
... One of these studies was conducted by Bailey et al. (2016), with a sample of 1189 men recruited from websites dedicated to adults attracted to minors. Their results revealed that individuals with limited sexual attraction towards women were prone to imagining themselves engaging in sexual intercourse with a minor as a strategy to enhance their performance during sexual activity with an adult (Bailey et al., 2016). Although interesting, these results have certain limitations. ...
... However, to our knowledge, there is currently no research extensively exploring the spectrum of sexual fantasies among minor attracted persons (MAPs). Usually, research on MAPs' sexual fantasies tends to focus solely on their attraction to minors (Bailey et al., 2016). However, multiple studies indicate that MAPs are generally not exclusively attracted to minors Walker, 2021). ...
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... It is estimated to have a prevalence of between 0.1 and 5%, being more common in men than women (Dombert et al., 2016;Seto, 2018). While a sexual preference for prepubescent children is a risk factor for committing child sexual abuse (CSA; Bailey et al., 2016a;Seto, 2018), there is a tendency among the general public to overestimate the link between paedophilia and CSA (Jahnke, 2018a). It has been estimated that around half of identified sex offenders against children do not have paedophilia (Seto, 2018), or such offending being driven by other comorbid conditions such as impulse-control disorders (Tenbergen et al., 2015) or antisociality (Seto, 2018). ...
... However, following political criticism, the APA backtracked, claiming it had been an error, and replaced the term with "sexual interest" (Moser, 2019). Similar to the category of Critics among YouTube commenters, the APA's critics associated the term 'sexual orientation' with the civil rights of PWP (Bailey et al., 2016a). Nonetheless, from a development perspective, some researchers have endorsed considering paedophilia as a sexual orientation based on scientific criteria such as early age of onset, the consistent pattern of sexual and romantic attraction, and its stability over time (Bailey et al., 2016a;Green, 2002;Grundmann et al., 2016;Seto, 2012Seto, , 2018. ...
... Similar to the category of Critics among YouTube commenters, the APA's critics associated the term 'sexual orientation' with the civil rights of PWP (Bailey et al., 2016a). Nonetheless, from a development perspective, some researchers have endorsed considering paedophilia as a sexual orientation based on scientific criteria such as early age of onset, the consistent pattern of sexual and romantic attraction, and its stability over time (Bailey et al., 2016a;Green, 2002;Grundmann et al., 2016;Seto, 2012Seto, , 2018. Also, neurodevelopmental evidence suggests that paedophilia has strong biological predispositions (Alanko, 2013;Labelle et al., 2012;Tenbergen et al., 2015). ...
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Quantitative studies have found that although most of the general public holds negative attitudes towards people with paedophilia (PWP), a range of views exist. Nevertheless, these studies provide limited insight into the specific details or variety of attitudes or emotions. This qualitative study aimed to better understand public attitudes towards PWP by exploring how the public reacts to talks about paedophilia given by credentialled experts on social media. Seven such talks, which met our specific inclusion criteria, were selected from YouTube, and public comments on these talks were analysed. The top 100 comments of each video were selected, followed by a saturation strategy. This led to 1234 comments being coded and thematically analysed. Six key themes and eight subthemes were generated, thematically grouped into Haters (sub-themes: ‘violent’ and ‘sophisticated’), Critics (sub-themes: ‘victim erasure’ and ‘not a sexual orientation’), Fence-sitters (sub-themes: ‘ambivalent’ and ‘dispassionate arguers’) and Supporters’ (sub-themes: ‘implicit confirmers’ and ‘compassionate supporters’). These themes reflected a spectrum of views. At one pole, Haters exhibited absolute abhorrence and a desire to dismiss the speaker, whilst, at the other pole, Supporters showed empathy towards non-offending PWP and endorsed the speaker’s perspective. Extremely polarised conversations, commonly evidencing anger and sarcasm and emphasis on the concept of help, were found across dissenting voices. These findings help us better understand the variety of public attitudes and responses to expert-delivered information on paedophilia. The effects of perceived social attitudes on PWP well-being and help-seeking behaviours, which can help prevent offending, require further exploration.
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... Most communities are focused on specific interests, rather than on a wide range of paraphilic interests. Paraphilias studied this way have included pedophilia (Bailey et al., 2016;Jahnke et al., 2022;Martijn et al., 2020), zoophilia (sexual interest in animals; Bailey et al., 2023;Williams & Weinberg, 2003;Zidenberg & Olver, 2022), autoanthropomorphozoophilia (sexual interest in the idea of being cartoon animals; Hsu & Bailey, 2019), gynandromorphophilia (sexual interest in transwomen; Rosenthal et al., 2017), autogynephilia (Hsu et al., 2015) autonepiophilia/diaper fetishism (sexual interest in pretending to be a baby and/or wearing a diaper; Fuss et al., 2019;Hsu, 2019), and desire for castration (Hsu, 2019;Roberts et al., 2008), among others. ...
... Of course, persons recruited this way could be unrepresentative in other ways, such as a preference for online interaction. Evidence from one study of childattracted men suggests that clinical/forensic and targeted Internet samples are similar with respect to their patterns of sexual interest (Bailey et al., 2016(Bailey et al., , 2021, despite differing substantially in their rates of legal involvement. ...
Psychometric Evidence That Paraphilia Is a Natural Kind
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Is the category paraphilia a natural kind? That is, do different paraphilias share anything scientifically interesting or are they classified together because they are unusual and sometimes problematic? We investigated this question systematically in 11 samples of paraphilic males (N = 4,617) and 11 samples of control males (N = 1,494). Primary data consisted of responses to the 11-item Paraphilic Interests Scale. Contrary to our initial hypothesis, the scale mean was similar for paraphilic and control samples. Using logistic regression and the same items, we derived three highly correlated measures that robustly discriminated paraphilic and control samples (ds ranging from 0.86 to 0.92). These successful measures capitalized on the unanticipated fact that some items (especially those assessing transvestism and masochistic humiliation) were positively associated with membership in paraphilic samples, while others (especially those assessing voyeurism) were negatively associated with such membership. Subsequent analyses focused on one of the measures, the Paraphilic Interests Scale Contrast (PISC). Consistent with prior findings distinguishing paraphilias and homosexual orientation, PISC was not elevated among homosexual males compared with heterosexual males among the control groups. Within four paraphilic samples, PISC was positively associated with additional paraphilic phenomena. Results provide tentative support for both the proposition that paraphilia is a natural kind and the usefulness of PISC as a measure of paraphilia.
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... For instance, some autopedophilic men are most sexually attracted to and thus sexually aroused by the fantasy of being girls aged 4-10 , and they may especially engage in behaviors to impersonate children of that particular gender-age category specifically. Furthermore, men sexually attracted to children, including those who are autopedophilic men, do not tend to be sexually attracted to babies (Bailey et al., 2016;. Few report sexual attraction to girls or boys 3 years old or younger, and thus even fewer report sexual arousal by the fantasy of being girls or boys 3 years old or younger. ...
... Only seven men with both sexual attraction to babies and sexual arousal by the fantasy of being a baby were found in the present sample. In a large non-clinical, non-forensic sample of men sexually attracted to children, sexual attraction to babies was also rarely endorsed, compared with attraction to children of any other age range (Bailey et al., 2016). Future research on the sexuality of AB/DLs may benefit from more careful assessment of possible alternative motivations for being AB/DLs, as well as alternative explanations for sexual motivation. ...
Sexual Orientation, Sexual Motivation, and Erotic Target Identity Inversions in Male Adult Baby/Diaper Lovers
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Adult baby/diaper lovers (AB/DLs) enjoy role-playing as babies and/or wearing diapers. They also engage in other related activities, such as urinating or defecating themselves and having an adult care for them. Previous surveys have revealed that AB/DLs commonly report sexual motivation, a finding that is corroborated by case reports in the psychiatric literature and some media interviews. The fact that AB/DLs change their appearance and behavior to become more like babies raises the possibility that they have an erotic target identity inversion (ETII). In ETIIs, a person’s external erotic target is inverted into the self, resulting in sexual arousal by the fantasy of being a member of the target class or by imitating one. If AB/DLs are sexually motivated by an ETII, they should experience both sexual attraction to babies and sexual arousal by the fantasy of being a baby. We surveyed 207 male AB/DLs recruited from the Internet about their sexual orientation, sexual motivation, and sexual interests for a primarily quantitative analysis. Consistent with past research, a substantial minority of participants reported non-heterosexual identities (42%), and a large majority reported some degree of sexual motivation for being AB/DLs (93%). Wearing diapers and urinating or defecating oneself were rated as especially sexual. Even though 40% of participants reported sexual arousal by the fantasy of being a baby, only 4% reported sexual attraction to babies. This pattern of results is contrary to predictions from the concept of ETIIs. Instead, participants indicated that physical or mental pain, humiliation, and an adult woman were important to their sexual fantasies of being a baby. Masochism appears to be a promising alternative to an ETII for explaining the sexual motivation of AB/DLs.
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... This issue has been the subject of ongoing debate, resulting in at least two distinctive approaches to treatment. One approach relies on a theory that considers minor attraction as a form of sexual orientation that remains stable over time (Bailey et al., 2016;Beier et al., 2009;Berlin, 2014;Cantor & McPhail, 2016). For example, Seto's conceptualization of chronophilia (2017) describes pedophilia as a sexual age orientation, suggesting that (based on the early age of onset, sexual and romantic components, and stability over time) pedophilia has a similar pattern to sexual gender orientation (Seto, 2012). ...
Perspectives, Treatment Goals, and Approaches of Prevention-Specialist Mental Health Professionals in Working With Clients Attracted to Children
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  • Jul 2024
The provision of effective mental health services to individuals attracted to children is rapidly expanding. However, these services have not yet been integrated into general mental healthcare systems and are mainly offered by organizations that predominantly provide services to child sexual abuse perpetrators. Little is known about the perspective, treatment goals, and approaches employed by prevention-specialist mental health professionals when working with clients attracted to children. To address this gap, we used purposive sampling to recruit 10 practitioners who had experience of working in prevention settings with clients attracted to children. After conducting semi-structured interviews and analyzing data through interpretative phenomenological analysis, we identified three main themes and four subthemes within the data. While most participants believed that attraction to minors is unmodifiable or doubted the possibility of modifiability, this belief did not necessarily manifest in their practice. Participants stressed the importance of finding safe alternatives for clients and highlighted the significance of accessing evidence-based information on alternative sexual outlets, such as sex dolls. One overarching theme that emerged across all themes and within participants' accounts was the concern of escalation, indicating a fear that pedophilic fantasies or alternative sexual outlets such as sex dolls could potentially lead to sexual offenses. The findings shed light on the approach of prevention-specialist mental health professionals in working with clients attracted to children and may be used to inform future intervention plans to facilitate service provision to this population.
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... However, some of these attributes might be more likely encouraged or accepted in children (e.g., curiosity, liveliness, naiveté). In terms of physical characteristics, similarities exist between sexual interest in children (especially sexual interest in more physically mature children/adolescents below the age-threshold for sexual consent such as in hebephilia and ephebophilia; Bailey et al., 2016) and adults (e.g., smooth skin) as well as indicators of exaggerated manifestations of normative mate selection criteria (e.g., slim statue). At the same time indicators of status resources seem to be less attractive to people with sexual interest in children. ...
Physical and Psychological Child and Adult Sex Cues and Their Association with Sexual Age Preferences
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This study combined research on human mate preferences and attraction to physical and psychological features of children. Specifically, we used the Ideals Standards Model (ISM; Fletcher & Simpson, 2000; Fletcher et al., 1999) as a conceptual framework to investigate the sexual relevance of adult and child sex cues within the general population. A sample of 589 men (mean age 30.6 years, SD = 16.6) answered questions about their sexual age preferences as well as different child and adult sex cues. The sample showed the full gamut of sexual age preferences (i.e., ranging from prepubescent children to adults over sixty years of age). A principal component analysis revealed five dimensions of adult and child sex cues. Sexual interest in children was positively related to the two dimensions of attraction to neotenous innocence and attraction to neotenous physical appearance while being negatively related to the factor of agency. In contrast, sexual interest in adults was indicated by the dimension of vitality. The fifth dimension of warmth-truthfulness was neither related to sexual interest in children nor sexual interest in adults. We argue that attraction to neotenous innocence and attraction to neotenous physical appearance can be used as an indicator of sexual interest in children. Moreover, we discuss how our results fit in with theoretical notions from the ISM.
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... A less common attraction is men. Some other external attractions include children (varying by sex and maturity; Bailey et al., 2016Bailey et al., , 2021, cartoon animals (Hsu & Bailey, 2019), and the three unusual interests studied in this research: amputees, animals, and severely obese persons. ...
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... Similarly, Cohen et al., 2018a found more than half of their respondents were classified as non-acting. Thus there is value in exploring CAPs in community-settings, as also noted by other pedophilia researchers (e.g., Bailey et al., 2016;Seto, 2018). ...
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Online support communities are gaining attention among child-attracted persons (CAPs). Though research has largely focused on the negative consequences these environments create for potential offending, they may also provide a beneficial alternative to more formal treatment settings. To assess the utility for clinical and therapeutic purposes, this analysis focused on subcultural dynamics to examine self-reported wellbeing outcomes of participation in a Dutch forum for CAPs. A total of 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted with moderators, members and mental health professionals involved in the community. Thematic analyses demonstrated that by means of informal social control, bonds of trust and social relational education, the network aims to regulate the behavior and enhance the wellbeing of its marginalized participants. Key outcomes include a decreased sense of loneliness and better coping with stigma, to the point that participants experience less suicidal thoughts. Association with prosocial peers also helps to set moral boundaries regarding behavior towards children, although we cannot fully rule out potential adverse influences. Online support networks offer a stepping stone to professional care that fits individual needs of CAPs, while also providing an informal environment that overcomes limitations of physical therapy and that extents principles of existing prevention and desistance approaches.
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... We had to develop the survey ourselves because of the absence of a validated questionnaire that can explore these topics in CAPs. Although this is a limitation, it is not unique to our study, as many previous studies of CAPs have had to develop their own surveys and/or adapt well-established questionnaires for use with the population (e.g., Bailey et al., 2016;Moss et al., 2021;. ...
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