Pedophilia, Hebephilia and Sexual Offending against Children

Book excerpt: This book provides extensive information on pedophilia (sexual interest in the prepubescent body age), hebephilia (sexual interest in the early-pubescent body age) and sexual offenses against children, i.e., the various forms of child sexual abuse, including the use of child sexual abuse images, along with the current state of knowledge concerning offender groups. The book makes it clear that pedophilia or hebephilia do not inevitably lead to offenses against children – that there are those who keep their desires in their fantasies and do not act them out on the behavioral level. The World Health Organization classifies pedophilia as a mental disorder. It can be safely assumed that many pedophile men in a given community live their lives, unrecognized and adamant about hiding their sexual drives from society and from themselves, and who are genuinely motivated not to act upon their sexual fantasies. The numbers of exactly this particular group of pedophilically inclined non-offenders can be increased by preventive therapeutic measures. For this purpose, two treatment programs have been developed at the Institute of Sexology and Sexual Medicine at the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin (University Clinic) since the initiation of the Prevention Project Dunkelfeld in 2005 – First, the project involving adult participants (Berlin Dissexuality Therapy: BEDIT) and later, another for adolescents (BEDIT-A), who find themselves attracted to children. Both program manuals are completely integrated into this work, which reflects 15 years of assessment and treatment experience.