The grail isn't holy!

What causes pedophilia?

"Nobody knows" was the usual answer. This is no longer true as research has made progress. In the following, I give an interpretation that answers most of the question. But, it involves a twist of logic. 

What causes darkness?

If someone expects the holy grail to be shiny, an ordinary object will escape the attention. Similarly, if someone looks for a distinct cause, the reason for a certain situation might not be obvious. The answer I give in this blog is not an answer to the original question, but an explanation of the phenomenon. 

Pedophiles have a preference for children. This also means that they don't prefer women. This seems to be obvious, but it is seldom discussed in scientific literature. However, this is the part of the question that is mostly answered by now.

Q: What causes darkness?
A: The absence of light.

Cross wiring

James M. Cantor PhD sometimes explains pedophilia as a cross wiring within the brain. Instead of engaging the nurture instinct, the view of children causes sexual arousal: "pedophiles got their wires crossed". A similar explanation claims that sexual arousal is caused by images of children instead of the appropriate partner. The cross wiring metaphor has inherent limitations. One imagines a wire being removed and thereafter a new connection being made. However, no pedophile was truly a heterosexual to begin with. Hence, no wire was removed, it merely is absent.

Cross wiring also suggests that the new connection is established after the old connection was removed. The phrase "instead of" points in the same direction. Understanding that "cross wiring" is a metaphor, one could ponder if the order of events could be reversed, a new connection is made before the old one is removed. Moreover, is this "new connection" really a new one or existing in all humans?

The results by Cantor and his colleagues make sense with respect to the "first wire". Much of it points towards brain organization. In short, his probands are more likely to be shorter, left-handed, less intelligent, having had head injuries before the age of 13, more cranio-facial anomalies, and less white-matter in the brain. Cantor himself points out that there might be a disturbance in the development responsible for all this and it can more or less be traced back to prenatal origins. All of it sounds rather as something not working as expected than creating a new orientation from scratch. Summa summarum: this makes perfect sense when thinking of that "removed first wire". What could that be?

Intuitive sexuality

This term is made up by me. However, similar terms are used by Steven Pinker in "The Blank Slate" to refer to innate abilities. Most humans have a pretty good idea, what others are thinking. Pinker calls this "intuitive psychology" and it is missing in people with Autism. They simply have no idea what others are thinking.  

With intuitive sexuality I mean normal heterosexuality. Since most persons experience their sexuality as something natural and intuitive, nobody spends much time questioning the nature of it. Sometimes, it is described as a sex drive, while in animals it is called mating instinct. Instincts are patterns of behavior that play out once triggered. Humans have the ability to think rationally and to act according to rational decisions and overriding those urges. However, we also have a thing called gut feeling and jumping to conclusions. Both are remains of instincts. Sometimes, we act in certain consistent patterns and are not able to give a justification. Kim Sterelny's book "The evolved apprentice" gives several examples related to cooperation.

The intuitive sexuality can be understood as a weak instinct. Instinct are hard wired in the brain, which according to Cantor was subjected to some disturbances (in pedophiles). Pinker points out that the brain develops while in use. The basic structure exists at birth, but a lot of changes happen after birth and during growth. One of those changes is the myelination - wrapping neurons in fatty neuroglia cells. In short, wrapped neurons fire faster. Cantor first found out on MRI-T1 images that those fatty cells are not visible in regions related to sex. In the latest paper by him and co-authors, missing myelination was reasoned as one of the possible explanations for the discovered anisotropy.

So, Cantor & Co found evidence, which I relate to the absent "first wire". This means that big part of pedophilia can be explained by the absence of intuitive sexuality.

The second peak

It is a myth that normal heterosexual people are only attracted to age peers of the opposite sex. Violent homophobic people are found to show genital arousal to same sex scenarios. There is homosexual prison sex, and homoerotic behavior in the military. Moreover, child molestations is mainly carried out by non-pedophiles - one study found pedophiles to make up just 16.2% of the tested child sexual offenders. The average person has not a narrow sexual target but reacts to a variety of persons of both sexes and different ages. It can be imagined as a hilly landscapes with peaks here and there.

Normally, the intuitive sexuality should overshadow all other peaks. People are aware of their main attraction. 

If the peak of intuitive sexuality is absent, some other peak is the highest. Which one it is, depends on a number of things. Some animals live in a homosexual partnership, because foraging is easier in pairs. Chimps are known to use youngsters as shields against aggressivity from other males. There are many ways, a certain company can be comforting.

The two-stage model of sexuality

It is difficult to explain a lot of sexual phenomena without assuming this two-stage model. First an attraction target is acquired, then the clues of comforting company are causing sexual arousal. If this second stage fails, one develops the paraphilia known as asexuality. This model also explains, why sexual conversion therapies failed - they tried to fix the second stage without working on the comforting company.

In short, if a person fails to obtain intuitive sexuality, and finds the company of children comforting, a lot of thoughts will focus on them. This might even be a self-enforcing circle - the more one falls out of the peer group, the less one will be driven to the opposite sex. The second peak gets a chance to take over. 

But why are some missing out on intuitive sexuality?

Some try to find an evolutionary reason for the existence of pedophiles. It is even harder to argue why some people should be affected by autism. It makes no sense, considering hebephile, pedophiles or autistic savants as isolated groups. Human evolution reduced the way instincts impacted our behavior, made humans more flexible, and it made intelligence possible. All this is related to the neoteny humans possess. Most attractions are to signs of balanced neoteny. Cute children are treated with many favors - so much that it is not fair to plain children. 

The price of this development is paid by those, who get some of it in abundance. Too much reduction of an instinct renders it weak. It is advantageous when not reacting with panic, when the box we are sitting in is moving. Fear of flying has become rare. Sea sickness as a false alarm to food poisoning is still frequent. Most persons are able to understand the mind of other people. Most people are still seeking the opposite sex for lifetime partnership. But a few don't. 

Conjectures

The ticking-time-bomb meme portrait in media and some scientific journals probably is false. If the absent intuitive sexuality is a precondition for pedophilia, sexual urges should be less strong than in heterosexuals. Most statements about pedophiles are made by normal hetersexuals. It is too tempting to draw from personal experience, when making statements about other. Too much what is said about pedophiles are in fact projections by heterosexuals.

Evolution of pedophilia

Many are accused of normalizing pedophilia, as it could be normalized. Pedophilia is normal and has been normal through the evolution of mankind. Evolution is not a myth either, and everything that evolution created is normal.

It started around 1.8 million years ago, when the first human brain size increase happened. The forest disappeared and with it the safety of tree branches. Big cats preyed onto the ancestors who had to survive in the resulting savannah. The ancestors had to live in bigger groups or die alone. Major obstacles to living in larger groups are fear and aggression. Hence, our ancestors had to get rid of these two.

The famous russian silver fox experiment did just that. They collected wild foxes from fur farms for the breeding experiment. Only the 10% friendliest foxes were selected for the next generation. Due to this rigorous selection they obtained domesticated foxes after few decades. Something similar happened to our ancestors, and it is called self-domestication. Any preferential treatment of those less aggressive exerts the same selective pressure as the selection by the experimenters, albeit at a much lesser magnitude.

As Belyaev (he started the russian silver fox experiment) noticed, domestication has a destabilizing effect. The timing of developmental processes is disturbed and leads to neoteny. The socialization period gets extended and the fear instinct manifests itself at a much later time or not at all. Evolution up to that point had endowed our ancestors with a range of instincts. They functioned like hard-wired methods for solving the challenges the individual encounters in a typical life. Then, domestication weakened all instincts. That poses both a problem and an opportunity. The hard-wired instincts had to be replaced by learned behavior. Domesticated animals lose the ability to tackle wildlife problems, since food and shelter is provided by humans. On the other side, they learn to interact with humans.

Solitary animals are aggressive to every other animal except to the opposite sex during mating season. The mating instinct kicks in and the love hormone oxytocin prevents aggression. Like a reflex the characteristics of the opposite sex cause a sexual arousal. This instinct too gets weakened during domestication. Attraction to a large degree gets learned during childhood. Some say that men are replacing their mothers with wives. The truth to it is that children have learned to deal with a certain personality and later in life tend to find partners that match this personality. This works by an erotization of clues that indicate a comforting environment.

However, living without instincts is not possible. There has to be a mechanism in place that starts the learning process. Moreover, not everything can be learned or is teached. Belyaev noticed that about 30 to 40% of is female fox population failed to breed or did not show maternal care to the litter. Does this sound familiar? Clearly, domestication process has gone too far in those foxes and they lost a necessary instinct.

Is there a mechanism in place that prevents the loss of necessary instincts? It happens, but no on a personal level. If the mating instinct fails to manifest, then it means the end to the genes of that person. Evolution pushes mankind to have less and less instinct until some have less than necessary. They are not forced towards the opposite sex and the erotization happens to other clues of comforting company. Let's be honest, the company of children is refreshing. Who doesn't like children?

Pedophilia for dummies

First of all: Nobody makes the conscious decision to become a pedophile.

Think of the children!

This slogan is enough to mobilize and justify any action against pedophiles. Public figures demand actions to cope with the assumed pandemic. Some even demand that every pedophile be put to death - more or less merciful. If you still blame pedophiles for their "sick lifestyle", here is a question for you: Why would anyone want to be a pedophile? Trust me, it's not a desirable destiny. Do you really think that someone would choose that life?

Few are bothered to question the nature of pedophilia and what is causing it. When pedophiles are hunted, stigmatized and persecuted in the manner they are, it is obvious that this is not a choice.

Are they born this way?

The argument "we are born that way" has been used by homosexuals to demand acceptance of homosexual love. It is not really an explanation, because it raises the question, why are some born this way? Together with "It's a sexual orientation" it is more of an activist slogan than a scientific explanation. The best current explanation is that something went wrong during the development. There is some evidence that it starts very early - even before birth.

Think of it like a train derailment. There are tracks, which the train is supposed to ride on. And then there are obstacles and defects that can cause the train to leave the tracks. So, what went wrong with pedophiles? If we start asking about something "wrong", we should know what is "right". Hence, what is it that goes right in most people? What happens in people that don't turn out to be pedophiles? It is kind of an obvious mystery, since most people don't spend much time thinking about stuff that comes natural.

Sexual development - what is it exactly?

Imagine that you are a normal boy heading for a straight heterosexual orientation. A "normal" boy plays with certain toys, later he plays football/soccer with other boys. At first, girls are icky and boys are afraid of catching girl cooties, with Valentine's day being an exception. However, something strange happens during puberty - boys are starting to behave irrationally. Parents told us to wait with it, teachers are against it, even pals are complaining that we spend less time with them. Nonetheless, spending time with a girl becomes important on it's own.

Because "everyone" has this attraction, this is kind of normal and nobody is questioning it. Is it culture, or is it the expectation of others that drives "normal" boys to try to get the attention of girls again and again? If it were just a search for friendship, then we would see a 50/50 distribution of boy/girl and boy/boy couples. There are even fewer obstacles for a boy to befriend another boy than to befriend a girl.

Actually, several things are already known. Gay men tend to have more older brothers. There are hypotheses that explain how the influence happens, developed antibodies in the mother being the current favorite explanation. Gender atypical behavior during childhood is considered to be an indicator for later homosexuality. The latter statement is remarkable. Not only does it state a deviation from "the norm", it also states that certain behavior is "the norm" for a boy. Already as little boys, their behavior is supposed to follow some invisible tracks.

Gender typical behavior - but why?

Stripping "gender" from the question, we could ask: What causes a typical behavior? Some behavior is so common typical that we have named them. Fear of flying is an example. As soon as the airplane starts moving, those affected freak out. In a rational discussion outside the plane, they will agree that the fear is irrational and somewhat silly. But that does not matter once the airplane starts moving. It is a consistent innate behavior very difficult to override. This is not an exception.

Human behavior follows certain patterns, this is the very base of psychology. If we were able to just snap out of a depression, we wouldn't need psychiatric institutions. Often, we need to become aware, how much trouble a certain behavior will cause and we need help to avoid or handle those situations.

If we were animals, we would simply call it instincts. Many animals are born with a fully developed set of instincts. This is not the case with a human baby. Unlike a baby deer, it does not get up within a few hours after birth and follows the mother around. A human baby resembles more a fetus than a preteen child during the first year. Some animals can walk a few hours after birth and instinctively follow the flock. For most animals, instincts are like solid railway tracks guiding their behavior. They are so controlled by their instincts, that a lion jumping through a burning hoop is a circus sensation.

Instincts are considered to be non-existing in humans, since we are in general able to override them. This is taken to the extreme by the assumption that humans have a free will. The example of the fear of flying shows that this obviously is not the case. Few million years ago, our ancestors certainly had instincts and those instincts didn't disappear suddenly. And they haven't completely vanished. 

How little instincts do we need?

Humans are superior to animals, because we can think and decide on a rational base what actions to take. That is the theory, in praxis we quite often behave in a certain manner that we are not aware of. Sometimes it is good for us, otherwise it can present an obstacle like the fear of flying. The fewer irrational behavior we are forced to act out, the better it is for us.

Instincts are in a way hard-wired knowledge how to behave in certain situations. Without hard-wired instincts, the appropriate behavior has to be learned. The freedom from instincts not only requires us to make rational decisions, but also allows us to adjust them in order to get anticipated outcomes. Without guiding instincts and learned knowledge, we are doomed to make stupid decisions. Hence, loosing instincts is not only an advantage, but it is a liability too. Using trial and error, we learned what was best for our survival. Hence, those with a lesser amount of instincts had a greater learning potential. This presents an evolutionary advantage leading to a higher survival rate for human genes.

Animals have instincts to a varying degree. Reptiles have a primitive brain and are completely instinct controlled. The higher up on the evolutionary stage the animals are, the less they are controlled by instincts and more able to learn things. It is no surprise that most trained animals are mammals.

Animals living in a stable environment tends to show very little variations. It is almost impossible to tell two penguins apart. Animals living in a changing environment show a greater variation. Individuals that are better adapted to a change will ensure the survival of the species, while the unfortunate die. Over time this will lead to a higher variation of individual characteristics in those species, which represents a higher flexibility. This is the reason for the noticeable individual characteristics among humans. Some of us are born with stronger instincts and have to suffer from fear of flying or similar compulsive behavior, while others enjoy a higher degree of free will.

How does evolution know where to stop?

It doesn't. Well, evolution does not stop before it is too late. Evolution is not about the survival of species or to make individuals comfortable in their environment, but about the survival of DNA. Humans are pushed by evolution towards the edge of losing all instincts, and due to the variation some are pushed over the edge. Those, who were too far on the other side, would not pass down their DNA. Evolution comes with a price tag attached, the dead end of an DNA-line. It is like a tree, where only few branches are allowed to continue to grow, while others are cut back.

As it seems, a certain minimal amount of instincts is necessary for procreation. Boys need to find girls. That is why boys start to behave irrationally during puberty, even when they were angel-like to their parents during previous years. The current society makes it  hard for them: child sexuality is not encouraged and abstinence-only sex education is on the program in some countries. Hence, the instinct of chasing girls meets a lot of obstacles, experiences headwind. 

Should we expect everyone to develop a "normal" heterosexual orientation? Some think that gender is a social construct and feminists claim men and women to be equal. Moreover, many romantics claim that it was the personality that attracted them to their spouse. If the existence of a vagina or penis is that insignificant, shouldn't we be equally attracted to men and women? I mean, if we downplay the importance of the gender/sex, shouldn't we see like a 50% prevalence of homosexuality?

Evolution does not like 50% homosexuality, it is simply not sustainable. It would mean that 50% of the genes are pushed over the edge and are not passed down. During the evolution humans lost much of the intensity of instincts. The behavior became more and more rational and that was an advantage. This also meant that the gender of the significant other half became less important. We are more attracted to the personality than to the outlook of intercourse. At the same time, sex became more versatile than just as a means to procreation. Intimacy creates strong social bonds. Hence, evolution drove humans away from the 100% heterosexuality towards a point where the advantage of free will is balanced by procreation failure.

So what went wrong in pedophiles?

Nothing! Everything went according to the plan. That means the plan of evolution. Evolution does not care about individuals, only about the survival of genes. Individuals are just a means for procreation. Fish have many thousand offsprings, most end up being prey for others. For evolution it is ok that just enough individuals make it into adulthood. 

Flexibility was and is a necessity for humans. In order to adapt to the changing environment, we show rather big differences between individuals, we are taller or shorter, we have different skin colour, and we lost much of the control instincts had over our behavior. Variance is part of the evolutionary game. This means also variance in the strength of certain instincts, among them the instinct that drives boys towards girls during puberty.

To be honest, this post is actually "paraphilia for dummies" - i never talked why pedophiles prefer the company of children. Most think it is for sexual gratification only, but this is wrong. The company of children averts aggression of bullies, children are very emotional and might satisfy the demands of someone with a more intense emotional life. There are in fact many reasons why adults turn towards children and turn the back to adults. The current stigmatization is one of them. Children don't judge someone based on media incited hysteria, they judge people according to their actions.

Making sense of James Cantor's research

James Cantor's articles are heavily discussed in the pedophile community. He is a researcher at CAMH and carries out research using forensic samples, meaning men who are caught in the legal system. Among his findings are that on average: their IQ is lower, they are missing white matter, they are shorter, have craniofacial anomalies and shorter legs. Of course the tall, smart, beautiful pedos cry out.  His articles are scrutinized and critiques have been written pointing out holes. Ok, i might be too stupid to date women, but how exactly do short legs cause pedophilia? Craniofacial anomalies or simply ugliness might ruin my chances of getting laid, but i would still chase women and not children. What could be behind all those research findings?

Preamble

Many researchers look to chimpanzees and bonobos, our closest cousins in the animal kingdom, for some clues. Other sex researchers like Jim Pfaus use rats to study sexual behavior. However, there is one huge difference between most animals and humans. Humans are neotenous, more than cats and dogs. Neoteny means the retention of juvenile features. It does not mean that adults look childish. It means that without neoteny our heads should look much more like grown up chimpanzees and not like those of chimpanzee babies. We should have larger teeth, a smaller brain, and a bigger fang.

There is little to be found on the internet how neoteny manifests itself. The best explanation is a retarded development, meaning that all developmental processes run with a much reduced speed. Different processes run at different speeds. Some processes never finish, like the skull bone fusion which still goes on in the ninth decade. Compared with the mammal model, human processes take 5 to 15 times more time. According to that model, humans should be born after 21 month of gestation. Since the head would be too big by then, humans are born at the latest possible moment, when the baby's head just passes through the birth canal. After birth the baby continues to grow at the same rate for the next year. One of the processes taking longer time is the brain maturation, 90% completed by age 10, but almost finished first in the mid-twenties, give or take a few years.

Human instincts

Psychologist Abraham Maslow argued that humans no longer have instincts because we have the ability to override them in certain situations. The criteria for instincts cited in this wikipedia article create a false dichotomy. Either it's an instinct or should be considered a drive, but the latter is defined much different by Drive theory. The biggest counter argument against the non-existence of instincts is the fact that psychology works. Psychology works because human behavior follows rules. Patients in psychiatric care have difficulties overriding certain "innate behavior" (aka instincts). Probably the reason for the renaming into "innate behavior" might be related to the illusion of a free will. Free will denotes the idea that humans can do and behave in the way they want, ultimately meaning that all actions are deliberate and thought through.

During the human evolution the increasing intelligence made us to a lesser degree the marionettes of instincts. The notion of free will represents the ultimate end of this development.  This development will affect all instincts, some more other less. Some instincts are necessary for the survival of the species, like the sexual mating instinct. Hence, the human evolution weakened those instincts to the point where they are just strong enough for the genes to survive. Evolution works by variation: some get stronger, while others get weaker instincts. Those men, who have sex with strange women when completely drunk, got a higher amount of sexual mating instincts. Those, who develop a paraphilia instead of a healthy heterosexuality, probably got less than necessary. As a consequence, the appearance of not sufficiently strong enough instincts is part of evolution. Basically, this means that those instincts get overridden before they manifest themselves.

The link between instincts and neoteny lies in the way our brain develops. Most animals are born with most instincts functioning. Their brains are fully myelinated at birth, while humans are born with mostly unmyelinated brains. During the first years the myelination takes place. That means neuroglia cells are formed and their fatty parts show up as white spots on T1-sMRI. Neuroglia cells are shielding the axons of neurons, hence they are part of the white matter or the so called connecting tissue. Neoteny delays the manifestation of instincts. However, it seems that there are critical periods during the development. If a skill or behavior is not learned during such a time window, it is hard if not impossible to catch up.

The research findings

One of the better known results regarding pedophiles is the missing white matter. Sometimes it is also referred to as cross-wiring, since the researchers believe that instead of parental instincts, sexual instincts are activated. This is an overly simplistic view and there is no explanation why the cable instead of going to A goes to B instead. If it were a random cross-wiring, we should see an activation of the whole spectrum of instincts.

The craniofacial findings point to prenatal events, also called prenatal insults. Skin cells and neurons differentiate in the same way during embryogenesis before the blastula folds inwards and the spinal cord and brain are formed. If the development of skin cells gets disturbed during that period, it is likely that it affected neural cells as well. The observed correlation has been interpreted as an indicator for prenatal causes of pedophilia. Another anomaly is the testosterone level during certain critical prenatal periods. Getting the wrong amount of it and something goes wrong. It has been experimentally shown in rats (Jim Pfaus & Co) and there has been a longitudinal study in Denmark confirming it.

I'm wondering, whether the testosterone level in humans is similar to other mammals. The slowed down development in humans is caused by something or something necessary for the development is absent. Gaffney and Berlin reported a dysfunction of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis in pedophiles, which again is important for testosterone levels. Testosterone breaks down into estradiol, which seem to have far reaching influence.

The latest papers propose a disturbance in the development to be the cause for some paraphilias. If we add the reasonable assumption that exclusive pedophiles are not interested in women, then we can conclude that the heterosexual instinct did not manifest itself. The development of the human sexual mating instinct, aka heterosexual orientation, got derailed. As with train derailments there might be multiple ways of that happening. This is the reason why some meta-studies report many different and sometimes conflicting results. Trains can go with a high velocity into a tight turn, rails can be deformed, the rail bed can have broken away, the wheels might lose contact, the bogie can oscillate - all of them possible causes for a train derailment.

Non-exclusive pedophile men are attracted to women, hence there is a working instinct, but the erotic attraction includes more than women. Normally, only the sight or scent of women should cause arousal. This arousal seems to be learned - clues of the preferred partner get erotized. John Money calls this disturbance a vandalization of the lovemap, which are supposedly formed around the age of 6. This would implicate events in early childhood as possible causes. Again weak instincts might have enable those developments, since they didn't offer much resistance to aberration.

Weak human instincts are not mainstream psychology. Common for paraphilia is the absence of a healthy heterosexual orientation. Hence, it seems kinda obvious to assume that something went wrong with the heterosexual mating instinct. This assumption is simple, it is supported by human evolution, the existence of human neoteny and the limited degree of free will among humans. So instincts failed to work as they should. I call it the faulty neoteny hypothesis.

Disclaimer

This is amateur research, making sense of research papers. As such it is not backed by a financed scientific study, but based on logic and scientific literature. As an amateur i'm free to pursue ideas that are not mainstream.

Neoteny, gut feeling, and dwindling human instincts

Human have a free will, right? My gut feeling tells me no. The field of psychology is a science that figures out what makes humans tick. If humans had a free will, we would just snap out of a deep depression and be happy at will. Psychologist wouldn't have a job to go to. It simply does not work that way. There is even a book about the science of fear. It shows how gut feeling interferes with rational thinking and even leads to riskier behavior.

The human gut feeling are the remains of fully functional instincts. Instincts guide behavior in animals, the perceived situation triggers one or another response. Reflexes are more simpler, sensory input leads to a motoric action. Instincts are like an advanced version of it.

Instincts are good for animals, but not so good for humans. We live in a more complicated world, where our actions should not solely be guided by gut feelings. As mentioned in the book, our gut feeling might be a disadvantage. In difference to animals, humans possess rational thinking, which leads to better outcomes.

Neoteny is an explanation for the dwindling human instincts. While most animals are born with a fully myelinated brain, humans are not. Those animals join the flock after a short rest following birth and show instinctive behavior. Newborn humans show few reflexes and very few instincts.

Neoteny works by slowing down maturation of the affected parts up to the point of standstill. The processes responsible for development simply work at a slower speed. Myelination of the human brain does not happen in uterus, it takes many years of human life. During this time, we learn how to cope with the challenges our environment throws at us, and we develop strategies for survival. Those strategies can work along with our instincts or work against them.

Neoteny appeared due to evolution. This means the maturation processes were faster in some individuals, and slower in others. Those small variations are enough to give an advantage to the ones going into the right direction. Moreover, not all maturation processes are slowed down equally. Compared with chimpanzees the body needs like 3 times the amount to mature, while the brain needs several more times.

Rebellion during the teenage years are a good example for instincts. The irrational behavior is exactly that: irrational. It often is attributed to raging hormones, but is better explained by instincts. The orientation towards age peers and conforming to their pressure is more important than obedience to parents. Even more important is the attraction towards the opposite sex. Parents might forbid it and age peers might ridicule one, nevertheless the opposite sex must be conquered. Some teenagers are more obsessed with it than others. This is so irrational, that instincts must be responsible for that. We all know how teenagers behave who were gifted with more than the usual amount of teenagers instincts.

Those, who have a lesser amount of teenage instincts, will behave according to the learned norms and conform to requests. Since the current society wants to keep adolescents immature for a prolonged time, those children will stay children. Stunted psychological or emotional development is real. There are several theories why this happens, but i'm missing the role instincts play. One very important instinct is the heterosexual mating instinct. If that one does not manifest, then the genes don't make it into the next generation. This is the disadvantage that evolution uses to stop the dwindling instincts from disappearing altogether.

Since i'm always seeking the connection to pedophilia, this is no exception. Quite too often i found on the internet the notion that boylovers see themselves as emotionally young. One even wrote that it is tiring to pretend to be an adult all the time. If one feels himself as a teenaged boy, one probably is stunted in his emotional development. It might be as simple as this. The heterosexual mating instinct is too weak in pedophiles. The obstacles for a normal heterosexual relationships offer too much a resistance for this instinct to overcome. Those obstacles might come in different forms. Sometimes the family environment is diametral to the romantic advances of the child, sometimes it is just missed opportunities. Common factor is the absence of "raging hormones".

Dark matters

My blog isn't going as expected. Writing posts is hard. I get more ideas than i manage to write down. I mean not only writing down, but making a nice easy to read post out of it. I've read a bit about disorganized thinking and when i read what i have written, it pretty much looks like it. My thoughts are jumping back and forth. It is an advantage when thinking, but not when i want to communicate my ideas.

I admire those, who can write well and everybody seems to get the points across. So far i have not found out what is more important, the easy reading or the points. I'm writing this blog because i don't want the results of my quest get lost. So i'm pretty much focusing on the points. However, the one post that has been read the most, was written in an inspirational moment.

You already know that i want to find out all there is to know about pedophilia. My way of disorganized thinking, where my thoughts easily jump light years from fact to fact, makes it a surprising adventure, at least for me. The ideas do i get from reading as much as i can, from as many different fields as possible. I don't think that pedophilia can be fully explained using one field of science only. Too much different stuff seems to be involved.

The puzzle

They way i think resembles a puzzle game. I'm trying to keep an overview and are turning pieces here and there. Actually i'm all over the board and are connecting pieces and tearing them apart again where ever i'm looking at. Some researchers start with research questions like: What is the cause of pedophilia? The problem with questions like that are the hidden assumptions. The previous question assumes the existence of a cause that "creates" pedophilia in one way or another.  Moreover, it focuses on pedophilia. This might lead to a dead end. Imagine a game of dice, where we only investigate the outcomes of 6 eyes. What causes the dice to turn up with 6 eyes? When assembling a puzzle, one does not start with any question, one merely examines the bits and connects them.

More often than not, i'm trying to write about it when the picture is not finished. I do so, because the picture becomes bigger all the time and it's probably never finished. My picture is basically multi-dimensional, but for my blog, all thoughts have to be put into a linear order. This is the hard part.

Evolution

As a older teenager, i learned about pederasty of the ancient Greeks, but that was all i knew until last year. The Decent of Chester story enticed me to think along its lines. The story is a nice read, but has obvious flaws. However, it points out a major common mistake - the chronocentric approach. One might not be able to explain pedophilia using  current settings. Hence, my first question was: Would pedophilia  made sense 5000 years ago? Another mistake is forgetting that current human behavior is strongly regulated by moral and laws. A personal observation questioned the sexual nature of pedophilia.

Evolution is often misunderstood. The goal of human evolution is not a society where each person lives in comfort. There are many, "who have made it", who are considered "successful"; but who are not willing to reproduce. This thinking is turned upside down. The goal of evolution is not to provide humans with a nice live, but to ensure that genes get replicated. Taking it to the extreme, if "white trailer park trash" people fornicate like rabbits, then they are evolutionarily superior. Our personal judgement might differ from what evolution prefers.

Another mistake is to assume that evolution has any goals or that there are any reasons for everything. Nothing is selected for because it might be beneficial in the end. Evolution does not think, it only is brutally preferring the one with advantage, might that advantage be as tiny as possible. After writing almost 2 paragraphs, i realized my mistake. Evolution does not prefer anything - it's not a conscious presence or a thing. Evolution is more like a law of nature dictating, which genes survive.

One of the next blog posts i have in mind is about some kind of pedophilia and it's role in human evolution. An earlier piece turned out to be wrong, so i have to make sure that i'm not missing the obvious signs of mistakes. But another appearing piece is a shade darker.

Psychology and Neoteny

Human psychology has one common denominator - the human. Therefore everything is linked to everything else. So i'm not completely wrong, if i see connections everywhere. The question is: Does a certain connection matter? To make the matter worse, in psychology there is no clear cause and effect. Often the assumed effect has influence on what is claimed to be the cause. Hence, i'm trying to visualize those pieces as part of a network. Everybody has heard of evil cycles, and that might be a good approximation. If the feedback is strong enough, then some loop becomes active and a phenomenon can be observed.

Psychology gets even more interesting, when put into connection with the evolution of humans and the human brain. This stuff called neoteny has a huge impact. Coming to that conclusion, i tweeted:

The discussion of #pedophilia must include #neoteny. Neoteny has more influence on psychology than one might think.

This tweet got me over 20 times more impressions than i have followers. Somehow it hit a nerve and got me thinking more about neoteny. Humans are sometimes called the juvenile ape (that is what neoteny is about). Now, that makes humans some kind of a super breed. Neoteny in humans must have been selected for and probably still is. This evolutionarily pressure might have some side effects. Breeders of dogs know that too much of selection for a certain trait can ruin the offspring. If sexual orientation is indeed neotenous, then it might be fragile. Following that train of thoughts gets me into the darker areas of the bigger picture.

Should i avoid the darker sides? I already got the advice to do it. Dealing with those dark matters might lead to self-hate and depression. That is true. Avoiding the darker side might make me more happy, but i know that it is an illusion. Once i set out on my quest, i feel obligated to consider all aspects.

Faulty neoteny

Humans mature much later than they should. Our closest cousins in the animal kingdom are adults by age 7 or 8. Human maturity is much delayed. There are adults suffering from the Highlander-syndrome, who never grow up. Those are the extreme cases, but everybody knows somebody who looks much younger than their age. Not only do they look much younger, they give the impression to be younger on an emotional level. Something is either responsible for either that or absent. In an earlier post i wrote: "Sometimes, things are not caused, but rather not prevented." Here, a faulty mechanism might be at work (or lazy).

In Sexual orientation or what is wrong with dogs? i came to the understanding of sexual orientation as based on neotenous attachment. Most people are looking for love, not just sex. It seems, one needs to have the right dosage of neoteny to get it right. Too low a dosage and one behaves like an animal when it comes to sex. But what happens, if one got a dosage that is too high? 

Maturation in youths is accompanied by a brain development process called myelination. Simply put, the axons of nerves get a fatty insulation. This process is thought to be initiated or controlled by sexual hormones, for which the HPG axis is responsible. There are some studies showing that this axis does not work properly in homosexuals and pedophiles. If this dysfunction has any influence on the myelination, then the question arises: How is the missing white matter related? Is it the fatty insulation that should have showed up on those sMRI pictures?

Evolution formed humans as juvenile apes, driving the neotenous features to an extreme. In some sense humans are driven onto an edge, some are pushed over. The best racing cars in Formula 1 have engines that only hold one race. If engineers had their way, they should break down the second the car crosses the finish line. It is the same with the tyres, if one can finish the race with the current set, one should not enter the box for a change. Humans mature at an age several times older than our cousins. With our high maintenance brain humans are very much the fragile Formula 1 cars of nature. Part of the entertainment in Formula 1 is the anticipated event of breakdowns, the question is which team is the unlucky one. 

  

Paranoia

Some pedophiles hope that science eventually will find out the reason for pedophilia and that this will end the stigmatization. Sometimes this hope seems to be delusional. There have already been published books like Feierman or articles by Bruce Rind. They tend to be ignored by the media and public or cause an outcry. The actions in the USA don't leave much hope that science will help. 

When i'm in the mood for conspiracy thought, i can imagine that the cause of pedophilia is already known. But those involved in research need their funding. Publishing the final result will ultimately make that field of research obsolete. What are those researchers gonna do? Flipping burgers?

Paedophilia is deadly

I have been running the numbers for Norway and came up with a very disturbing conclusion.

One source states that there are around 125 000 paedophiles in Norway.

According a an online survey, a third of the questioned paedophiles has tried suicide, this leave us with around 40 000 attempts.

Suicide studies say, every tenth will succeed, reducing the number to 4 000.

Let's be a bit optimistic and expect a paedophile to be as old as 80 years. Distributing the 4 000 attempts over 80 years makes 50 dead per year. Which on average leads to:

In Norway alone, a young paedophile man is driven to suicide every single week.

Paedophilia understood as temporary phase in ancient times

Disclaimer: Pedophiles are often divided into several groups. Pedophilia is thought to be caused by several factors, and each group might have it's own explanation. It could be that what we call pedophilia actually are several distinct phenomena. The following text is an attempt to explain fixated, friendly and social pedophiles.

Assumption 1: Human sexuality is the base mechanism for establishing relationship.

Assumption 2: There exists a human nesting instinct aimed at a social setting.

Assumption 3: Boys in puberty are forced to establish a social framework for their offspring.

Assumption 4: Cognitive distortions can block psycho-sexual development.

Assumption 5: Current laws interfere with genetic coded behavior.

Hypothesis: Paedophilia is triggered by social factors during childhood which the boy unconsciously perceives as a danger to the future of his offspring. Having a paedophile phase had an evolutionary advantage.

Corollary 1: Prepubescent boys are the best option.

Corollary 2: The attraction to boys is primarily not sexual.

Corollary 3: Ancient Greeks modified behavior into ritualized pederasty.

Corollary 4: Boy-wives of Africa, Japanese wakashūdo, master and apprentice, etc are remnants of it.

Corollary 5: Being surrounded by boys is a sign of status.

Reasoning to assumption 1: Men do not have penis bones while women have concealed ovulation. Both are a major disadvantage with respect to simple procreation. The concealed ovulation allowed multi-male communities and is a requirement to get the father involved in child rearing. The role of oxytocin as a contact barrier lowering hormone and its release during sexual arousal indicate this. We know from our youth that unreplied love made us hornier and hornier. Sexual arousal can be interpreted as an enforcement to seek intimate contact.

Reasoning to assumption 2: The human brain consumes 20% of all energy, when we are resting. Much of our skill is learned over a long period. Successful child rearing is only possible in a bigger community. If so, we must seek favorable conditions before we start procreation. This behavior must have a genetic base, since it was necessary with the evolution of homo sapiens.

Reasoning to assumption 3: Similar to other species, the male attracts the female and invites her into a proper home. For homo sapiens this means that boys have to form a social group for girls/women to enter. Gender roles became specialized, requiring men to be more social with each other than women. During the hunt of larger animals, communication between men is required, while women might learn from each other by imitation. For spreading over larger territories, new groups must be formed. The logical consequence is for boys to form a new group and wander off. The related social mechanism must have been genetically coded. There must be a trigger for that behavior, a threshold of some form. Then an urge of independence from the family is developed.

Reasoning to assumption 4: Malignant mothers can severely disrupt the sexual development of sons. According to G. Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg, sexual behavior is learned. This learning process depends on the conditions. Intimacy requires the exchange of emotions. Emotional blindness and fear of reprisal will stun any approach toward the opposite sex. This learning process is related to the development of the frontal cortex with the optimal period during and shortly after puberty, see Michael Griesemer's Integrative theory.

Reasoning to assumption 5: Sexual repression was established with the ancient Rome. Christianity imposed drastic restrictions on sexual behavior.

Explanation to hypothesis: A boy grows up in his tribe. As a human his maturation is delayed as a consequence of cooperative breeding, obligate monogamy and concealed ovulation. As he grows up he is assigned a role in his community. Unconsciously he evaluates the situation with respect to the situation of his future offspring. This is as simple as answering questions like: Do I have self-esteem? Am I important? Do they invest in me? If it seems unreasonable to continue in the tribe and to raise offspring in the tribe, then the boy has to act when sexual urges get strong. 

This means during or shortly after puberty the youth has to leave the tribe. However, he has to assemble a group of like-minded fellows. This means establishing strong bonds and then setting off and leading them into wilderness. Selecting the right fellowship advances his personal status so much that he perceives himself as unthreatened. The trigger finished firing and his development continues. This allows him to proceed with procreation.

Reasoning to corollary 1: The right selection of the fellowship must somehow be genetic coded. The fellows should be of support, but not interfere with own procreation at least in the beginning. The first son will inherit the tribe. This means to select the oldest boys that are not yet sexually mature, ergo prepubescent. Moreover, they should be intelligent, healthy, robust, similar to oneself. Some kind of kin-selection could take place. Moreover, since the ovulation is concealed, selecting the right bunch of boys reduces the consequences of infidelity. Loyalty of the selected fellows to the future son is advantageous.

Reasoning to corollary 2: The attraction to boys by paedophiles is aimed at establishing a relationship. There is an genetically dictated urge to surround oneself with prepubescent boys. Not being allowed to do so increases the force of underlying relationship building mechanism - sexual arousal. Since sexuality is poorly understood, the only obvious next step is sexual behavior. However, in reality boy lovers are confused, when they get into contact with boys. The sexual arousal that existed before the meeting disappears and some kind of responsibility and care takes over. Moreover, boy lover and the boy see each other as equivalent. Judith V. Becker reports that paedophiles are juveniles in their fantasies.

Reasoning to corollary 3: Ancient Greeks lived in small villages on small islands and were divided into many small tribes. Fights between tribes were frequently. Hence new tribes had to be established. The introduction of laws ritualized the courtship between erastes and pais. The established strong bonds were beneficial for the son of the erastes, since he got older semi-relatives to rely on. This must have been an advantage when fighting neighbors.

Reasoning to corollary 4: The acquirement of a younger one increased ones status. Instead of forming a new tribe and setting of, a new institution was build, which had to be beneficial in order to survive. Teaching the younger one takes over some of the burden of child rearing. This can be seen similar to a symbiosis.

Reasoning to corollary 5: Bacha bazi, the eunuchs of ancient Asia can be seen as such. Moreover, even in current culture the theme of surrounding boys is recurrent. Even the alien in "Star Gate" was surrounded with boys.

Conclusion and possible explanation of today's paedophilia: A boy grows up in his family. He might have several older siblings, or his family is very small. Probably he does not have a father figure that supports him. He might be trying to break out of his family, rendering him a run-away or child criminal. Or he submits himself to the current rules of society, which demands him to stay in his family. Staying in his family creates a cognitive dissonance with his genetically programmed urge to escape his family. The urge requires him to establish relationship with boys, hence he start chasing them. He develops cognitive distortions that blind him for the effects his family has on him. A google search for malignant narcissistic mother gives plenty of results showing the effect of these distortions. The boy can not admit to himself that he would prefer to build an own family with the admired boys, since he has to show the right emotions to his family in order to survive. Blinded for the real aim of his chasing efforts, he assumes that he has a sexual interest in them. During puberty and young adulthood, the stigmatization of paedophilia, uncertainty about oneself, and the constant reminder burns the perceived sexual orientation as a convincing pattern into his brain.

Discussion of the evolutionary advantage of having a paedophile phase: This is based on the uncle-chester-theory in "The descent of chester" by ironclad. This theory however does not assume that uncle chester has offspring and applies to chimps and other primates as well, since no special human qualities are used during the explanation.

Being a paedophile when assembling the fellowship has benefits. Uncle Chester selects the most able, but not yet mature boys. He performs some kind of kin-selection by selecting only certain boys. He is also able to establish strong emotional and social bonds with them, enabling them to withstand attacks more easily. Outsmarting the enemy is also a very strong selector. Acquiring a group of loyal friends is beneficial to the own offspring, which will carry either the own genes, or in case of an unfaithful wive, the genes of one of the selected friends. Since most skills are learned, the intelligence of a potential fellow must be tested before admitting him into the fellowship. Hence grooming and close interaction is required. Being a temporary paedophile before creating own offspring is beneficial for the latter.

Uncle Chester becomes king - in the making

Abstract for those who don't read a lot

Assumptions in this blogg

• human sexuality is the base of all relationship building urges
• if urge is not satisfied, it gets sexualized
• paedophilia is not a brain disfunction, but a latent mechanism in most males, which under certain circumstances gets triggered
• in ancient times it was a phase in adolesence, supporting the spin-off of new tribes and their survival
• paedophilic behavior in adolescents has evolutionary advantages
• this genetic coded behavior gets into conflict with current social norms, stopping the sexual development of the affected
• Paedophilia = dyslexia of psycho-sexual development (by M. Griesemer)

Proposed development of paedophilia

• boy perceives current living situation as unsatisfying for future live, this triggers a reaction
• in ancient times, the boy entering puberty assembles a fellowship of selected like-minded boys
• several factors prefer prepubescent, fully able, good looking, interested ones
• the fellowship conquers new territory and settles
• settlement enables transition into adult behavior
• human sexuality as being different from mammals plays an important role in social dynamics
• today's social limits prevent success of the paedophilic reaction
• children can not leave their families and are forced to stay
• the boy faces cognitive dissonance between required family live and triggered reaction, this forces development of cognitive distortions
• the missing establishment of own fellowship stops further social development
• chasing prepubescent boys manifests itself as a sexual orientation due to the relationship enforcing nature of human sexuality

Summary

Human sexuality is much different from mammals, which has consequences for human society.Sexual arousal initiates relationships that are beneficial, but is not always aimed at intercourse. Current phenomenon of paedophilia can be understood as a behavior that is triggered by childhood factors but can not play out as in ancient times, where a new tribe was assembled from selected persons.This behavior should have made transition into adult sexuality possible, but is prohibited by current social norms.The effects resemble dyslexia of the psycho-sexual development.  

Introduction

Researchers are looking into biological causes for paedophilia and that rises the question, if this is a genetic abnormality. However, a second question must be asked immediately. If so, why didn't evolution eliminated paedophilia, since screwing boys does not keep genes around.This question was addressed in the Uncle Chester theory, which appeared on the internet as the story of "The descent of Chester by ironclad". The story is aimed at paedophiles and funny to read, however it was not very convincing. Evolution did happen over a longer period than just few hundred years, and in those ages the social conditions were different.The social stuff of humanity makes human evolution too different in order to derive explanations from other species. Uncle Chester probably had own offspring, which must have benefited from Chester's paedophile traits.

Child molesters are just being asshole and not paedophiles

From ancient times on we were in need to expect certain behavior from our fellows for us to be able to find the right course of our own decisions and actions.Somehow a community has to make up rules to make co-existence predictable. But we have to find out if our fellows are following all rules, then we have to test them.
Testing fellows is necessary to establish trust, and taboos seem to play a central role in establishing trust. Usually we make fun of taboos of other cultures, claiming to be completely free of such non-sense. Nothing could be farther from the truth, also the modern society carries a lot of social taboos. Men traveling to third world countries in order to screw young children are seeking the forbidding thrill and exotic sex. Sex with children currently is a social taboo and like every other taboo it is enticing to break it.


Other child molesters seek out a weak partner in order to release frustration.They are members of a community where they are dominated without the right to dominate others.Without a supporting family, where they feel appreciated, they turn to dominating children in order to avoid the depressing fact of being at the bottom of the social hierarchy.


Child molesters are different from paedophile in that they often are psychopathic and anti-social, while paedophiles make great efforts to groom children.The Oprah list of "how to spot a paedophile" contains entries that should be mandatory for every parent. This blogg is about those.

What is so special about humans?

First of all, we have a brain which needs about 20% of all energy when the body is resting. Reptiles can shutdown most of their bodies, which would cause severe damages in a human.What comes as a genetic coded instinct in reptiles must be learned by humans. And this includes most of sexuality. However, sexuality is repressed nowadays.

Women can no longer distinguish between a sexual assault and a statement of sexual interest. The term "visual aggression" describes open admiration. And the only word for sex in English is rape. The ancient Greeks were known to have more words for sex than miss Smilla has names for snow. Probably the most astonishing fact for adults to know is that humans males are the only ones without a penis bone. So strong is evolution that it even sacrifices an advantage for procreation if it makes sense in a greater scheme. But this is a minor fact compared to the concealed ovulation in females and its effect on the human evolution.

Role of sex

Today, only specialist know of the 16 different function sex has. The Christian church claims that the only legitimate role of sex is procreation. Nature disagrees, as there is the phenomenon in humans called concealed ovulation. This phenomenon is restricted to humans and very few other species. Also, concealed ovulation seems to encourage promiscuous mating leading to multi-male communities. Moreover, humans do not have a fixed schedule of mating and births spreading the cost of early child rearing over the whole year. And mating goes on all year round. Evolution even enhanced human semen with a cocktail of ingredients, hormones and other beneficial components including anti-depressants. No surprise that females have an addition for sex. 

The concealed nature leads to a disadvantage for men, who now have to engage the females at a constant rate. The parental investment hypothesis suggest that this will lead to an involvement of the potential father in rearing the offspring. The absence of a peak in sexual activities also forces some behavior of other species to disappear. There is no longer an alpha male who has the sole right of sexual intercourse, just because he can't mate with all constantly. Lower ranking males also mate with females, who in turn become promiscuous.


Moreover, it will change the structure of the tribe, instead of mating with several females, with each one during her period, the male will focus on few or only one female leading to a family structure. Before counting was invented, a one-to-one relation between females and males ensured a balanced composition of a tribe, everything else is from an evolutionary view point not optimal. The obligate monogamy could secure high paternal investment in the offspring that matures in the community.An evolutionary advantage for the parents was the delayed sexual maturation observed in juveniles that remain in the family group. Having offspring that mature later reduced dilution of one owns genes.

Paternity certainty is reduced and therefore also the probability of infanticide. The rate of infanticide can reach as high as 63% in primates. This is much too high for humans with their high child rearing costs, therefore evolution selected traits that reduced infanticide. Moreover, more males will contribute to rearing offspring, even they might not be relatives.


The concealed ovulation yields in an increased importance of sex as a form of social bonding. Sex can be thought of as the ancient beginning of every social relationship we have today.  The role of the hormone oxytocin seems to support that theory, it is released when one gets horny. Being horny enables an adolescent youth to overcome the established barrier between genders.  And everybody remembers that not acting on these urges made us more and more horny. The released amount of the social hormone oxytocin increases until love makes us blind and we make fouls of our-self. This proves the power of the hormone oxytocin, which got exploited for establishing all kind of relationships. If there is a demand for establishing an emotional relationship with a person or even things like cars, some kind of horny-ness is involved. The usage of the word sexy visualizes that.

Little Chester seeking a new kingdom

The key to understand today's paedophile might lay in understanding what little Chester in ancient times had to do.

We all know from early childhood how much work was invested in us. Little Chester spends his first years totally dependent on his parents. His father went on the hunt with other men and faced predators out there. Also his mother could have died from child birth or other causes. Chesters precious sisters were privileged in a sense that females always were some kind of treasure. Her tasks were somewhat simpler, working along other women and imitating their work. Chester, however, would have to work in a team with other men. And teamwork demands an existing relationship. Hence, little Chester looked up to older Chesters for guidance. The original uncle Chester theory has this as a main point, gentle masturbation by the older Chester in exchange for support. Little John, who didn't worshiped the older one, was left alone and died soon.This is still visible today, little boys storm older ones, while little girls prefer to be left alone.

In case, father didn't came home, Chester had to look out for an alternative family. Joining the best friends family is a no-brainer. Children moving in with relatives or other families was much more common in recent times. Even today, children might feel unappreciated and have a strong urge to change family. Evolution might even have provided us with an instinct, which family to join. The kids must show health and the adults show interest in them.

Little Chester grew up and at one point he reached puberty. He could either stay in his family or leave in order to establish his own tribe.

Being part of the gang is crucial

Tribes in ancient times are precursors to today's gangs. Today's behavior can be explained with beneficial behavior in ancient tribes. Being part of the gang is of out-most importance to teenagers, since it once was programmed into our brains as a survival strategy. Being an outcast is a big no-no, which current parents usually do not understand. If it is required to commit to a degrading sexual motivated initiation ceremony, almost everybody will pay that price. Becoming a member gives the right to exercise the same demeaning treatment on new members. Also the gang provides protection and support with respect to several aspects.
Group beliefs are not questioned even if they are in conflict with authorities. Joining a gang is a kind of protest against the current social taboo separating the youth from adults.

Chester's companions

If Chester is not part of a tribe already, survival means to collect companions for his own tribe. Ancient Chester might have been dumb, but evolution is smart and selected those who chose right. Chester should have the best support, but still have the first choice when it comes to females. Hence, the obvious choice are boys just before puberty. Adolescent Chester strives through the landscape and lays his eyes on every boy he comes across. It is no coincidence that Chester prefers the same boys as modern paedophiles. Every scar is noted and good looks are a plus. Being bright is a big advantage and being fun is an extra. Ancient Chester had no law to break and could build his tribe.Being in charge is a powerful aphrodisiac and still produces boners in men. This is the signal missing in today's uncle Chester, now it is time for the next stage. Assembling his tribe didn't take much time, so Chester had just passed puberty. Today's uncle Chester's development is arrested at that point.

Becoming king and father

When Chester scored himself a queen, he is king and soon becomes father. Even though he is monogamous like every other men in his group, it does not prohibit fooling around. Mutual masturbation with his pages only made the social bonds stronger. Prince Chester, son of king Chester, has the support the faithful knights, his fathers younger friends. During that time, everybody lived in caves and attacks on the neighbors were common.That king Chester had younger lovers has an advantage for prince Chester. It seems that evolution itself preferred Chester to be paedophile.

Unfaithful wives and daughters in law

Concealed ovulation is an evil weapon in the hand of an unfaithful wife. Since men had to hunt for food they were absent quite often. Chastity belts are an invention of the middle ages, but our ancestors were smart. Surrounding the daughter in law with a careful selected group of handsome males made infidelity acceptable. If Chester does not have to carry out infanticide on suspected offspring of other males, the tribe only gets stronger and can more easily defend itself from other tribes. Since mankind has a big brain and much is learned, supporting traits trumped the importance of spreading own genes. Hence, it can be assumed that natural selection in humans is a bit more complicated than in other species. Uncle Chester's love for beautiful boys is still visible today.

Christianity and the masturbation hysteria

It is not by accident that the ancient Greek society was held together by sexual bonds. And sex was the means how to control a society in those days. The early Christian groups imposed sexual taboos on its members. They installed fear, like the Islamic State does today. The Lutheran church started another reign of sexual repression. Then came the quacksalver Tissot describing the dangerous effects of masturbation in his book L'Onanisme. Devices were constructed in order to save the boys from mental decay, acne and other evils. During that time, Germany came up with the law prohibiting adults from masturbating kids. It could be that this is the origin of our laws of sexual consent. Before that time the term child only meant a dependent younger human, while the word bastard described illegitimate offspring. Now it defines a period with lesser rights. And young Chester was no longer allowed to play with the objects of his desire.

Wall between proper adults and youths

Children are the new blacks, they are the property of their parents similar to women before emancipation. Like women, they are not able to think for themselves and are not equal before the law. Strangely enough, mothers are enforcing this social taboo, telling their children to be quiet in company of adults. Some of them even entangle their offspring in a net of guilt and shame, making them unable to break free.
Uncle Chester treats children as equals and is guilty of breaking this taboo. Since he treats them as equals, he is loved by them.


Being in a dysfunctional family triggers a gang seeking behavior. Many little criminals do have a sad family background. Other boys do not find a suitable gang and end up in trying to establish a tribe in the same way as ancient Chester did. But now laws are in place, demanding kids to be returned to their parents. Young Chester is forced by ancient programs and can not act accordingly. He sometimes does not know, why he is chasing younger boys. And the signal gets stronger and stronger. Ancient mechanism are tripped and a sexual attraction is the result. His longing after appropriate company will stay.Since he gets his punishment during puberty, his preferred company during these days burns into his brain.

The lost Chester and cognitive distortions

Little Chester had one task to fulfill, find a supportive community. This community has to invest in Chesters future. Little Chester has developed a keen sense for that. And there are many factors preventing him from completing his only task. A rigid family structure and laws effectively reducing children to property certainly are doing it.


Chester will try everything including joining a criminal gang, where he gets a feeling of being a valued member. If breaking out and opposing parental authority is not his thing, a completely different set of action is set into motion.


 If little Chester does not succeed, he is punished in several ways. He did not succeed becoming a member of his age peers. Adults didn't care. What is left? And of course, he can not live with a daily reminder of his failure. Therefore he will develop blind spots, which psychologist call cognitive distortions. He is not able to see the damaging effects his family has on him. Moreover, certain emotions become invisible, preventing him from taking the next step. Being a loner during puberty, he misses the train that would have brought him adult sexuality. Childish sex play is what he want and does not even get from an feminist woman. Cognitive distortions come along with inhibitions, this is the main reason why the are very few proper paedophiles among child molesters. Uncle Chester might be the most inhibited child lover on earth, not quite that monster that media likes to present to us. Losing control at the first sight of a helpless child is their invention and has no counterpart in reality.


The ability to develop cognitive distortions is and has been advantageous through time. It enables us to respect rules and obey social taboos. The forbidden toy paradigm is an excellent example. One group of children is told that they will severely punished if the play with the evil toy. The other group is only told of a minor punishment. After a while, both groups are allowed to play with that toy.  Only the group with the promised bigger punishments starts playing with it. The other one had to convince themselves that the toy is evil in order not to be tempted.


Grown up  Chester does not know, why he still is looking for boys. The unfulfilled task from childhood is still looming over his head and his preferences have burned themselves into his brain. He is still looking for healthy looking, interested and supportive boys as older knights for his future sons. And nothing makes it easier to access health than the boy evaluated being naked. Every scar is a minus and he must be intact with respect to the family jewels . And he must be bright and interested to join in. Abstinence turns his longing into a sexual arousal on all positive evaluated children. This is the way evolution has forced us to get into relationships. When uncle Chester enjoys the desired company, he often makes great efforts to groom his targets as would the young king Chester with his knights. This leaves uncle Chester confused, he is sexually aroused by children but loses all sexual drive when in company with them. In reality the task of sexual arousal was to get Chester into touch with his knights in order to build his tribe, not to screw them.

Current situation

The state wants its people to have fear. People, who have no fear, don't follow the state. Chasing and jailing uncle Chester makes so much sense that they nowadays send several police patrols to  an old suspected consumer of child pornography. They display a picture of force and commitment. And Germany takes over the Russian idea of Gulag, where paedophiles are to spend the rest of their lives. It makes them proud to show that they are doing everything to protect children in the greater area.


Still in 1994 the topic of masturbation caused the Surgeon General of the United States to resign. The age of consent is going to be harmonized among all countries. The old Christian doctrine based on crazy ideas about the evil of masturbation had to be replaced by something more reasonable and they came up with "informed consent". Imagine, the most controversial law on books is based on crazy Tissot. Soon we will discover that the term "informed consent" used in connection with sexuality is nothing more than bullshit. Moreover, the inventor of this term admitted that even 25-year olds often are not able to consent in that sense.


The wall between youth and adults is enforced, if all sexual activity with and among youth is forbidden. Childish sexual play, which by its nature does not require any consideration about consequences, is denied categorically.

Uncle Chester's legacy

The social structure in ancient Greece was not by accident. Many small islands created a very fractured society compared to Egypt. And they were at war all the time. Being Chester certainly had its advantages. First Rome with its empire set a stop to that. Having younger friends was a status symbol in ancient Greece and that continued as Bacha bazi in norther parts of Afghanistan. The combination of a man with one or several younger boys can be traced in most cultures all over the world.


Pretty children elicit a certain reaction in most adults, women and men. Watching the judges at every idol show being totally crazy about prepubescent boys confirms it. Uncle Chester himself gets triggered during childhood, when he feels uncomfortable in his family. Even being more than average emotional makes him feel unwelcome in his community. Searching for a new kingdom and collecting a group of younger knights is not possible nowadays. And Chester's development is stopped dead in its tracks. Now he is doomed to that tragic destiny and never becomes king.

Uncle Chester's punishment

There is a witch hunt going on. Jews are off-limits due to new found political correctness. Another group to hunt had to be found, since hunting a common enemy unites humans. Paedophiles are already depressed and mostly defenseless, hence they are the perfect victims. Since evidence for their child porn crime can not openly be presented, it also is the perfect crime to accuse somebody for.


There is a popular demand for punishing uncle Chester with death. Increasing prison sentences beyond any reason certainly goes into that direction. Germany confines offenders for life, while other countries making life after prison miserable or just impossible. Many are driven into suicide, which also became a research topic. How many of all male suicides are due to paedophilia is an open question. But uncle Chester is driven to suicides by the news every single day.


What punishment should uncle Chester get? He is already punished with paedophilia, which he alone can not handle. A punitive prison sentence is a very strong message to the convicted that he is not wanted in society. Little Chester already got the message that he is an outcast.

Preventing child sex abuse

There is a little thing called paradox, not every action will have the intended consequences. Sometime some actions backfire.When it comes to children, all backfire should be avoided.


Children have a limited understanding of the adult world, which they are eager to discover. What they need most, is to talk about everything with somebody else and get encouragement. They instinctively know, who will treat them with respect and show interest. Hence, it is no surprise that boy lovers are boy magnets and are constantly surrounded by boys.There are court cases where the child willingly entered into a sexual relationship since it meant to be accepted as an equal by an adult. This is highly sought after by children, for which they are willing to pay high prices.


There is an established law of social relationships, the one who need the relationship the most has the least amount of power. Just remember the childhood tragedies, where the beloved one would not recognize us and how powerless we felt. Sometimes the beloved one exercised his/her power and demanded demeaning tasks.


The consequence of this social law is that the child should have as many as possible meaningful relationships and the freedom to choose whom to live with. Hence, restricting the childrens access to people and discouraging adults to interact with children is harmful. All action aiming at appropriate behavior around children has made them feel unwanted. Children in the USA get very few hugs compared to European countries. The happiest children are at places where they are cuddled the most. The looming danger of being labeled a paedophile prevents many men from being nice to children. There is even the case of a major child abuse in a minor village in Europe, where a community failed to take care of children. They had nobody to turn to. A 10-year old boy starved to death in a western European country in summer 2015, because he was not welcome anywhere else. Leaving it to the child protecting service is not a good idea.

Open arms and open doors are needed.

Currently, child sex abuse is an official delict meaning the state takes over prosecution with the offended playing the victim role in the court. This means, once the officials get informed the case is on autopilot and the needs of the child are paid not attention to. This is often used by child molesters to keep the victim quiet. If the child has found someone, who satisfies its demands, it also is very protective of that one. The child is told, when it talks about the experience to somebody else, bad things will happen, and the child believes it. The child believes that telling somebody else will lead to a loss of the beloved one, since he or she is going to jail. Every child knows what it means to have no control of things and will avoid such a situation at all cost. Most child molestation happens in families, the sole context for the child it does not want to loose. In matters related to the child, the child should be listened to and its decision respected.

Little Chester would appreciate that and might not be affected by paedophilia.

Acknowledgement and Facts

Ironclad: The descent of Chester
Mark Norlik: Tabuzone, history of pedophilia
Tom O'Carroll: Pedophilia the radical case, discussion of causes and interesting thoughts
Michael Griesemer: The integrative theory, dyslexia of the psycho-sexual development
Itp-arcados and ipce for providing useful info and libraries
Giesela Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg: The pedophile impulse: Sex is learned
Judith V. Becker: pedophiles are adolescent in their fantasies
James Cantor: brain differences
Michel Seto: psychological nature of paedophiles
Middy, Nitro, Kabauter, BLues, Goethe, Moms dog and many others for their thoughts
Wikipedia: articles on psychology and sexuality