Why are there so many pedophiles?

[LanternWaste]

63. Right-handed, shorter than average, ten-point-IQ-lower-than-norm men.

Right-handed, shorter than average, ten-point-IQ-lower-than-norm men seem to be the predominant aggressors...

Among psychiatrists, views on pedophilia differ. Some researchers liken it to an addiction, others to sexual orientation; still others put their faith in brain scans. Yet pedophilia is consistent in the criteria that define it: erotic desire directed wholly or partially towards pre-pubescent children, typically under the age of thirteen. And for reasons not definitively established, there are undeniably more male than female pedophiles; by some estimates, men perpetrate as many as 94 percent of sexual offenses against children.

Cantor’s most potentially consequential finding, however, is his most recent one, published in a 2008 study. Using brain-scanning technology, he discovered significant differences in the white matter—the substance that connects one brain region to another—of pedophile versus non-pedophile brains (both groups were composed of convicted criminals, to rule out the confounding variable of criminality). In the pedophile group, Cantor found significantly less white matter in two different regions, suggesting a connection deficit.

Cantor doesn’t shy away from talking about causality. “The brain has a network that’s responsible for detecting what in the environment is a potentially sexual object,” he said. “And when there’s not enough white matter, that network doesn’t function like it’s supposed to.” He theorizes that, due to abnormal functioning in these networks, the instinct that children provoke in pedophiles is erotic, rather than the typical urge to nurture and protect. He also believes that the finding is one more piece of evidence for the case that pedophilia is caused by a biological susceptibility that starts before birth.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/06/what-science-reveals-about-pedophilia.html