JennieClark

Gosh, it was nice to hear this story. Years ago, an old boyfriend opened up to me after a five year relationship about his leaving the military. After years of lies, a fight on his utilization of the GI Bill brought the truth forward. My boyfriend had been dishonorably discharged from the military for being a pedophile. (If you're reading this, woman from the podcast, I understand trying to save the person. I understand how hurt you are, and how angry. That feeling of being unclean, I get it. You aren't alone.) What I've found most awful about the experience was the lack of support for all parties. The woman on the podcast hit the nail on the head about the lack of support groups for those tangentially involved with pedophilia. It's hard to feel so disgusted with yourself, with them, with the justice system, and have to remain silent. I was afraid to research pedophilia on the internet, for fear that I would get flagged as a predator! It seems ridiculous, but it's true. There are few, almost zero mental health professionals who specialize in sexual predation, and how could they? We view predilection towards the innocent as a crime rather than a psychiatric disorder. A pedophile is a potential child predator, there is no way around that. However, there aren't many avenues for potential predators to seek the mental help they need, as pedophile and child molester have become synonymous. I wish that there was some way for the conversation to be more open, without the judgement and castigation foisted on the victim, the criminal, and the families. As our society grows more open to issues of mental health, I wonder if we could become more open to these experiences as well. Would it lower the instances of child molestation? Would it give release and comfort to those touched?