Pedophilia and Computer-Generated Child Pornography

Abstract

To be a pedophile, according to the World Health Organization, is to have a sexual preference for children, boys or girls or both, usually of prepubertal or early pubertal age. 1 Pedophilia is widespread-approximately two percent of the adult population is primarily sexually attracted to children-and worldwide, approximately one in five girls, and one in 2 twelve boys, are victims of sexual abuse. 3 Most researchers working on pedophilia are psychologists, psychiatrists, and criminologists. How might ethicists contribute to the discussion? In this paper we ask, and seek to answer, three distinctively ethical questions about pedophilia: (1) Is it immoral to be a pedophile? (2) Is it immoral for pedophiles to seek out sexual contact with children? (3) Is it immoral for pedophiles to satisfy their sexual preferences by using computer generated graphics, sex dolls, and/or sex robots that mimic children? We hope to show, through our discussion of these questions, that an ethical investigation of pedophilia can help advance our understanding of how pedophilia should be understood, assessed, and handled. Is it immoral to be a pedophile? Notice that according to the World Health Organization's definition above, to be a pedophile is not the same as pursuing sexual contact with children. To be a pedophile is to have a sexual preference for children, but to have a preference is not the same as acting on that 10th Revision (ICD-10) , Section F65.4. 2 Wesley Stephenson, "How many men are paedophiles?", BBC News Magazine , July 30 2014, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28526106. Studies indicate, however, that around 5% of men, or slightly less than that, are to some extent sexually attracted to children. See John Briere and Marsha Runtz, "University Males' Sexual Interest in Children: Predicting Potential Indices of 'Pedophilia' in a Non-Forensic Sample."

Regulating Child Sex Robots: Restriction or Experimentation?

“…60 Given this evidence, Moen and Sterri state that 'we have most reason to conclude that access to [surrogate sexual activity] will result in less adult-child sex'. 61 This might be taken to suggest that there is enough evidence to at least warrant an experimental test of the Arkin hypothesis.…”

Sexbots as Synthetic Companions: Comparing Attitudes of Official Sex Offenders and Non-Offenders

“…The use of sexbots as an outlet and the possibility of employing them in the treatment of sex offenders cannot be reduced to a moral versus immoral acceptancy [32]. Using simulations of adult-child sex or adult-adult sex can be scientifically acceptable if it allows for testing other possibilities of treating sex offenders and preventing sexual abuse from persisting.…”

Kantianism and the Problem of Child Sex Robots

“…If a paedophile has sex with a child robot in order to avoid harm or risk of harm to children, then according to Moen and Sterri, this is not wrong, and can even be seen as an act of respect and concern for real children. 18 It should be noted, however, that the risk of harm for human children may increase, if people who use child robots for sex thereby become encouraged to eventually try out real children for sex. 19 Then, the child robots would be a kind of gateway drug, which is also immoral with respect to consequentialist reasoning.…”