Moral Panic Changing Concepts Of The Child Molester

Some individuals use the words â€Å"pedophile† and â€Å"homosexual† interchangeably. In many instances, this results from years of misunderstandings due to a lack of education. These terms can cross paths in certain situations. In many other situations, these terms take two completely different roads with different characteristics. In the book Is It A Choice? by Eric Marcus, he states, â€Å"But no matter how many studies are done and how many statistics are quoted, there are people who continue to promote the lie that gay or lesbian is synonymous with child molester† (14). Understanding the similarities and differences between these terms is vital for society’s behavior and treatment towards both pedophiles and homosexuals. When properly defining pedophile, one must understand the characteristics of a pedophile. Pedophiles target prepubescent children with a general age limit of about thirteen. In the book Moral Panic: Changing concepts of the Child Mol ester, Phillip Jenkins writes, â€Å"Pedophile is properly defined as someone sexually interested ‘in a prepubescent child (generally age thirteen years or younger) the word is popularly extended to a man who carries out a sexual act with an adolescent, making him a ‘molester’, a ‘baby-raper’†(8). A pedophile’s sexual actions target children and not specifically those of the same sex. On the other hand, the term â€Å"homosexual† can be defined as individuals attracted to other individuals of the same sex (â€Å"homosexual†). Eric Marcus states,Show MoreRelatedOcd - Symptoms, Causes, Treatment131367 Words   |  526 Pagescompulsions offered new insights into the pathogenesis of the disorder. Yet, by the early 1980s, behavioral research into OCD had stagnated. The â€Å"cognitive revolution† that led to advances in the treatment of depression and other anxiety disorders, such as panic, had little impact on the resea rch and treatment of OCD. However, by the late 1980s and early 1990s, behavioral researchers like Paul Salkovskis and Jack Rachman were advocating a more integrative theory and treatment of OCD, an approach that amalgamated