Re: Therein lies the difference...

I am well aware that the mental health professions have done horrible things to pedophiles. They have used their professions as tools for carrying out unjust social policies with a cloak of "science". Their role in "civil commitment" is especially galling to me. One of VP's central positions is asking for compassionate treatment from the mental health professions.

I think that it's worth looking at the liberal wing (?) of the profession separately, though. I'll speak specifically of James Cantor's beliefs as I understand them. I think he realizes that a pedophilic orientation is no more chosen than his own homosexual orientation and no more morally wrong in and of itself. I think the help he would support for pedophiles would not involve trying to change that orientation and would not support self-hate. It would instead involve strategies for avoiding sexual contact with children and avoiding child pornography, and building the best lives they can in other aspects of life. As I see it, with that as the baseline, whether you think society ought to change so adult-child sex is OK has very little to do with individual therapy. I'm not sure a therapist from this "liberal wing" would feel any need to challenge pro-contact views as long as a client obeys the law.