Swedish Courts: Imaginary Children Aren't Real

[Enthuril]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

I have sexual urges towards women.
I masturbate to alleviate the stress that comes with resisting the urge to give them a good dicking.
It's the same for paedophiles and people who like redheads.

Hi, if you look at my post above, there's research that shows the opposite of this is more likely to be true.

No, yours is to do with anger which is completely different to sexual desire. Sexual urges are primitive and build up over time due to the way in which our instincts manifest themselves. The moment we release sexual tension through masturbation, our psychological need for sex decreases like it would have if we'd actually had sex.

EDIT: I didn't see your edited post before I wrote that. I believe there ARE studies to the contrary, but I'd have to actually look for them first and they're mostly on the subject of rape instead of child sex offences.

 

[BrotherRool]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

I have sexual urges towards women.
I masturbate to alleviate the stress that comes with resisting the urge to give them a good dicking.
It's the same for paedophiles and people who like redheads.

Hi, if you look at my post above, there's research that shows the opposite of this is more likely to be true.

No, yours is to do with anger which is completely different to sexual desire. Sexual urges are primitive and build up over time due to the way in which our instincts manifest themselves. The moment we release sexual tension through masturbation, our psychological need for sex decreases like it would have if we'd actually had sex.

There was one based specifically on child molesting. I'm not talking about our desires here, I'm talking about whether we would see an increase in peadophiles. The answer seems to be, yes

 

[RvLeshrac]

Well thank God sanity prevailed. In a world where common sense doesn't seem so common anymore, I was honestly not sure how this case would go.

Glad to see an innocent man go free.

Doesn't seem so common? I believe that Deadpool and I will agree to that...

Spoiler: Right Wade?

"Common Sense" is what led to this legislation to begin with.

"Common Sense" tells us that the Moon can't affect tides because it is too far away.

"Common Sense" tells us that evolution can't be true because we're too complex.

"Common Sense" is usually outright wrong.

 

[Denamic]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

I have sexual urges towards women.
I masturbate to alleviate the stress that comes with resisting the urge to give them a good dicking.
It's the same for paedophiles and people who like redheads.

Hi, if you look at my post above, there's research that shows the opposite of this is more likely to be true.

No, yours is to do with anger which is completely different to sexual desire. Sexual urges are primitive and build up over time due to the way in which our instincts manifest themselves. The moment we release sexual tension through masturbation, our psychological need for sex decreases like it would have if we'd actually had sex.

There was one based specifically on child molesting. I'm not talking about our desires here, I'm talking about whether we would see an increase in peadophiles. The answer seems to be, yes

Except rape and sexual molestation rates have hugely declined as availability of porn has gone up.
Not saying that there's a causal link, but the correlation is fairly obvious to me.

 

[BrotherRool]

Also, to respond to your main point there:

Study finds online porn may reduce the incidence of rape [http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-02-02/news/17916706_1_incest-national-network-online-rainn]Todd Kendall, an economics professor at Clemson University, published a study that found "the arrival of the internet was associated with a reduction in rape incidence."

He notes that "association" is not causality, but he does point out that "it is notable that growth in internet usage had no apparent effect on other crimes."

I would just like to say, I do some statistics and that's an offensively bad study That's on the level with the fact that we've proven there's a correlation between the number of stalks in an area and child birth rates (we actually have done this) etc

He's got 2 things, in the last 20 years rape has fallen and in the last 20 years internet use has increased. But also in the last 20 years the popularity of football has grown, plice spending has increased, certain crimes have decreased etc...

I guess it's not surprising, because he was an economist commenting on a psychological issue but yeah that's a broad correlation he's making there. It doesn't even directly involve porn or porn consumption rates. Maybe rapists spend all their time playing angry birds

 

[Enthuril]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

I have sexual urges towards women.
I masturbate to alleviate the stress that comes with resisting the urge to give them a good dicking.
It's the same for paedophiles and people who like redheads.

Hi, if you look at my post above, there's research that shows the opposite of this is more likely to be true.

No, yours is to do with anger which is completely different to sexual desire. Sexual urges are primitive and build up over time due to the way in which our instincts manifest themselves. The moment we release sexual tension through masturbation, our psychological need for sex decreases like it would have if we'd actually had sex.

There was one based specifically on child molesting. I'm not talking about our desires here, I'm talking about whether we would see an increase in peadophiles. The answer seems to be, yes

I edited the post because I didn't see your previous links. However, someone linked something a few posts up that seems to suggest otherwise at least in the subject of rape in general.

 

[BrotherRool]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

I have sexual urges towards women.
I masturbate to alleviate the stress that comes with resisting the urge to give them a good dicking.
It's the same for paedophiles and people who like redheads.

Hi, if you look at my post above, there's research that shows the opposite of this is more likely to be true.

No, yours is to do with anger which is completely different to sexual desire. Sexual urges are primitive and build up over time due to the way in which our instincts manifest themselves. The moment we release sexual tension through masturbation, our psychological need for sex decreases like it would have if we'd actually had sex.

There was one based specifically on child molesting. I'm not talking about our desires here, I'm talking about whether we would see an increase in peadophiles. The answer seems to be, yes

Except rape and sexual molestation rates have hugely declined as availability of porn has gone up.
Not saying that there's a causal link, but the correlation is fairly obvious to me.

Okay. Produce a study. Correlation is not a good suggester of anything, particular correlation linked with time variables.

Correlation means 4 possible things. 1. a causes b 2. b causes a. 3. a is related to c, b is related to c ( in this case, time) 4. Coincidence.

A correlation which is clearly a monotonic rise/fall over a period of 20 years could be down to anything, better economy, increasing availability of lego, richness of Bill Gates, superior policing, increase of CTV cameras, humanity getting kinder, increase of average wealth, increase of social divide. Etc

It's not good enough, ther have been studies. These studies have shown the opposite is true, you need more than a very weak correlation, if you have a study, I would be interested to see it and I'm not commited to my view. If you show me a more reliable study, I will switch sides. But I'm not going to not back actual psychological studies based on a correlation which can link Global Warming with a decrease in rape.

 

[BrotherRool]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

I have sexual urges towards women.
I masturbate to alleviate the stress that comes with resisting the urge to give them a good dicking.
It's the same for paedophiles and people who like redheads.

Hi, if you look at my post above, there's research that shows the opposite of this is more likely to be true.

No, yours is to do with anger which is completely different to sexual desire. Sexual urges are primitive and build up over time due to the way in which our instincts manifest themselves. The moment we release sexual tension through masturbation, our psychological need for sex decreases like it would have if we'd actually had sex.

There was one based specifically on child molesting. I'm not talking about our desires here, I'm talking about whether we would see an increase in peadophiles. The answer seems to be, yes

I edited the post because I didn't see your previous links. However, someone linked something a few posts up that seems to suggest otherwise at least in the subject of rape in general.

That link unfortunately, was by an economist not a psychologist and just said that jus as internet use has grown the past twenty years, rape has decreased. It was a very weak study, possibly the correlation is true but it would need some sort of evidence to back it. Else it could just as easily be that policing has gotten better over time

 

[Enthuril]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

I have sexual urges towards women.
I masturbate to alleviate the stress that comes with resisting the urge to give them a good dicking.
It's the same for paedophiles and people who like redheads.

Hi, if you look at my post above, there's research that shows the opposite of this is more likely to be true.

No, yours is to do with anger which is completely different to sexual desire. Sexual urges are primitive and build up over time due to the way in which our instincts manifest themselves. The moment we release sexual tension through masturbation, our psychological need for sex decreases like it would have if we'd actually had sex.

There was one based specifically on child molesting. I'm not talking about our desires here, I'm talking about whether we would see an increase in peadophiles. The answer seems to be, yes

Except rape and sexual molestation rates have hugely declined as availability of porn has gone up.
Not saying that there's a causal link, but the correlation is fairly obvious to me.

Okay. Produce a study. Correlation is not a good suggester of anything, particular correlation linked with time variables.

Correlation means 4 possible things. 1. a causes b 2. b causes a. 3. a is related to c, b is related to c ( in this case, time) 4. Coincidence.

A correlation which is clearly a monotonic rise/fall over a period of 20 years could be down to anything, better economy, increasing availability of lego, richness of Bill Gates, superior policing, increase of CTV cameras, humanity getting kinder, increase of average wealth, increase of social divide. Etc

It's not good enough, ther have been studies. These studies have shown the opposite is true, you need more than a very weak correlation, if you have a study, I would be interested to see it and I'm not commited to my view. If you show me a more reliable study, I will switch sides. But I'm not going to not back actual psychological studies based on a correlation which can link Global Warming with a decrease in rape.

Try this one instead http://www.impactlab.net/2008/01/06/internet-porn-shown-to-decrease-incidence-of-rape/

I'm currently trying to get in touch with a friend of mine who probably has a lot better information on such subjects, but she doesn't seem to be around at the moment.

 

[RvLeshrac]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

Paedophilia is rooted in human sexuality and is therefore unchangeable, which means that suppressing it can psychologically do more harm than good. In the same idea, having a release for sexual urges has a positive result as most people can logically see that masturbation has an effect on decreasing your sexual urge for a period of time. Hence the whole blue balls thing. So saying that anyone who is attracted to children is going to have sex with children and doesn't actually seek to release those urges in a non-harmful way is somewhat similar to how some of the crazier feminists claim that all males are rapists.

Before I get the police on me by doing some research on this stuff, are you a psychologist whose studied this kind of thing, or just a clever informed person?

EDIT: No worries, found out, it turns out that studies show that exposureto pornography can icnrease rates of sexual assault, also

In a paper written in 1965[6] called, Sexual Deviation as Conditioned Behavior: A Hypothesis, R.J. McGuire found that the viewing of pornography can serve as a source of a paraphilic "vivid sexual fantasy" which, when contemplated during masturbation, may condition men into perversion

In a prison interview conducted by Gail Dines, rape of a prepubescent child followed "habitual" consumption of child porn "within six months," although the men were previously "horrified at the idea".[8]

However, a metaanalysis by Hald, et al (2010)[11] suggests that there is a link between consumption of violent pornography and rape-supportive attitudes in certain populations of men, particularly when moderating variables are taken into consideration.

Silbert, M. and Pines, A., in "Pornography and Sexual Abuse of Women," published their study involving prostitutes in the international journal Sex Roles, "The comments followed the same pattern: the assailant referred to pornographic materials he had seen or read and then insisted that the victims not only enjoyed rape but also extreme violence."[18]

. According to the study, child molesters indicated "significantly more" exposure to pornography than rapists in adulthood.

According to the study "Pornography Use as a Risk Marker for an Aggressive Pattern of Behavior Among Sexually Reactive Children and Adolescents", sexually reactive children and adolescents (SRCAs), also referred to as juvenile sexual offenders, "may be more vulnerable and likely to experience damaging effects from pornography use." According to the study, the SRCAs who used pornography were "more likely" to display aggressive behaviors than their nonusing counterparts

So yes although it's not conclusive there is a huge body of evidence that perusual of pornography leads to increases and rape and child molesting.

snip

I wanted to bring you in again because I found research that suggests that exposure to child pornography actually does lead to an increase in child molesting. The research is not fully conclusive but I haven't found any studies that suggest it would decrease sexual urges

In the free world, we try not to pass legislation that completely destroys every possible hope someone has of having a normal life without some *damn* good evidence.

Additionally, no, none of the research has ever proven to be more than circumstantial, due (primarily) to the fact that the legal definition of "sexual offender" has nothing to do with the 'traditional' definition. If you're a 15 year old and you have consensual sex with your 15 year old boy/girlfriend, you're both sex offenders for the rest of your lives. If you're a 15 year old and you take nude pictures of yourself or your 15 year old boy/girlfriend, you're both sex offenders for the rest of your lives.

(ed: Oh, and one more issue - arguing that Porn Causes X is idiotic. You're not going to *eliminate* porn. You're not even going to *stem the tide* of porn. Instead of studies determining "What porn causes," studies determining ways to combat unacceptable behaviours would actually be useful.)

 

[BrotherRool]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

I have sexual urges towards women.
I masturbate to alleviate the stress that comes with resisting the urge to give them a good dicking.
It's the same for paedophiles and people who like redheads.

Hi, if you look at my post above, there's research that shows the opposite of this is more likely to be true.

No, yours is to do with anger which is completely different to sexual desire. Sexual urges are primitive and build up over time due to the way in which our instincts manifest themselves. The moment we release sexual tension through masturbation, our psychological need for sex decreases like it would have if we'd actually had sex.

There was one based specifically on child molesting. I'm not talking about our desires here, I'm talking about whether we would see an increase in peadophiles. The answer seems to be, yes

Except rape and sexual molestation rates have hugely declined as availability of porn has gone up.
Not saying that there's a causal link, but the correlation is fairly obvious to me.

Okay. Produce a study. Correlation is not a good suggester of anything, particular correlation linked with time variables.

Correlation means 4 possible things. 1. a causes b 2. b causes a. 3. a is related to c, b is related to c ( in this case, time) 4. Coincidence.

A correlation which is clearly a monotonic rise/fall over a period of 20 years could be down to anything, better economy, increasing availability of lego, richness of Bill Gates, superior policing, increase of CTV cameras, humanity getting kinder, increase of average wealth, increase of social divide. Etc

It's not good enough, ther have been studies. These studies have shown the opposite is true, you need more than a very weak correlation, if you have a study, I would be interested to see it and I'm not commited to my view. If you show me a more reliable study, I will switch sides. But I'm not going to not back actual psychological studies based on a correlation which can link Global Warming with a decrease in rape.

Try this one instead http://www.impactlab.net/2008/01/06/internet-porn-shown-to-decrease-incidence-of-rape/

I'm currently trying to get in touch with a friend of mine who probably has a lot better information on such subjects, but she doesn't seem to be around at the moment.

You seem to have sourced the same thing, it's correlating rape levels and internet usage, rather than being a specific study exploring them. In fact it admits official response has been that the decline was

less lawlessness associated with crack cocaine;
women have been taught to avoid unsafe situations;
more would-be rapists already in prison for other crimes;
sex education classes telling boys that ?no means no.?

and doesn't seem to provide evidence for why this isn't the case.

Apart from anything, that decline in rape isn't a straight downwards line, whereas I bit increase in internet is a straight upwards line.

This is quite a difficult area though, and I'm out of my depth to evaluate the other studies, so please do tell me what your friend says, because I would be interested to know

EDIT: The study also says 'No scientist had ever found that pornography
raised the probability of rape. ' which we've shown to be false

 

[Mangod]

So Sweden's criminal justice system proves it isn't as backwards as we thought.

It's good Lundstrom won. He was only charged for doing his job and the prosecution had a terrible argument against him.

well 1/3 of it isnt as backwards as we thought.

Lets not forget that two lower courts couldn't get their heads out of their asses after all.

OT: Im glad he got those charges dropped, was complete bullshit.

Well, to be honest, the Tingsrätt hasn't ever had its head screwed on right. Most major cases it rules in will be reversed when taken to the next instance. Then again, the tingsrätt only exists to keep the old foggies who sit on it occupied, otherwise they'd be stuck in the old folks home complaining about boredom.

 

[Vicarious Reality]

It's kinda good that this ruling happened, otherwise someone would have to go around arresting classical art gallery owners for all those flying naked babies that float around those olde paintings.

i lold

Good to see that someone in the government knows when a crime has not been committed

No victim - no crime

I remember when i was little, i would seek out pron on the internet which appealed to my childish mind

 

[Denamic]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

I have sexual urges towards women.
I masturbate to alleviate the stress that comes with resisting the urge to give them a good dicking.
It's the same for paedophiles and people who like redheads.

Hi, if you look at my post above, there's research that shows the opposite of this is more likely to be true.

No, yours is to do with anger which is completely different to sexual desire. Sexual urges are primitive and build up over time due to the way in which our instincts manifest themselves. The moment we release sexual tension through masturbation, our psychological need for sex decreases like it would have if we'd actually had sex.

There was one based specifically on child molesting. I'm not talking about our desires here, I'm talking about whether we would see an increase in peadophiles. The answer seems to be, yes

Except rape and sexual molestation rates have hugely declined as availability of porn has gone up.
Not saying that there's a causal link, but the correlation is fairly obvious to me.

Okay. Produce a study. Correlation is not a good suggester of anything, particular correlation linked with time variables.

Correlation means 4 possible things. 1. a causes b 2. b causes a. 3. a is related to c, b is related to c ( in this case, time) 4. Coincidence.

A correlation which is clearly a monotonic rise/fall over a period of 20 years could be down to anything, better economy, increasing availability of lego, richness of Bill Gates, superior policing, increase of CTV cameras, humanity getting kinder, increase of average wealth, increase of social divide. Etc

It's not good enough, ther have been studies. These studies have shown the opposite is true, you need more than a very weak correlation, if you have a study, I would be interested to see it and I'm not commited to my view. If you show me a more reliable study, I will switch sides. But I'm not going to not back actual psychological studies based on a correlation which can link Global Warming with a decrease in rape.

No need to educate me on what correlation is, as I'm perfectly aware.
But the point is that you say basically saying porn makes you more likely to rape someone.
And the problem with what you're saying becomes apparent when the fact that rape rates are going down as porn becomes more available.
I know you can use correlation to 'prove' nonsensical shit, but my application in this case is correct.
Just because some people abuse it, it doesn't mean all use of correlation to back up an argument is wrong.
For a study, look up Enthuril's link.
I'm busy eating breakfast.

 

[Spectral Dragon]

Well, it's good to see we're still sensible, at least the higher-ups in court. Pictures aren't people!

I'll be staying out of the thread derail/debate about porn's effect on everything else due to lack of knowledge on the topic, but carry on!

 

[BrotherRool]

From the article, it does sound

Good. If anything, this can help pedophiles release their urges since society shuns them so much.
In case you don't know, pedophilia is not a choice. Having sex with a child is a choice.

I'm aware that most wants to do awful things to other people aren't choices, hence wants. On the other hand I'd need some proof that this helps them. It could be easily argued the other way. For example for angry people, 'releasing their anger' like people advise has been proven to often make them more angry people. Maybe we should be fighting our basic nature at all levels and this is a slippery slope

I have sexual urges towards women.
I masturbate to alleviate the stress that comes with resisting the urge to give them a good dicking.
It's the same for paedophiles and people who like redheads.

Hi, if you look at my post above, there's research that shows the opposite of this is more likely to be true.

No, yours is to do with anger which is completely different to sexual desire. Sexual urges are primitive and build up over time due to the way in which our instincts manifest themselves. The moment we release sexual tension through masturbation, our psychological need for sex decreases like it would have if we'd actually had sex.

There was one based specifically on child molesting. I'm not talking about our desires here, I'm talking about whether we would see an increase in peadophiles. The answer seems to be, yes

Except rape and sexual molestation rates have hugely declined as availability of porn has gone up.
Not saying that there's a causal link, but the correlation is fairly obvious to me.

Okay. Produce a study. Correlation is not a good suggester of anything, particular correlation linked with time variables.

Correlation means 4 possible things. 1. a causes b 2. b causes a. 3. a is related to c, b is related to c ( in this case, time) 4. Coincidence.

A correlation which is clearly a monotonic rise/fall over a period of 20 years could be down to anything, better economy, increasing availability of lego, richness of Bill Gates, superior policing, increase of CTV cameras, humanity getting kinder, increase of average wealth, increase of social divide. Etc

It's not good enough, ther have been studies. These studies have shown the opposite is true, you need more than a very weak correlation, if you have a study, I would be interested to see it and I'm not commited to my view. If you show me a more reliable study, I will switch sides. But I'm not going to not back actual psychological studies based on a correlation which can link Global Warming with a decrease in rape.

No need to educate me on what correlation is, as I'm perfectly aware.
But the point is that you say basically saying porn makes you more likely to rape someone.
And the problem with what you're saying becomes apparent when the fact that rape rates are going down as porn becomes more available.
I know you can use correlation to 'prove' nonsensical shit, but my application in this case is correct.
Just because some people abuse it, it doesn't mean all use of correlation to back up an argument is wrong.
For a study, look up Enthuril's link.
I'm busy eating breakfast.

Enthuril's link was just a study reporting the same thing as yours.

Sorry that was a bit patronising I get carried away sometimes. I'm not dissing pornography, I'm not saying it has a strong affect on making people's rapists, what I'm saying is letting people have access to child pornography might not reduce the number of peadophiles, but in fact increase them. The big difference between general availability of porn and this is that the majority of standard porn users are normal people, whereas here we're talking about a subset of people who desire is specifically not allowed by society and the idea of whether access would help or not.

My problem with the internet stats, is that policing has got better across the board over time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States
Specifically since the lifespan of the internet all kinds of violent crime have decreased. (Although particularly with rape, we don't actually have good data, it's a famously hard area to find reports) If porn only has a small affect on increasing liklihood of assualt, but policing has gotten significantly better, it would easily balance out the affect of the internet. And we can show, that yes there is already a strong trend in decreasing, and yes that trend could easily be screwing with the porn/rape stats

EDIT: Actually look at those stats, the decrease in rape has been a lot less than the decrease in all other violent crimes You could make the argument that the internet has been slowing the decrease of rape compared to other crimes. (although you'd need to look at percentage version of that graph to make sure that's what it's showing and I haven't done that. But it broadly looks the case)

 

[Enthuril]

Also, just to point out specifics, using the term Paedophiles to refer to sex offenders is horrifyingly incorrect. Paedophiles are people who have a sexual attraction to children, which is not a sex offence in itself. Paraphilias as they are known aren't chosen actions and are related to sexual attraction whereas sex offences are the actual abusing of a child or looking at child pornography, which I think we'll all agree is a choice. Strangely enough because of my time on the internet I've known several paedophiles and the regular consensus is that they're against having sexual intercourse or anything similar with children because it harms the child, and the majority that I've spoken to in fact dislike the fact that they're paedophiles.

 

[Vivi22]

snip

Kudos for going and trying to find some research. Do you happen to have the links to the studies you looked up though? The only way to ever really judge the validity of a study is with a look at the methodology and, if possible, the raw data to see if there are any flaws, or if maybe the data itself points in other directions the researchers didn't look at, so it's always useful to know where you got the quotes for those interested in going back to the source.

As it is, I'm at a bit of a loss as to how they could determine consumption of pornography is a predictor of future sexual assault, particularly if they're starting with a person convicted of sexual assault in any form and working back. I'd imagine many of them turned to porn to satisfy their urges before committing their crimes. Meanwhile there are literally millions of people who watch the stuff who will never be accused of or convicted of sexual assault. So I'd be curious to see the methodology they used in coming to their conclusions.

 

[BrotherRool]

Also, just to point out specifics, using the term Paedophiles to refer to sex offenders is horrifyingly incorrect. Paedophiles are people who have a sexual attraction to children, which is not a sex offence in itself. Paraphilias as they are known aren't chosen actions and are related to sexual attraction whereas sex offences are the actual abusing of a child or looking at child pornography, which I think we'll all agree is a choice. Strangely enough because of my time on the internet I've known several paedophiles and the regular consensus is that they're against having sexual intercourse or anything similar with children because it harms the child, and the majority that I've spoken to in fact dislike the fact that they're paedophiles.

Sorry, I didn't mean to label like that. It must be a terrible thing to deal with and there should be huge respect for the people who manage to overcome it

 

[Enthuril]

Also, just to point out specifics, using the term Paedophiles to refer to sex offenders is horrifyingly incorrect. Paedophiles are people who have a sexual attraction to children, which is not a sex offence in itself. Paraphilias as they are known aren't chosen actions and are related to sexual attraction whereas sex offences are the actual abusing of a child or looking at child pornography, which I think we'll all agree is a choice. Strangely enough because of my time on the internet I've known several paedophiles and the regular consensus is that they're against having sexual intercourse or anything similar with children because it harms the child, and the majority that I've spoken to in fact dislike the fact that they're paedophiles.

Sorry, I didn't mean to label like that. It must be a terrible thing to deal with and there should be huge respect for the people who manage to overcome it

Indeed, though they're part of the reason why I feel the need to argue this so much. Most of the ones I've spoken to have stated that being able to look at porn of fictional child-like characters has actually helped them in controlling their urges, as it gives an outlet for their sexual desires in which no harm comes to children. My experience doesn't constitute a study, however, so I can hardly use that to argue in defence of them, hence why I'm having a difficult time arguing this now.