I can only speak to western culture here, because I hesitate to merely trust media regarding what happens in other cultures
so
rape is one issue
molestation is another
as a rape survivor, I have never felt it should be a death penalty crime,, Im still alive
however, when it comes to children I think the media can make things seem more gloomy to sell stories
case in point, I remember one summer, within the last decade, it seemed to me that every other WEEK there was a story about some little girl being abducted,, so naturally, my mind thought 'child abduction is increasing',, however that couldn't have been further from the truth,, child abductions had been steadily DECREASING for decades, even though the media happened to be reporting about them more often
I would gamble its the same with molestation of children, I imagine its MUCH less common than ever before,,in my opinion, because sexual preferences themselves have become so protected and stigmatizing of sexual desire has been nearly forbidden
this is not to say, that those with sexual desire for children are no longer stigmatized if it is publicly known they have this desire, its to say that adults are not stigmatized for having sexual outlets, like porn and cyber sex sites and adult telephone lines,, where they have other OUTLETS which can be private and no one will dig into,,,
they can not have sexual porn on their computer, but they can still have a grown woman PRETEND with them on a telephone, or a cyber site
I believe these resources help a lot, and I also believe that the unnatural desire stems from a lot of other emotional issues that people are getting help for earlier on,,and again, without stigma,,,
Edited by
msharmony
on Sun 10/18/15 08:33 AM