Army of GOD wrote:
Pretty much everyone on this site is sickened by pedophiles. But, if being attracted to the same sex is something that a person can't control, why can't being attracted to prepubescent kids be something pedophiles can't control?
They can control it, but it's extremely difficult, and essentially, it's suppressing one's self. Maybe we could go so far as to call it "self-inflicted pain," e.g. cutting oneself. Imagine the pain you would feel if you have consciously remove Tim Tebow from your life.
No posters, no random internet pics, and every time you thought about him, you'd have to hit yourself to stop it--emotionally or physically.
Army of GOD wrote:And, if people concede that pedophilia is in fact something that a pedophile can't control, why is there such a harsh attitude towards these people?
The dominant culture's view on "child" and "adult" has been warped. People fervently believe that the arbitrarily set age of 18 by the government is actually an adult. OR, most people don't believe that, but instead feel that <14 should be off-limits to people over >20 or so. The former seems reasonable to me.
Army of GOD wrote:Not only that but is it a racist's fault that they're racist? Or a sexist's fault that they're sexist?
One can be socially conditioned to believe something, but if they're open to new information, then they'll have to change their stance on racism since there's no good arguments supporting it. Otherwise, they're being irrational and/or they don't care. At the point when they choose not to be open to new information, I'd say it's the person's fault--and not his surrounding culture's fault.
Army of GOD wrote:At what point do thoughts of a person become a choice instead of them being born with it?
Here's my basic view on gender-identity.
You're born at some point along the spectrum of Male to Female. From that point, social conditioning can shift you slightly--but not all that much from your innate position. From my limited understanding of neuroscience, you're basically hardwired to behave a certain way. However, there's also a disconnect between how one perceives himself and where one actually lies on the gender-identity spectrum. For gender-identity, social conditioning can sway your view of yourself, but it can also enable you to realize your position on that spectrum as well.
So, it's a symbiotic process. From childhood and onward, information comes in which you assimilate and choose to act upon. You project information with your clothes, speech, etc., and react to your environment's responses.
Basically, you're building a bridge from your current self-perceived position of your gender-identity toward your initial, innate position, which may shift slightly. Your environment, your genes, and your decisions guide the construction.
Choice is most crucial though. This explains why some people "come out of the closet" after they've been married for 10 years and have kids. Sometimes, people aren't as self-aware as others. Sometimes, it takes too much effort. Sometimes, they fear their environment's reactions, etc. But, it's your choices guiding your efforts.
