Author(s)

Junyi Bian, Yanchen Yao, Ruoyu Zhou

Corresponding Author

Ruoyu Zhou

ABSTRACT

Pedophilia is a psychological disorder which causes the patient to experience abnormal sexual arousal towards children. In the last three decades, psychologists and psychiatrists have made a number of progress and explorations on the individual causing factors of pedophilia. Through reviewing the previous literature, this paper mainly discusses the external factors that affect the formation and development of pedophilia, i.e., environmental factors. This paper first introduces the concept of pedophilia and the public’s opinion on pedophiles. Then it analyzed the effects of stigmatization on how the symptoms deteriorates because patients are repressing their arousals to avoid judgement from the public. Differences in tolerance levels between cultures can intensify the development of pedophilia. Furthermore, the tendency of male’s dominance in the society explains the why the pedophiles tend to sexually abuse children, a relatively weaker portion of the society. Additionally, the role of the internet and globalization is to provide a platform for the pedophiles to communicate. Not only does the paper aim to analyze the root causes. A further goal is to bring the eliminate the stigmatization of pedophiles from the general public, as society plays such a crucial role.

KEYWORDS

Pedophilia, Globalization, Stigmatization, Patriarchal society, Child’s sex trafficking