Hello, I want to clarify my response. First, let me say that I am well aware that sexual abuse can be deeply traumatic. In addition to work with offenders, have worked with victims over the years (and of course frequently there is overlap) and I extend the deepest sympathy to anyone who has suffered sexual abuse. One of the main reasons I got into the work was to prevent more sexual abuse from occurring. It is from this place that I am asking society to not react from a place of pain and rage (which, of course, is understandable) but instead to act from a place of knowledge and understanding. Pedophilia is a diagnosis that has to do with attraction to pre-pubescent children. Not any action that someone takes. Sex offending is a sexual act that breaks the law. If someone with pedophilia molests a child, they become a sex offender. Pubescence is not defined by age, it is defined by level of development. Our society has defined age of consent based on where we believe maturity lies, not on development. In other words, we believe that a 12 year old who has her period and has developed physically is still too young to consent. All of these things are important to educate yourself about, if you are going to have a deeper understanding of sex offending. It is also true that sometimes people act on the internet in ways they never would in real life. We are still trying to figure out what is going on with those folks and how to treat them. Finally, and this seems to be the most challenging part for people (because of the trauma of course), having worked with sex offenders for so many years I can tell you that most of them are human beings. With families, and jobs. Who are capable of love and empathy and are capable of change. It is not how the media presents it, and certainly it isn't true of all offenders (some are psychopathic) but if you look at re-offense rates, especially after treatment, you will see that yes even sex offenders are capable of growth and change and of never hurting anyone again. Yes, they need to be held accountable. Yes our society has got to be better at that, and at protecting vulnerable people. Yes there needs to be consequences for harming others. And yes, with accountability and consequences and treatment, people are capable of change