The thought of sexually abusing a child or pursuing the act is despicable. What might an adult find compelling about molesting a child? Just thinking about this scenario is absurd. In a study aimed at revealing whether child molesters had distorted beliefs (or cognitive distortions) that support their sexual offending, 38 child molesters were asked to read a description of child molestation (Gannon, Wright, & Williams, 2006 ). In return several child molesters have stated statements such as: “I'm not really sure why she said that, it's not because she didn't like him. I mean, at the end of the day he did as much as me. Notably, this statement was made by a child molester convicted of sexual assault against a 13-year-old girl (Gannon, Wright, & Williams, 2006). Overall, the results of this study revealed that sex offenders believe that children are sexual beings who enjoy, and even seek, sexual relationships with adults (Gannon, Wright, & Williams, 2006). Furthermore, child molesters have also expressed the belief that sexual behavior, in itself, is rarely harmful, even if the recipient is a child (Gannon, Wright, & Williams,
tags