"Pedophiles do indeed think of themselves as Lovers." But the children certainly know it's not "love".

Yes. And many of them think that the day will come when Society allows them to freely practice their "love". Makes me want to vomit.

I know at least one poster thinks I waxed hyperbolic by comparing pedophiles to terrorists, but I think it's very important to note that, while many pedophiles claim they "love" children deeply, the overwhelming majoeity of molesters use terror to exert control over their victims.

The victims are often so terrified by their abuser that they will deny the abuse, defend him (or her), or say it was their own fault.

Molesters will threaten children with death or pain, the death or pain of family members, the wrath of family members ("Your father will be so mad at you if he finds out..."), ridicule ("everyone will think you're crazy"), and being ignored ("no one will believe you.") Molesters will also remind their victims that the victims feel pleasure at the "just touching" and the attention, will accuse children of leading on the adult abuser, and will insiust that the child "wants it" and is therefore responsible.

If the abuser is a relative or caregiver or trusted acquaintance (as opposed to a stranger, say, exposing themselves to a kid in the park whom they never see again) , the victim is constantly on alert: when will I be touched again? Will it hurt this ime? How can I keep it from happening? They feel guilty and confused: many kids assume their parents know everything, and so are aware of the abuse, and it must therefor be "ok". And if the child feels some sense of pleasure from the friction on sensitive nerve endings? The damage is huge. The victims I know say no amount of therapy or intellectual "knowing" will never erase completely the shame of feeling pleasure, and the resuting sense of resposibility/cupability.

Having the victim feel that constant fear and guilt is part of the pedophile's goal, whether they "know" this or not. The terror makes the victim more compliant. The terror is often an aphrodisiac for the molester. And while most abusers aren't assaulting kids to make a political statement, plenty certainly view the resistance to child sexual abuse as "political." Witness NaMBLA. Witness what's-his-name in WA and CA with his uber-creepy website. So, I'm ok with thinking of serial child molesters as social terrorists. I think a pedophile with a decades-long career harming dozens to hundreds of kids is every bit as destructive of some idiot with a pipe bomb. Even if it's "just touching."

(Yeah, can you figure out how outraged that flippant remark made me? Leftychris, you are an insensitive prick.)

One last thing to consider is that this sickness often gets worse as time goes on. Once looking was enough to satisfy. Then showing one's naked self was ok. Then being touched was necessary. Then touching back. Then ... It may be a slippery slope argument, but he thousands upon thousnds of cases bear it out.

Yes, I think the dearth of men in teaching K-12 has much more to do with the economic status of teahers. (Though there are some would-be male teachers who are reluctant to teach because they fear getting entangled in a witchhunt). It's the "open field" theory of gendered jobs, yes? Women can get jobs men can't or won't work, because the competition, wages and benefits are lower. When wages and status rise, these jobs become more attractive to men. And jobs that once were the provenance of men only often lose status and wages when women reach a tipping point in the field, and men stop seeking these jobs out. Thus went teaching, handicrafts like weaving and sewing, millwork, and positions in health care, psych care and social work. (Some jobs, I'd imagine, will probably remain high-status, especially high-tech, engineering, and "hard" science jobs.)

I actually think the danger of false accusation for teachers is low: elementary school kids don't stay after for detention or exracurriculars by themselves, do they? How many primary school teachers have private offices? Do elementary school kids change clothes for gym? And a teacher has 20-30 kids in a classroom ... that seems like a lot of witnesses to silence, even if they are young children.

As I stated in a much, much earlier post, men (and women too!) sould take a few precautions to protect one's self from false accusation. The biggest one is to never be alone, out of public view, with a child. I suspect a primary school teacher would could manage this without too much difficulty.

"Alone" with a class of some 2 dozen kids is different than alone with one child in a secluded area, no?

Or is it common for child molesters to assault their victims with a room full of (albeit young) witnesses?

I thought (and the experience of victims I know) is that predators seek solitude.