Autopedophilia

The Love of One’s Self as a Child

With the release of Leaving Neverland documenting the experiences of two men who were sexually abused by Michael Jackson, now seems a good time to talk about how Erotic Target Identity Inversions motivate otherwise difficult to understand behavior.  Some time back, I read a comment by Dr. Bailey suggesting that Jackson’s behavior fit the theoretical description of an autopedophilic androphilic pedophile.  That is to say, a pedophile, attracted to little boys, who also finds the thought of being a little boy himself sexually arousing and rewarding.  Jackson saw himself as Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up, one of the lost boys of Neverland who in his innocence has sex with other little boys.  This wasn’t just a metaphor.  It was central to his sexual identity.

Hsu and Bailey conducted research to test the hypotheses that pedophiles, who are sexually aroused at the thought of being a child, autopedophiles, will be most aroused by imagining themselves to be the type of child that they are most sexually attracted towards as the Erotic Target Identity Inversion theory would predict.  That is to say, if he is attracted to nine-year old boys, he will be most aroused by the thought of being a nine year old boy.  Likewise, if he is most attracted to little girls, he will be most aroused by the thought of being a little girl.  This prediction was supported by the data gathered.

Interestingly, the data suggests that autopedophilia is COMMON among hebepedophilic men.

This result is important because it adds to the evidentiary support for Erotic Target Identity Inversion theory to explain heterosexual male adults who are aroused at the thought of being or becoming women, to wit, autogynephilic transwomen.  It also helps to explain the phenomena of adult men whose gender dysphoria is accompanied by “age dysphoria”… and attempt to live as little girls or young teenaged girls, much to the embarrassment of the transcommunity, as Stephanknee W. shown here has.

But there has also been worse than simple embarrassment caused by others.  About little over a decade ago, a young transwoman related to me a set of incidences she witnessed about an individual who showed up in the transcommunity in a mid-western state.  This individual first caused consternation in a transgender support group in which some members clearly felt uncomfortable with an individual claiming to be a little girl trapped in the body of an adult man, wearing very age inappropriate female clothing.  This individual then caused an even greater upset by showing up in said inappropriate young girl’s clothing at an LGBT Pride event and entering a child-care space, insisting on being treated as a child and allowed to play with the “other children” there.  But was ejected when it became impossible to ignore that “she” was very sexually aroused and was rocking back and forth in a manner to add to the self-stimulation and arousal.

Morally, ethically, an autopedophile who wishes to play out one’s fantasies in private or with consenting adults is fine.  But the moment that one crosses the line to include minors, as Jackson did, we should all seek to have them prosecuted to the full extent of the law… and to believe the victims.

Further Reading:

Erotic Target Location Errors

References:

Kevin J. Hsu, J. Michael Bailey, “Autopedophilia: Erotic-Target Identity Inversions in Men Sexually Attracted to Children”
https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616677082