We are not our inclination, we are what we make of it!

Paedophilia - a definition

Wikipedia: "The term paedophilia (from the Greek παῖς pais 'boy, child' and φιλία philia 'friendship') refers to the primary sexual interest in children who have not yet reached puberty. If it is permanent and the person concerned suffers from it or if the person has real sexual contact with children, paedophilia is considered a mental disorder, namely a disorder of sexual preference (paraphilia). The term paedosexuality is sometimes used synonymously with the term paedophilia. It is also sometimes used specifically to differentiate between sexual preference (paedophilia) and sexual behaviour (paedosexuality)." (according to DSM-5, a paraphilia alone only describes a sexual inclination, while the corresponding "paraphilic disorder" describes that psychological problems arise as a result and/or sexual assaults are committed)

Paedophilia therefore describes the sexual responsiveness of pre-pubertal children (in the case of hebephilia, children at the beginning of puberty). In contrast to this is sexual assault, which is usually not associated with paedophilia at all, but which is encouraged, if not triggered, by the sexual inclination.

The project

Under the title "Step out of the shadows", an art project is to be created from the contributions of many paedophiles from different countries. It is a long-term project with three main objectives:

To make ourselves publicly visible as a group of non-abusive people, some of whom are desperately seeking help, and to reduce the stigma.

To offer paedophiles an opportunity to express themselves in connection with their addiction and the often difficult way of dealing with it. Due to the discrimination, we usually have to play a game of hide-and-seek in order not to lose friends, jobs and sometimes even family - without having committed offences, mind you. This causes enormous suffering for many people because a serious part of their personality has to be kept secret in order not to risk everything.

The way

The aim is to create an online gallery consisting mainly of short self-introductions of non-abusive paedophiles. Everyone is invited to write something about themselves. What makes them tick, who they are, what they feel. In addition, anyone who wants to can also get involved artistically and, for example, design and submit a picture. The aim is to show: This is who we are. Not the stereotype that many see in us, but friends, relatives, neighbours, children, grandchildren, some of whom are also parents, who are well aware of the problem of their paedophilia and many of whom suffer from it. Fully-fledged people with a life, a story, with feelings, ideas, hopes and fears, worries, imagination, art and poetry.